On February 11, 2016, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced that the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee (“EEMAC”) will hold a public meeting at the CFTC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. on February 25, 2016 from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM. The CFTC further announced that, at the meeting, EEMAC will (1) present a report summarizing its 2015 proceedings; (2) examine the CFTC’s Proposed Order exempting certain Transmission Congestion Rights, Day-Ahead and Real-Time Balancing Market, and Operating Reserve Transactions in the Southwest Power Pool from the CFTC’s fraud and manipulation jurisdiction and scienter-based prohibitions; and (3) consider the CFTC Staff Preliminary Report regarding the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception (see November 18, 2015 edition of the WER).
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act established the EEMAC to advise the CFTC on important developments in energy and environmental derivatives markets that may raise new regulatory issues, as well as the appropriate regulatory response to ensure market integrity and competition and to protect consumers. The EEMAC is sponsored by CFTC Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo and includes representatives of natural gas companies and associations, electricity companies and associations, energy marketers, futures exchanges, end users, public interest groups, and others.
In the press release announcing the meeting, the CFTC stated that the meeting is open to the public at the CFTC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and that the public may also watch a live webcast of the meeting or listen to the meeting via conference call. The press release is available here.