On May 20, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued an order initiating a Section 206 Proceeding to investigate the price cap in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (“WECC”) outside of the California Independent System Operator Corporation (“CAISO”).  FERC’s inquiry is aimed at eliminating market distortions that might result from a difference in bid caps in CAISO markets and the spot market price cap in the rest of the WECC.

On May 20, 2010, FERC revised the contract reporting requirements for both intrastate natural gas pipelines providing service under Section 311 under the Natural Policy Act and Hinshaw pipelines operating under Section 1(c) of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”), effective April 1, 2011.  The new rule increases the frequency of reporting, covers more transactions, establishes a new form to be used for reporting, and considers all of the filings to be public information. 

On May 18, 2010, the CAISO Board of Governors approved a revised transmission planning process in an attempt to provide transmission necessary to accommodate additional renewable generation.  The CAISO Board also approved new reliability rules for renewable energy resources. 

On May 18, 2010, the U.S. Senate approved by voice vote an amendment to the financial reform bill (S. 3217, the “Restoring America’s Financial Stability Act”), which would attempt to resolve the ongoing jurisdictional debate between FERC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”).

On May 20, 2010, the FERC granted in part, and denied in part, Southern LNG Inc.’s (“Southern LNG”) petition for a declaratory order that the Commission would not regulate certain sale and lease activities if Southern LNG decided to reactivate the truck loading facilities at its liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) terminal at Elba Island, Georgia. 

On May 7, 2010, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) filed an amendment, SA 3892, to the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (“S 3217”), which is currently being debated by the U.S. Senate.  Senator Bingaman’s amendment, if adopted, attempts to preserve the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) authority over currently FERC-regulated contracts and electricity and natural gas rates, while acknowledging that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) holds exclusive jurisdiction over energy futures and derivatives. 

After months of anticipation, EPA finally issued its greenhouse gas “Tailoring Rule” on Thursday, May 13, 2010.  According to EPA, the rule is necessary to “tailor” the applicability of two Clean Air Act programs – the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permit programs – to avoid impacting millions of small greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters once the first-ever GHG standards for motor vehicles take effect in 2011.  The final rule differs significantly from EPA’s original proposal (the thresholds are much higher than proposed), but the controversy remains the same:  Can EPA, via regulation, alter the definition of a term defined by statute?

On May 4, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “DC Circuit”) vacated and remanded a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) requiring the California Independent System Operator (“CAISO”) to alter its open access transmission tariff to comply with FERC’s station-power netting requirements.