On December 15, 2011, Troutman Sanders held a webinar discussion of FERC’s recent order directing Bonneville Power Administration (“BPA”) to file an Open Access Transmission Tariff pursuant to Federal Power Act Section 211A authority.  (See December 12, 2011 edition of the WER)

On December 7, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC or the “Commission”) issued an order directing the Bonneville Power Administration (“Bonneville”) to file revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) to provide for transmission service on terms and conditions that are comparable to those under which Bonneville provides service to itself and that are not unduly discriminatory or preferential.

On December 5, 2011, Entergy Corporation (“Entergy”) and ITC Holdings Corp. (“ITC”) announced that Entergy will divest its transmission business and merge those assets into ITC. Entergy currently owns approximately 15,700 miles of transmission in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.  After completion of the merger, ITC will become one of the nation’s largest transmission companies with over 30,000 miles of transmission.

On December 2, 2011, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) voted 6-0 that there was a reasonable indication that the U.S. solar panel and cells industry has been injured or is threatened with injury by imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules from China.

On December 9, 2011, FERC issued a stipulation and consent agreement between the Commission’s Office of Enforcement (“Enforcement”) and Atmos Energy Corporation (“Atmos”), the parent company of Atmos Energy Marketing, Inc. (“AEM”) and Trans Louisiana Gas Pipeline, Inc. (“Trans La”) assessing a civil penalty of $6,364,029 and ordering the disgorgement of $5,635,971, plus interest for the unjust profits from shipper-must-have-title violations.

On Friday, December 2, 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its third attempt at a Maximum Achievable Control Technology (“MACT”) standard for industrial boilers and process heaters under the Clean Air Act.  EPA’s latest proposal is a reconsideration of the final rule that was adopted in February and published March 21, 2011, which EPA promised to revise the same day it was released.