Troutman Pepper Locke

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On February 20, 2009, the American Public Power Association (“APPA”) issued a report entitled APPA’s Competitive Market Plan: A Roadmap for Reforming Wholesale Electricity Markets (“Market Plan”). The Market Plan proposes reforms for RTO markets that it says would provide better competition and consumer protection within Regional Transmission Organizations (“RTOs”) while maintaining reliability.

On Wednesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) reversed a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) ruling interpreting its authority to approve certain interstate electric transmission projects that had been previously denied by state commissions.

On February 12, 2009, in an unusual move, FERC rejected a settlement between the Commission’s Office of Enforcement Litigation Staff (“Staff”), the defunct hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC (“Amaranth”) and two of Amaranth’s traders, Brian Hunter and Matthew Donohoe. The parties submitted the settlement, which was not made public, to the Commission for approval on November 24, 2008.

On Wednesday, leaders from both the U.S. House of Representatives (“House”) and the U.S. Senate (“Senate”) finished reconciling all of the major provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Stimulus Bill”), estimated to cost $789 billion. While some of the energy provisions passed by the House and Senate (see January 23 and January 30, 2009 edition of WER) have changed, the majority remain intact.

On Monday, several regional grid operators and organizations announced the Joint Coordinated System Plan (“JCSP”) report, which estimates that over $80 billion in new transmission is needed to support 20% of the electricity consumed in the eastern U.S. coming from wind generation. 20% is the wind energy contribution that the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) recommended in its Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study.