FERC Practice

Subscribe to FERC Practice via RSS

On July 16, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) unanimously approved measures in two orders streamlining its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review procedures for certain hydropower-related actions with minimal environmental impacts.   In the first order, FERC issued a final rule that expands an existing Categorical Exclusion (CE)—a designation that allows an agency to skip preparing a detailed environmental review document—to cover Commission-initiated terminations and revocations of hydropower licenses and exemptions where there will be little to no ground disturbance and little to no change in reservoir conditions or downstream water flows.  In the second order, FERC adopted two recreation-related CEs implemented by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) that will allow FERC to skip detailed environmental review when authorizing small-scale recreation facility improvements, such as trails, fishing access sites, campgrounds, and parking areas, at FERC-licensed hydropower projects.

In her comments on the orders at the Commission’s July 16 open meeting, Chairman Swett stated that the Commission “must move important approvals forward quickly while ensuring we fully meet our NEPA obligations. Today’s actions are practical, common-sense solutions that streamline our hydropower environmental review process and allow us to better focus our efforts on reviewing large-scale projects.”

On July 16, 2026, FERC issued an order directing California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) and Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) to submit a joint report by September 30, 2026, on their efforts to coordinate operations along Western market seams. FERC specifically requests that CAISO and SPP: 1) provide details on efforts to date to address seams and market coordination, 2) identify seams and market coordination issues created by the development of organized markets in the West, 3) provide a plan for addressing identified issues, and 4) identify areas where market operators are not aligned on next steps.

On June 26, 2026, FERC accepted New York Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (NYISO) proposal to modify its Installed Capacity market rules to address seasonal reliability risks and to account for seasonal availability of capacity supply.  In doing so, FERC found that the revisions will enhance NYISO’s ability to send appropriate price signals through the Installed Capacity market, which will ensure sufficient capacity during winter periods.  The revisions were accepted effective June 28, 2026.

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court or Court) issued two companion decisions eliminating for-cause removal protections for commissioners of federal independent agencies—such as FERC—but creating a carveout for members of the Federal Reserve Board. In a 6-3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter…

On July 2, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) denied a waiver request filed by Chestnut Run Energy LLC (Chestnut Run) seeking a one-time limited waiver of certain requirements under PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (PJM) Open Access Transmission Tariff (Tariff) to allow Chestnut Run to implement an equipment change to its proposed combined cycle gas turbine electric generating facility’s (Facility) configuration.  Chestnut Run sought waiver because of availability issues with certain equipment outlined in its interconnection application.  In denying the request, FERC found Chestnut Run did not demonstrate that the requested waiver would not result in undesirable consequences and noted that the requested waiver would undermine the expeditious nature of PJM’s Reliability Resource Initiative (RRI) process.

On June 18, 2026, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued six show cause orders under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”) to each of the country’s regional transmission operators (“RTOs”) and independent system organizations (“ISOs”), along with their transmission owners (collectively, the “Show Cause Orders”).  FERC issued the Show Cause Orders as an initial response to the Secretary of Energy’s October 2025 letter directing FERC to initiate an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANOPR”) presenting potential reforms to ensure the timely and orderly interconnection or large loads to the transmission system.  The ANOPR docket, Docket No. RM26-4-000, generated more than 3,500 pages of public comments.  The Show Cause Orders also come on the heels of a series of FERC’s actions over the past year designed to address large load growth.  These actions include a December 2025 FERC order directing PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”) to adopt clear, transparent tariff rules for large energy users located at or near generation facilities, FERC’s January 2026 approval of Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) High Impact Large Load and High Impact Large Load Generation Assessment processes, as well as FERC’s June 2026 approval of SPP’s Conditional High Impact Large Load proposal.

On June 18, 2026, FERC accepted in part and rejected in part requests for rehearing of its December 18, 2025, order (December Order) directing PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) to revise its Open Access Transmission Tariff (Tariff) to clarify and establish certain rates, terms, and conditions of service applicable to Interconnection…

On June 9, 2026, FERC accepted PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (PJM) proposal to establish an Expedited Interconnection Track process for Generating Facilities (EIT Process).  In doing so, FERC found that the EIT Process will help address PJM’s imminent resource adequacy needs by establishing an expedited interconnection process for a limited number of resources that are able to bring significant capacity onto the system quickly.  The revisions were accepted effective June 10, 2026, and July 31, 2026.

On May 29, 2026, FERC approved revisions to the ISO New England, Inc.’s (ISO-NE) proposed market rules for the participation of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and to implement a one-time extension to the period in which resources are required to resume commercial operation following a forced outage. FERC held that the tariff revisions are just and reasonable because they address a gap in ISO-NE’s rules created during the Order No. 2023 compliance process wherein there was no longer a process for DERs to establish Network Resource Capability (NRC) and/or Capacity Network Resource Capability (CNRC), which are necessary to participate in ISO-NE’s markets, and because they balance needed resource flexibility while ensuring timely repair after an outage.