Category — Business Developments

On January 26, 2012, the House Agriculture Committee approved bills that would ease Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) regulation of swaps (i.e., over-the-counter derivatives) by energy companies under 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  Swaps were never regulated by CFTC prior to Dodd-Frank. [Read more →]

On January 18, 2012, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of State to deny an oil pipeline permit application submitted by Keystone XL.  The Keystone XL Pipeline is an expansion that would start in Hardisty, Alberta and extend south to a point in Port Arthur, Texas. [Read more →]

On December 14, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) rejected a market power mitigation filing by Duke Energy Corporation (“Duke”) and Progress Energy Inc. (“Progress”) (together the “Applicants”) in connection with their proposed merger.  [Read more →]

On December 8, 2011, the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO”) Board of Directors approved MISO’s Transmission Expansion Plan 2011 (“MTEP11”).  The plan includes 215 new transmission infrastructure projects and was developed over an 18 month period. [Read more →]

On December 5, 2011, Entergy Corporation (“Entergy”) and ITC Holdings Corp. (“ITC”) announced that Entergy will divest its transmission business and merge those assets into ITC. Entergy currently owns approximately 15,700 miles of transmission in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.  After completion of the merger, ITC will become one of the nation’s largest transmission companies with over 30,000 miles of transmission. [Read more →]