On October 6, 2014, a federal district court in Nebraska dismissed the state of Nebraska’s lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) proposed rule that would limit emissions of carbon dioxide from newly-built fossil fuel-powered generators.  The court ruled that the state of Nebraska’s challenge “jumped the gun” and would have to wait until there was a final agency action.

On September 29, 2014, FERC authorized Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP (“Dominion Cove Point”) to build and operate its proposed Cove Point Liquefaction Project, which would allow Dominion Cove Point to export up to approximately 5.75 million metric tons of gas each year from its LNG terminal facilities located in Calvert County, Maryland.  According to Dominion Cove Point, the company has already accepted FERC’s order, and has indicated that it intends to complete construction of the project so that the facilities can start exporting LNG in June of 2017. 

On September 30, 2014, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) published an analysis of the impacts of the 2013-2014 Polar Vortex on generator performance in the Eastern and Texas Interconnections, and made recommendations as to how to improve performance during future extreme cold weather events.

On September 30, 2014, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) released a draft solicitation that would provide up to $12.6 billion in loan guarantees for innovative nuclear energy and “front end” nuclear projects.  In its announcement, DOE stated that the loan guarantees are to assist with the financial burdens of deploying next generation technology to diversify the United States’ clean energy portfolio.

On September 17, 2014, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a final rule, amending its regulations to permit a person to exclude utility operations-related swaps entered into with “utility special entities” when calculating the aggregate gross notional amount of that person’s swap positions.  This exclusion is solely for purposes of the de minimis exception applicable to swaps with “special entities.”

On September 19, 2014, FERC, in response to a petition for declaratory order, disclaimed jurisdiction under both section 3 and section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) over Emera CNG, LLC’s (“Emera”) construction and operation of compressed natural gas (“CNG”) facilities that will be used to send CNG to the Bahamas via ocean-going tankers.  In reaching its decision, FERC noted that Emera’s proposed facilities would not directly load the CNG onto ships, but would rather compress natural gas at a location where the CNG would first be loaded onto trucks, and then be transported a quarter mile by those trucks to ocean-going tankers.

On September 15, 2014, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a consent order signed by Brian Hunter, previously a natural gas trader for trading firm Amaranth Advisors LLC (“Amaranth”), pursuant to which Hunter will pay a civil penalty of $750,000, plus post-judgment interest, to resolve allegations that he manipulated the natural gas futures market in 2006.  Additionally, Hunter agreed to be “permanently restrained, enjoined and prohibited from directly or indirectly trading any futures contracts, options on futures contracts, or any other product or financial instrument regulated by the [CFTC].” 

On September 18, 2014, the Commission issued Order No. 676-H, which revises its regulations to incorporate by reference, with several exceptions, Version 003 of the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, as mandatory and enforceable requirements.  The purpose of the Version 003 standards is to promote a more seamless marketplace for wholesale electricity.

On September 16, 2014, ISO New England Inc.’s (“ISO-NE”) eighth annual Forward Capacity Auction (“FCA 8”) results took effect by operation of law due to a deadlocked FERC that could not agree to approve or reject the results amid allegations that market power within the auction was not properly mitigated.  As a result, FERC on the same day issued a Show Cause Order requiring ISO-NE to either revise its tariff to allow for independent oversight of import offers prior to each FCA or show cause why it is not required to do so.

On September 18, 2014, FERC issued an order addressing Order No. 1000 compliance filings, and requests for rehearing regarding prior compliance filings, for the parties within the ColumbiaGrid Transmission Planning region in the Pacific Northwest.  In doing so, FERC clarified the role of public power entities in the regional transmission planning process, explaining that if a public power entity chooses to enroll in a regional transmission planning process, it is bound to the resulting cost allocation determinations.  However, FERC also approved a mechanism whereby a public power entity could refrain from enrolling in the process while still being included in its respective planning process.  Under this framework, if a public power entity is subsequently allocated costs under the regional cost allocation method, it could separately determine whether it would accept those costs based on its statutory authorities.