On May 27, 2010, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) asked the Senate for en banc unanimous consent to confirm over one hundred nominees to various positions in federal agencies, the courts, and the military.  Harkin’s request included Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nominee Cheryl LaFleur and sitting Commissioner Philip Moeller  (see March 12, 2010 edition of the WER).

Numerous industry groups, business associations, environmental advocacy groups and public interest organizations have petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review EPA’s reconsideration of the so-called “Johnson Memorandum.”  In its reconsideration, EPA determined that greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) would be subject to regulation under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) and Title V permit programs as of January 2, 2011.  In the related tailoring rule, which was published in the Federal Register on Thursday, EPA established a process for phasing in PSD and Title V requirements, including the requirement to do Best Available Control Technology for GHGs, beginning on January 2, 2011.

On June 2, 2010, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) and the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) published their report entitled “High-Impact, Low-Frequency Event Risk to the North American Bulk Power System” (“HILF report”).  The report highlights risks that could have disastrous impact on the bulk power system, such as acts of war, terrorism, and coordinated criminal activity, but which are either rare or have never occurred. 

On May 20, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC” or the “Commission”) Staff presented the “Summer 2010 Energy Market and Reliability Assessment” report. The assessment relied on data from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) assessment of demand and capacity forecasts and data from several reliability regions. 

On April 20, 2010, a fire on the offshore Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused an explosion killing eleven workers.  Within two days, the oil rig sank causing a pipe to break, and since then oil has been spreading rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico.  Although the media focus has been on efforts to stop the oil spill, the impact of the oil spill is also affecting proposed federal energy legislation and regulatory oversight of the energy industry in general.

On May 20, 2010, FERC rejected SunZia Transmission LLC’s (“SunZia”) request for a declaratory order that it may allocate firm transmission rights, reserve capacity to affiliated generators, and use negotiated rate authority for a proposed transmission project in New Mexico and Arizona.  However, FERC provided a description of how the project could be restructured in order to meet the Commission’s requirements.