Posts from — May 2010

On May 12, 2010, Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) presented their new 987-page American Power Act (“APA”) designed to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions by 4.75 percent by 2013, 17 percent by 2020, 42 percent by 2030, and 83 percent by 2050.  [Read more →]

On May 7, 2010, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) filed an amendment, SA 3892, to the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (“S 3217”), which is currently being debated by the U.S. Senate.  Senator Bingaman’s amendment, if adopted, attempts to preserve the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) authority over currently FERC-regulated contracts and electricity and natural gas rates, while acknowledging that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) holds exclusive jurisdiction over energy futures and derivatives.  [Read more →]

On May 6, 2010, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (the “Committee”) held a voice vote at its business meeting to report the nominations of FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller and FERC Nominee Cheryl LaFleur to the full Senate.  [Read more →]

After months of anticipation, EPA finally issued its greenhouse gas “Tailoring Rule” on Thursday, May 13, 2010.  According to EPA, the rule is necessary to “tailor” the applicability of two Clean Air Act programs – the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permit programs – to avoid impacting millions of small greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters once the first-ever GHG standards for motor vehicles take effect in 2011.  The final rule differs significantly from EPA’s original proposal (the thresholds are much higher than proposed), but the controversy remains the same:  Can EPA, via regulation, alter the definition of a term defined by statute? [Read more →]

On May 4, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “DC Circuit”) vacated and remanded a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) requiring the California Independent System Operator (“CAISO”) to alter its open access transmission tariff to comply with FERC’s station-power netting requirements.  [Read more →]