On January 26, 2012, FERC released its first audit reports for Form No. 552 compliance.  Form No. 552 is a reporting mechanism for natural gas market participants (see June 18, 2010 edition of the WER) that requires the reporting of physical natural gas transactions that either (a) use an index price, (b) contribute to an index price, or (c) could contribute to an index price.  [Read more →]

On January 23, 2012, FERC issued the first pilot project license to Verdant Power, LLC (“Verdant”) for its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project No. 12611 (“RITE”).  The RITE project will be a 1,050 kW tidal project located on New York’s East River, and the project will use natural tidal currents to generate power from turbines mounted on the riverbed.  [Read more →]

On January 9, 2012, the federal district court for the District of Columbia found that the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) was arbitrary and capricious in staying the boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology (“MACT”) rule.  EPA originally bound itself in a consent decree to promulgate the rule under an aggressive schedule and asked the court for a fourteen month extension following criticism of its boiler MACT Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.  [Read more →]

On December 7, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC or the “Commission”) issued an order directing the Bonneville Power Administration (“Bonneville”) to file revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) to provide for transmission service on terms and conditions that are comparable to those under which Bonneville provides service to itself and that are not unduly discriminatory or preferential. [Read more →]