Energy Legal Blog

On March 17 a divided FERC (4-1) ruled that the Federal Power and Natural Gas Acts give the regulator discretion to apply to a non-contract rate the Mobile-Sierra doctrine that presumes freely negotiated contract rates and terms are just and reasonable under the Acts unless otherwise shown to be contrary to the public interest.  Dissenting, Commissioner John Norris complained that the majority’s interpretation could not be reconciled with either the original 1956 Supreme Court decisions in Mobile and Sierra (for which the doctrine is eponymously named) or two more recent High Court rulings confirming that the presumption “is grounded on the presence of a freely negotiated contract.” (more…)

EPA has issued a final rule extending the deadline for reporting 2010 data under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Rule. Affected sources were originally required to report 2010 GHG emissions data by March 31, 2011. Through this final rule, EPA has provided affected sources until September 30, 2011 to submit their data. Sources must register with EPA’s online reporting system, the Electronic Greenhouse Gas Reporting Tool (e-GGRT), by August 1, 2011. (more…)

Culminating a contentious, yearlong rulemaking, a divided FERC (4-to-1) in Order No. 745 selected locational marginal pricing (LMP) for compensating a demand-response (DR) resource that participates in organized wholesale energy markets that regional transmission organizations or independent system operators (RTO/ISO) administer.  To qualify for LMP compensation, the DR resource must clear in security-constrained dispatch and be able to (1) displace generation in a manner that helps the RTO/ISO balance supply and demand for electricity and (2) satisfy a net benefits test demonstrating that the DR resource is cost-effective. (more…)

FERC recently shot down the WSPP Inc.’s proposal to win for its members the authority to sell certain ancillary electric services (reserves and imbalance service) at market prices on par with sellers operating within a FERC-approved regional transmission organization or independent system operator (RTO/ISO).  WSPP Inc. is the successor in name to the Western States Power Pool that was formed in 1991 to allow member companies to trade flexibly in energy at market prices. (more…)

On March 1, EPA announced that it will be deferring the requirement to submit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reports under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (MRR).  The MRR imposed a reporting deadline of March 31, 2011 for many sectors of industry to submit greenhouse gas emissions data collected in 2010.  (more…)