National Energy Law Developments
Too Much Adieu about Mobile-Sierra?
Did a panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit bid adieu to the half century-old Mobile Sierra doctrine on contract stability when it otherwise affirmed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a multi-party settlement that phases in a Forward Capacity Market in New England? Notwithstanding alarms to the [...]
Standards of Conduct Proposal Retreats from Structural to Functional Separation
A recent FERC Standard of Conduct rulemaking proposal retreats from its Order 2004 expansion of the standards of conduct, expressly finding that expansion too complex and unworkable. FERC proposes a return to its 1990s vintage functional separation model of Order 497 (natural gas) and Order 889 (electric power), eliminating both Order 2004′s concept of “Energy [...]
DC Circuit Orders Immediate Tightening of Mercury Control Rules
On March 21, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit made clear that its February 8, 2008 order mandating a return to tighter mercury control rules on coal-fired power plants must go into effect immediately. The court’s February order threw out the Bush Administration’s Clean Air Mercury [...]
Southern California Edison Asks FERC to Step into Arizona Transmission Siting Dispute
In the first test of the “backstop” transmission siting authority given to FERC in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), Southern California Edison (SCE) recently discussed with FERC staff the siting of a 230-mile, 500 kV transmission line from the Palo Verde nuclear plant near Phoenix, Arizona to Devers, California, near Palm Springs [...]
FERC Takes Action to Prevent Cross-Subsidization between Affiliates
FERC continues to tweak its rules regarding mergers and acquisitions under section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), issuing new regulations that impose restrictions on affiliate transactions between certain public utilities and their unregulated affiliates. FERC explained that it intends to fill a perceived regulatory gap in its current affiliate sales rules, and stated [...]