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On January 29, Indeck Energy Services Inc. filed a lawsuit in Saratoga County, New York against New York State’s participation in and implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI”) program.  Indeck owns almost 20 electric power plants powered by various types of fuels, including a 128-MW combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant in Corinth, New York.

On January 27, 2009, Florida Power & Light Co. (“FPL”), a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc., stated that it hopes it can reach a settlement with FERC staff regarding the February 26, 2008 blackout in Southern Florida. If FPL is unable to settle with FERC, it could end up facing severe fines for the incident under FERC’s power to assess civil penalties for violations of the mandatory reliability standards.

The first indications of how the Obama Administration will approach the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (“NSR”) program became apparent this week, as one utility settled its NSR lawsuit and another new lawsuit was filed by the Justice Department. All signs point towards an acceleration in NSR enforcement actions against coal-fired power plants.

On January 23, 2009, President Obama named Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff as the acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”). When Commissioner Joseph T. Kelliher announced he was stepping down as Chairman in early January, Wellinghoff and the other Democrat on the Commission, Suedeen Kelly, were seen as the leading contenders for the position.

On January 23, 2009 the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“DC Circuit”) upheld FERC’s decision denying Connecticut’s challenge to the current “hybrid” electricity market. The DC Circuit decided the current hybrid market is just and reasonable as an interim solution whereas the alternative proposed by Connecticut was not adequately supported.

On January 21, 2009, FERC determined that the city of Corona, California must pay costs associated with its interconnection to Southern California Edison (“SoCal Edison”) even though SoCal Edison failed to provide the invoice within the twelve-month deadline in its Interconnection Facilities Agreement (“Facilities Agreement”).

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works released a report this month calling for a variety of actions to be taken by the EPA in advance of comprehensive federal legislation regulating greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The “Report on the Tools Available Under the Clean Air Act to Immediately Reduce Global Warming Pollution” presents the results of the Committee’s September 23, 2008 hearing on the extent of EPA’s current authority with respect to GHG regulation.