On December 24, 2009, the United States Senate confirmed the nomination of John Norris, a Democrat, as commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”). [Read more →]

The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on January 6, 2010 announced a drastic lowering of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for ozone, or smog, but neglected to give a specific number for the new standards. [Read more →]

On December 29, 2009, Alleghany Energy Inc. (“Allegheny”) and American Electric Power Co. (“AEP”) announced that they are suspending the Virginia portion of their 270-mile high-voltage Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline project (“PATH Project”).  [Read more →]

On December 18, 2009, FERC conditionally approved PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) Order No. 719 compliance filing, which contained proposed revisions to the PJM tariff regarding organized wholesale electricity markets.  The Commission also clarified the market power mitigation roles of PJM and Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s independent market monitoring unit (“MMU”), in the order. [Read more →]

On January 5, 2010, FERC rejected the Army Corps of Engineers’ (the “Army Corps”) petition for rehearing as untimely and upheld its ruling that the Corps must comply with mandatory standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”).  [Read more →]

On December 17, 2009, regulators of Energy Corp.’s retail operations announced the formation of the Entergy Regional State Committee (“E-RSC” or “Committee”), comprised of regulators from the Arkansas Public Service Commission, Louisiana Public Service Commission, Mississippi Public Service Commission, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and the City of New Orleans’ City Council. [Read more →]