On July 22, 2010,  a House Appropriations subcommittee, on a vote of 7-7, rejected a proposal to impose a two-year delay on the Environmental Protection Agency (”EPA”) regulation of greenhouse gases (“GHG”) from stationary sources.  The proposal, introduced as an amendment to the Interior and Environment fiscal-year 2011 spending bill, would have imposed a two-year moratorium on the EPA’s ability to regulate GHGs from power plants and other stationary emitters. [Read more →]

As Congress returned from the July 4 recess, legislative efforts on cap-and-trade focused on the possibility of a utility-only program.  Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that he intends to bring a bill to the floor during the week of July 26 that will include four components:  the Gulf oil spill, clean energy, energy efficiency and cap-and-trade.  [Read more →]

On July 15, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) conditionally approved the Southwest Power Pool, Inc’s (“SPP”) modified transmission planning process, the Integrated Transmission Plan (“ITP”).   The ITP will be used to determine future regional transmission needs. [Read more →]

On July 6, 2010, the Commission held a Technical Conference to discuss issues related to the development and enforcement of mandatory Reliability Standards.  [Read more →]

On July 15, 2010, the Commission released Order No. 729-B, which granted requests for rehearing on the implementation timeline for Order No. 729-A.  In its new order, FERC decided to calibrate the timing of the MOD Reliability Standards implementation date from the date of FERC approval, not the date of publication in the Federal Register.  [Read more →]