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On Wednesday, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, released the National Energy Security Act of 2009 (“NESA”). NESA, which is co-sponsored by Senator George Voinovich (R-OH), attempts to diversify and promote alternative forms of energy such as plug-in cars and trucks, biofuels, and domestic renewables and fossil fuels in order to decrease the United States’ dependence on foreign oil by 80% by 2050.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6-3 decision, reversed the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) and upheld the EPA rule that it could consider costs and benefits for existing cooling water intake structures. The EPA estimates that the Supreme Court’s ruling affects over 500 facilities that account for over half of the United States’ electricity production.

On March 26, 2009, FERC issued an order accepting in part and rejecting in part revisions to PJM Interconnection Inc.’s (“PJM”) Reliability Pricing Model (“RPM”) that were proposed in a February 9, 2009, settlement agreement. As part of the order, the Commission increased the cost of new entry (“CONE”), conditionally accepted PJM’s proposed redesign of the incremental auction process, and included new provisions to enable energy efficiency resources to participate in the capacity market.

Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) “exceptional events rule,” which allows data recorded during unusually strong storms or natural disasters to be excluded when determining whether an area violates federal air quality standards.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has reached a proposed determination regarding whether or not greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions endanger public health, public welfare, or both. Not yet published, EPA’s proposed “endangerment finding” was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) on Friday, March 20th, and is currently undergoing an inter-agency review led by the OMB.

Yesterday, the White House announced that President Obama named the current Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”), Jon Wellinghoff, to the post permanently. Chairman Wellinghoff is widely seen as a proponent of the White House’s green energy policy.

In addition, the White House announced that…