On Thursday July 21, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”), the FERC voted 5-0 to issue a final rule on Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation by Transmission Owning and Operating Public Utilities, Order No. 1000 (“Order No. 1000”).  Commissioner Moeller issued a partial dissent to the Final Rule.  A more detailed summary of Order No. 1000 is available here. 

To the dismay of environmental groups, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on July 13 declined to adopt a long-anticipated new method of setting a combined secondary national ambient air quality standard (“NAAQS”) for nitrogen oxides (“NOx”) and sulfur oxides (“SOx”) recommended by EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (“CASAC”) and instead proposed a five-year study pilot research effort on the issue.

On July 19, 2011, FERC issued an order on Smart Grid Interoperability Standards, and found insufficient consensus to institute a rulemaking proceeding to adopt the five families of standards identified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) as ready for review by the Commission.  Section 1305(d) of the Energy Independence and Security Act (“EISA”) of 2007 directed the Commission to institute a rulemaking proceeding to implement standards and protocols to ensure smart grid functionality and interoperability in transmission of electric power and in electricity markets.

On Friday, July 1, 2011, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) released its draft supplemental generic environmental impact statement (“SGEIS”), a proposal that would grant access to more than 80% of the shale formations within the state of New York.  Notably, the SGEIS would still prohibit drilling in the watersheds that serve New York City and Syracuse, any state owned lands, and all primary and principal aquifers.

On July 7, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued new rules requiring power plants in 27 eastern, mid-western, and southern states to cut emissions of nitrogen oxide by 54% and sulfur dioxide by 73% from 2005 levels by the time the rules take full effect in 2014.  The “Cross-State Air Pollution Rule,” which was proposed a year ago as the Clean Air Transport Rule, sets state-specific emissions limits aimed at reducing wind-borne transport of ozone and fine particulate matter across state lines in the East and some state west of the Mississippi.

The EPA on July 1, 2011 issued a final rule deferring for three years application of the Clean Air Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) and Title V permitting requirements to carbon dioxide (“CO2”) emissions from biogenic stationary sources.  EPA and the Science Advisory Board will use the three-year deferral period to conduct an analysis of the impacts of emissions from bioenergy and other biogenic stationary sources prior to a final determination of how such emissions should be regulated.