On July 15, 2013, Bonneville Power Administration’s (“BPA”) Administrator William Drummond was placed on administrative leave and acting deputy administrator Elliot Mainzer was designated as acting administrator on an interim basis.  BPA’s Chief Operating Officer, Anita Decker, was also placed on administrative leave.  Separately, on July 16, 2013, Department of Energy (“DOE”) Inspector General Gregory Friedman issued a “Management Alert” concerning allegations of prohibited personnel practices at BPA, including practices that disadvantaged veterans and other applicants, and personnel actions against certain employees who cooperated with the DOE’s Office of Inspector General during its special inquiry of BPA’s personnel practices.

On July 3, 2013, FERC’s Office of Enforcement issued a Staff Notice of Alleged Violations with regard to the deaths of two fishermen in relation to Erie Boulevard Hydropower, L.P.’s (“Erie”) operation of its Oswego River Project, located in the City of Oswego, New York.  The notice indicates that FERC staff has preliminarily determined that Erie violated FERC’s hydropower licensing regulations relating to ensuring public safety in connection with the project, alleging eight separate violations.  The violations include the failure to sound a warning within a reasonable time, safety device failures, and safety protocol omissions.

In an unusual move, on July 9, 2013, FERC announced that the Office of Enforcement will seek information from certain unnamed natural gas marketers concerning those marketers’ natural gas sales activities.  These efforts appear to be connected with the Commission’s November 12, 2012 Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) on Enhanced Natural Gas Market Transparency in Docket No. RM13-1-000 (see November 16, 2012 edition of the WER), and do not appear to be enforcement actions against the companies from whom information will be sought.

On July 9, 2013, FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller testified before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power with regard to HR 1900, the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act (the “Act”).  Testifying in an individual capacity, Commissioner Moeller offered his personal views on the Act.

On Wednesday, June 26, 2013, FERC issued an order denying rehearing (“Order Denying Rehearing”) of two prior orders related to the Bonneville Power Administration’s (“Bonneville”) transmission service curtailment practices under a protocol currently named the “Oversupply Management Protocol” (“OMP”).  In those prior orders FERC: (1) reaffirmed its authority under Federal Power Act (“FPA”) Section 211A and its use of  that authority order to remedy Bonneville’s unduly discriminatory practices against wind generation; and (2) directed Bonneville to significantly revise its proposed oversupply curtailment policies and cost allocation mechanisms in order to ensure comparability and eliminate undue discrimination (see January 8, 2013 edition of the WER).  The Order Denying Rehearing again affirmed FERC’s authority to act under FPA Section 211A and further clarified the revisions Bonneville must make to its OMP schema. 

On June 28, 2013, President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Colorado’s Ron Binz to become a FERC Commissioner, taking the seat of outgoing Chairman Jon Wellinghoff who announced his resignation last May (see May 31, 2013 edition of the WER).  The White House also announced that upon his appointment, the President will designate Binz to serve as the Commission’s Chairman.  Binz’s appointment to the Commission will require Senate confirmation.

On June 25, 2013, President Barack Obama released a sweeping climate plan (“Plan”) using his authority to both address greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions and to prepare for the impacts of climate change.  The plan, which consists of a wide variety of executive actions, has three key pillars: (1) cut carbon pollution in America; (2) prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change; and (3) lead international efforts to combat global climate change.

On June 20, 2013, the Commission accepted the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) compliance filing concerning the progress of its Find, Fix, Track and Report (“FFT”) program, and approved certain enhancements offered by NERC aimed at improving processing time for FFTs and allowing more possible violations to be processed as FFTs.

On June 24, 2013, the Supreme Court granted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) and environmental groups’ Petitions for Writs of Certiorari requesting review of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s (“D.C. Circuit”) vacatur of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”).

On June 20, 2013, FERC conditionally granted the Western Electricity Coordinating Council’s (“WECC”) petition to establish a separate, independent company to serve as the reliability coordinator within the Western Interconnection.  Once established, the new company, RC Company, will take over as the reliability coordinator from WECC and assume responsibility for the WECC Interchange Tool.  FERC’s final approval of the petition will rest upon review of RC Company’s final governance documents.