Posts from — May 2011

On May 26, 2011, a United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to issue a final, non-appealable Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) permit decision no later than August 27, 2011 for Avenal Power Center, LLC’s 600 megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in California.  [Read more →]

On May 20, 2011, Judge Ernest Goldsmith of the Superior Court of California issued a judgment that orders the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) to stop implementing a cap-and-trade program until the board analyzes alternatives to the cap-and-trade program as part of the agency’s scoping plan. [Read more →]

On May 24, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) dismissed a complaint stemming from the California energy crisis by relying on several grounds, including a federal “catchall” statute of limitation – perhaps the first time FERC has relied on this law to dismiss a complaint. [Read more →]

On May 27, 2011, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (“Texas Commission”) held a workshop regarding Entergy Texas’ proposal to join the Midwest Independent System Operator, Inc. (“Midwest ISO”).  The Midwest ISO made a presentation to the Texas Commission explaining how its system is operated and explaining the benefits of Entergy joining its system. [Read more →]

On May 19, 2011, FERC staff presented the Summer 2011 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment (the “Assessment”).   Overall, staff revealed that demand forecasts are largely the same as compared with Summer 2010, and generation and reserve margins for the season are projected to be sufficient. [Read more →]