Posts from — June 2009

On Monday, House Democrats released a revised 1,200 page energy bill, clearing the way for a possible floor vote on HR 2454, The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, as early as today. As of press time, the House voted to bring the bill to the floor by a vote of 217 to 205 but has just begun debate. [Read more →]

Congressional maneuvering during the past few weeks has dramatically altered the landscape for pending and proposed transportation legislation. Before June, legislation that would eliminate the nation’s freight railroads’ antitrust exemptions was moving swiftly through Congress as the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 (introduced as S. 146 and H.R. 233). [Read more →]

On April 24, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission” or “FERC”) approved a wind transmission cost allocation proposal by the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (“SPP”), designed to reduce barriers to integrating wind power in the region and thereby expand the availability of wind generation resources. [Read more →]

On June 18, 2009, FERC released a national assessment detailing demand response potential with a state-by-state analysis. The report estimates that demand response potential can reduce peak electricity demand by 4% to 20%, which translates to between 38 gigawatts (“GW”) and 188 GW, by 2019. [Read more →]

On Wednesday, President Obama announced his intention to nominate John R. Norris as Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”). Currently, Mr. Norris is Chief of Staff for Secretary Tom Vilsack at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), a position he has held since January of this year. Prior to joining the USDA, Mr. Norris was Chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board from 2005 until 2009. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Norris would fill the seat of former Chairman Joseph Kelliher, who left FERC on March 13.