Read the LawFlash prepared by our insurance litigation colleagues discussing business interruption coverage and the steps you may want to take to protect your insurance assets, which may help mitigate financial losses due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Power & Pipes
FERC, CFTC, and State Energy Law Developments
Functioning critical infrastructure is crucial during the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency for public health and safety reasons. And as noted in the Coronavirus Guidelines for America issued on March 16, US President Donald Trump has recommended that workers in critical infrastructure industries have a “special responsibility” to maintain normal work schedules. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on March 19 issued guidance on defining the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce. That guidance explicitly discusses workers in the nuclear and electric industries.
Commission Chairman Neil Chatterjee held a press conference on March 19 to discuss FERC’s work during the current pandemic, provide updates regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19), and respond to questions from the media.
FERC and NERC issued a joint notice on Wednesday providing compliance flexibility on certain key reliability standard requirements during the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Although this guidance can allow utilities to avoid findings of noncompliance for certain requirements where timely compliance activities could be difficult due to personnel shortages and other limitations, this is not a blanket waiver. Instead, utilities must provide written notices of their intent to use this guidance. The content of those notices must be drafted carefully as they will be necessary to demonstrate compliance in future reviews.
Read the LawFlash prepared by our antitrust lawyers providing tackling questions regarding industry coordination in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Following the increased spread of COVID-19 within the United States, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a Level 2 Alert on March 10 to all users, owners, and operators of the bulk-power system, outlining a series of recommendations and requiring certain responses from each entity about their plans for continued reliable operation under pandemic circumstances.
A cyberattack on a single gas compression facility resulted in the shutdown of a natural gas pipeline for two days, according to a recent alert from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will hold a two-day public meeting on February 26–27, 2020, to discuss with pipeline safety stakeholders the implementation of two final rules published in the Federal Register on October 1, 2019: the Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines final rule (published at 49 CFR Parts 191–192) and the Safety of Hazardous Liquid Pipelines final rule (published at 49 CFR Part 195). PHMSA has made available for comment and discussion in Docket PHMSA-2019-0225 the meeting agenda draft, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and answers for both rules.
Our colleagues in the tax practice prepared a LawFlash examining the Internal Revenue Service’s new guidance on the federal income tax credit for carbon capture projects under Section 45Q of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit resolved a question of first impression on February 11 on when the statute of limitations period commences for civil enforcement claims brought by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under the Federal Power Act (FPA or the Act) when the alleged violator opts for adjudication in federal district court instead of an administrative proceeding.