Posts from — July 2009

On July 10, 2009, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) four notices of penalties with a proposed total of $75,000 in fines for violations of mandatory reliability standards. A fifth notice of violation did not include a financial penalty. All of the companies are also implementing mitigation plans. [Read more →]

On July 6, 2009, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced legislation that would grant the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) full authority to regulate all carbon market trading. [Read more →]

On June 23, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“DC Circuit”) upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC” or “Commission”) ruling that it had the authority to approve installed capacity requirements for ISO New England, Inc. (“ISO New England”). [Read more →]

Reversing a 2008 decision by the Bush Administration, the new Obama Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), lead by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, has now approved California’s request for the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new automobiles. The decision allows California to implement standards it adopted in 2005 that are more stringent than current federal requirements. [Read more →]

On June 19, 2009, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (“NASUCA”) released a report that recommended changes to the governing structures of regional transmission organizations (“RTOs”) and independent system operators (“ISOs”). The report was prepared by a NASUCA special committee, and has since been adopted by resolution of NASUCA members. [Read more →]