By J. Wylie Donald It was innocuous enough: Conference on Environmental Regulations; but the plainness of title belied what was going on at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the first public forum at FERC on EPA's Clean Power Plan... Read More

By Tricia Caliguire Because I had a seat inside the meeting room at FERC's Clean Power Plan Overview last month, I got a close-up view of the protesters. Most were older (as opposed to the college-student variety), they carried signs, wore matching... Read More

By J. Wylie Donald It’s been a long winter in my neck of the woods and not because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Pipes froze. Twice. Furnace was out overnight. Broke three shovels. So I had a particular interest this past Wednesday, March... Read More

By Tricia Caliguire Last week, FERC held the eastern regional technical conference on “Environmental Regulations and Electric Reliability, Wholesale Electricity Markets, and Energy Infrastructure.” The purpose was for the commissioners... Read More

You are probably well aware of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Clean Power Plan. You may not be aware that Congressional leaders are asking very pointed questions to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”... Read More

On April 20, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued an order accepting proposed revisions to the WSPP Agreement addressing sales of renewable energy certificates ("RECs") made pursuant to that agreement. In... Read More

The EPA on July 1, 2011 issued a final rule deferring for three years application of the Clean Air Act's Prevention of Significant Deterioration ("PSD") and Title V permitting requirements to carbon dioxide ("CO2") emissions from... Read More

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may expand the already substantial compliance and operational issues facing the energy sector. Aggressive efforts by regulators at the federal and state/provincial levels in the United... Read More

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has determined that Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) use of environmental redispatch to address excess water supply and low load by curtailing renewable and thermal generators in favor of federal... Read More

By Daniel R. Simon Today's regulatory regime for a biomass qualifying facility (QF) is challenging. Long gone are the days when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required a host utility to purchase a biomass QF's energy output and exempted... Read More

By Daniel E. Frank and Caileen N. Gamache In an order issued on March 30, 2010, 1 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) clarified one ambiguity in its qualifying facility (QF) regulations, while leaving another in its wake. Resolved is the... Read More

By Dan Frank, J.J. Kubicek and Alex Konieczny The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has found that two wind farm generators must comply with reliability requirements applicable to transmission owners and operators because of the tie-lines... Read More