In an order denying a request to waive filing requirements triggered by changes in ownership of qualifying facility (QF) projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reiterated the importance of ensuring QF filings, specifically Form 556, are up to date.
Power & Pipes
FERC, CFTC, and State Energy Law Developments
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As part of a long-standing series of joint meetings, FERC and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be hosting a joint meeting on March 31, 2022. The meeting will address electric system reliability and nuclear plants, and will include presentations.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) filed its 2022 NERC Standards Report, Status and Timetable for Addressing Regulatory Directives summarizing the progress made and plans for addressing the reliability standard-related directives issued by applicable governmental authorities. NERC reported that since March 29, 2021, the date of NERC’s last annual report, it filed petitions with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) addressing four reliability standards-related directives.
As anyone in the electric vehicle sector is aware, network charging infrastructure is a threshold issue to be addressed in order to get more electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads in US markets.
In an article featured in our global energy industry newsletter, Empowered, lawyers Carl Valenstein and Jonathan Wilcon analyze the implications of the Jones Act on offshore wind development. While the authors acknowledge that many see Jones Act compliance as a “potential bottleneck” for the offshore wind industry’s progress, they discuss strategies that will permit Jones Act compliance and offshore wind development in the United States.
A recent district court order highlights the importance of maintaining a strong compliance program with effective compliance controls and practices, while highlighting the risk of employee misconduct for the enterprise itself. Specifically, on December 20, a California district court denied a motion to dismiss a FERC complaint that seeks to enforce a penalty against a company and one of its traders. In addition to finding that FERC’s claims were not time barred, the court also found that the employer can be held liable for the trader’s actions even though the trader withheld information from the company regarding the trading activity at issue. However, in a win for the company, the court limited the civil penalties that may be sought in a complaint to the proposed penalty set forth in FERC’s order to show cause. This limits FERC’s ability to penalize a defendant for choosing to contest a proposed sanction in district court.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently issued a final rule, Order No. 880, revising its hydropower project inspection and safety regulations. The updates revise part 12 of FERC’s regulations and conclude an approximately year and a half of rulemaking in Docket No. RM20-9.
At its December 2021 open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) approved new rules to improve utilization of the transmission system by redefining “transmission line rating” to account for ambient weather conditions. The Commission expects that the change will permit greater transmission line utilization while also fostering reliability and safety. Transmission providers have 120 days to submit a compliance filing to account for the redefinition and must implement all requirements within three years of the compliance filing due date.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show cause orders to two natural pipelines—Rover Pipeline and Midship Pipeline Company—following its December 2021 open meeting, and sent a related dispute involving Midship for an administrative hearing. Chairman Richard Glick has signaled in the last year his desire for a more active enforcement program.