On April 26, 2012, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff met with reporters to discuss the Commission’s accomplishments over the last year.  Wellinghoff focused on the steps FERC has taken in the past year to fulfill its mission of “ensuring consumers have reliable, efficient and sustainable energy.”  In addition, FERC’s Office of Energy Projects released a list of Energy Infrastructure Issuances from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012, which noted that FERC licensed 50 hydropower projects, certificated 22 natural gas pipeline projects and 13 natural gas storage projects.

On April 19, 2012, FERC approved the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) revised standards for identifying assets subject to NERC’s critical infrastructure program (“CIP”).  The revised standards replace NERC’s former risk-based approach with 17 uniform “bright-line” criteria.

On April 26, 2012, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved the nominations of Tony Clark (R) and John Norris (D) to be members of FERC.  The nominees are now eligible for consideration by the full Senate. 

On April 26, 2012, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on Weather-Related Electrical Outages.  The Director of FERC’s Office of Enforcement, Norman Bay, testified before the Committee regarding FERC’s analysis of the effects of the October 29-30, 2011 snowstorm in the Northeastern United States. 

On April 16, 2012, FERC approved an application filed by Cheniere Energy Inc.’s subsidiaries Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC and Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. (collectively “Sabine Pass”) to site, construct, and operate a liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.  Separately, the Commission released an order vacating Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P.’s (“Jordan Cove”) December 17, 2009 authorization to build an LNG import terminal in Coos County, Oregon.

On April 19, 2012, FERC issued a Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) on the open access and priority rights associated with capacity on interconnection facilities.  The NOI is a direct result of a March 2011 technical conference.