Category — Court Rulings

On January 29, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit (“DC Circuit”) denied a petition by state utility regulators in New England to challenge a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) decision that applied a higher return on equity (“ROE”) rate for ISO New England, Inc. (“ISO-NE”) as an incentive to complete transmission projects more quickly.  [Read more →]

On January 22, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“DC Circuit”) remanded back to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”)  its final rule that adopted changes to the interstate natural gas pipeline reporting rules and financial reforms asserting that FERC failed to adequately respond to a dissenting commissioner in its order. [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, 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 →]

On June 9, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that upheld orders from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) granting PPL Montana, LLC, PPL Colstrip LLC, and PPL Colstrip II LLC (collectively, “PPL”) market-based rate authority despite challenges by petitioners Montana Consumer Council and REC Silicon (collectively, “Montana Consumer Council” or “Petitioners”).  [Read more →]