Illinois Commerce Commission Conference on Sustainable Energy

Posted on: May 23, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
The Electric Policy Committee of the Illinois Commerce Commission met May 11 to hear electric utility proposals for implementing a sustainable energy plan in the Land of Lincoln. The proposals were developed in response to Governor Rod Blagojevich's "Sustainable Energy Plan," a proposal submitted last February to the Commission. The Governor asked the Commission to find a way to implement the Plan, which includes a set of goals and recommendations. Commissioner Robert Lieberman leads the initiative to develop the plan, which is expected to be issued in final form in June. The Governor's...
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Organized Markets
Renewable Energy

New Hampshire Representative Seeks Delay of MTBE Liability Waiver to Grandfather N.H. Groundwater Contamination Lawsuit

Posted on: May 23, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
Even though he voted for the controversial provision in the US House of Representatives' latest energy bill that would relieve manufacturers of gasoline-additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from liability, Representative Charles Bass (R-NH) is reportedly currently drafting an amendment that would delay the waiver's effective date. Bass faces pressure from his home state to delay the liability waiver in order to preserve groundwater contamination lawsuits filed by the State of New Hampshire and local officials against MTBE manufacturers. By saving his home state's lawsuits, Bass's...
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Courts
Air Quality/Climate Change

We Energies of Wisconsin Awaits Key Court Ruling on Air and Water Permits

Posted on: May 22, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
We Energies, a utility serving Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, is facing legal challenges on numerous fronts to its proposed "Power the Future" project, a $2.15 billion proposal to develop Wisconsin's first coal power plant to be built in decades. We Energies is battling state agencies over air and water permits, as a docket of lawsuits have been filed attempting to overturn the permits and derail the project. The company's battles have attracted nationwide attention and have implications for the development of similar coal-fired projects in other states. In 2004, Wisconsin state...
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Regional Energy Law
Courts
Renewable Energy

FERC to Begin Revising Order 888 this Summer

Posted on: May 22, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
FERC will formally begin revising its landmark order requiring open-access transmission by issuing a notice of inquiry within the next few weeks. Chairman Pat Wood has indicated that the notice will issue before his June 30 departure. The impetus for change began last summer, when then-newly appointed Commissioner Joseph Kelliher suggested that the agency needed to evaluate whether Order 888 should be broadened to protect against transmission market power. Kelliher began an informal process to determine whether the open-access transmission tariffs of jurisdictional utilities' were sufficient...
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Transmission
FERC
National Energy Law

California Assembly Considers Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Despite Concerns by Industry Groups

Posted on: May 19, 2005 By: Bracewell LLP
The Golden State is currently considering a bill (AB 1365) that will set greenhouse gas ("GHG") emission reduction targets of seven percent by 2010 and ten percent by 2020, in relation to the state's 1990 GHG emission levels. The Assembly Natural Resources Committee passed the bill on April 25, in the face of public opposition by industry groups. These groups expressed concerns over emissions targets and indicated their preference for a more wide-ranging effort on the part of the state's EPA to pursue GHG emission reduction standards. The industry groups primarily opposed the deadlines, which...
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Regional Energy Law
Air Quality/Climate Change

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