Lucia v. SEC and the status of FERC ALJs

Posted on: June 26, 2018 By: David Perlman, Paul Maco, Boris Shkuta
On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court held that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are “officers of the United States” whose appointments are therefore subject to the Appointments Clause of the Constitution for their actions to be valid. [1] This decision by the nation’s highest court naturally raises questions regarding the legitimacy of ALJs in other agencies of the federal government such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). FERC’s ALJs, however, come to their positions in a manner different from that of the SEC and have a...
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FERC
SEC

When is a Seat not a Seat?

Posted on: May 29, 2018 By: John Gilbert, Damian Watkin, Rob Meade
The recent English High Court decision in Atlas Power Ltd -v- National Transmission and Despatch Co Ltd [2018] EWHC 1052 concerns a number of power purchase agreements entered into by Pakistani independent power producers and the national grid company of Pakistan. It highlights the pitfalls of overly complex drafting in an arbitration agreement and the importance of clearly specifying the seat of arbitration. The key points arising from the decision are: It is the seat of arbitration that determines the curial law of the arbitration, not the governing law of the contract. The choice of the...
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Power
Courts
International

Vanessa Allen Sutherland Stepping Down as Chair of U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board

Posted on: May 21, 2018 By: Kevin Collins
Vanessa Allen Sutherland just announced that she is resigning from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB). President Barack Obama nominated Sutherland to be Chairperson, and she was confirmed in August 2015. Ms. Sutherland's resignation will be effective in June. During her three years as Chair, Ms. Sutherland helped the agency to close 12 incident investigations, and she was a tireless advocate for the importance of the Board's mission. The CSB investigates the root cause of industrial chemical incidents and advocates for the implementation of safety recommendations to...
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Environmental
Government
Incident Response and Investigations

FERC Proposes Reforms to Hydropower Recreational Use Requirements

Posted on: May 18, 2018 By: Seth Lucia, Dave Poe, Kevin Voelkel
On May 17, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to eliminate the Licensed Hydropower Development Recreation Report , or FERC Form No. 80 (Form 80) and revise certain public notice requirements (“Hydro Recreation NOPR”). For licensees, the proposed elimination of Form 80 would save the expense of compliance with a regulatory requirement that the Hydro Recreation NOPR itself concedes is otherwise provided to FERC pursuant to license conditions or other requirements. The Form 80 requirement dates back to 1966 when FERC amended its...
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FERC
Renewable Energy

U.S. Futures Exchanges Disciplinary Actions Alert: April 2018

Posted on: May 9, 2018 By: David Perlman, Michael Brooks, Bob Pease, Ryan Eletto, Josh Freda
The Bracewell U.S. Futures Exchanges Disciplinary Actions Report is a monthly report that provides summaries of certain disciplinary notices by U.S. exchanges during the prior month. The report has a particular focus on notices potentially relevant to energy commodities and is not intended to be a comprehensive review of each and every notice issued. Instead, the report is intended to provide market participants, and compliance personnel in particular, with illustrative examples of rule violations and to bring to light enforcement trends across the exchanges. The disciplinary notices cited in...
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Commodities
Organized Markets

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