Posts from — January 2010

On January 21, 2010, FERC issued a Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) to look at whether or not to expand its Electric Quarterly Report (“EQR”) filing requirements to those entities excluded from FERC jurisdiction under section 205 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”).  The NOI will aid FERC in deciding if changes should be made to section 220 of the FPA, as adopted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005(“EPAct 2005”). [Read more →]

On January 18, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States (“Supreme Court”) denied a request for certiorari by Edison Electric Institute (“EEI”) of a United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) decision which limited the backstop authority of FERC to instances where a state commission withheld approval of certain interstate electric transmission projects for more than 1 year after the filing of an application for a permit (see the February 20, 2009 edition of the WER). [Read more →]

On January 13, 2010, T. Boone Pickens announced that his company, Mesa Power LP, will not build the planned 4,000 MW Pampa Wind Farm in the Texas Panhandle.  Pickens said he will cut his $2 billion order for wind turbines from General Electric Company (“GE”) in half, and plans to use these remaining turbines in Canada and Minnesota wind farms. [Read more →]

On January 6, 2010, the FERC approved a request from American Electric Power Services Corporation (“AEP Services”), the wholly owned subsidiary of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (“AEP”), to transfer transmission assets to Electric Transmission Texas, LLC (“Electric Transmission Texas”) under section 203 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”).  [Read more →]

On January 13, 2010, the United States Supreme Court (“Supreme Court”) decision reversed the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“DC Circuit”), holding that the Mobile-Sierra public interest standard applies to noncontracting parties.  [Read more →]