On May 5, 2010, the United States Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) released a report, “U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions in 2009: A Retrospective Review,” showing the largest decrease in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions since EIA started collecting emissions data in 1949.  The seven percent drop (405 million metric tons) in 2009 is a stark contrast to the consistent increase in emissions throughout the 1990s.

After months of anticipation, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its 563-page proposal for regulating the disposal and management of coal combustion byproducts (“CCBs”) from coal-fired power plants.  Instead of offering a single approach, EPA requested comments on two options for regulating CCBs.  The first would regulate CCBs as a new “special waste” subject to many of the requirements for hazardous waste, while the second would regulate CCBs in a manner similar to typical solid waste, subject to far fewer and less stringent environmental requirements.  EPA would lead the first approach, the various States the second.  Either of EPA’s proposed options represents a seismic shift toward more comprehensive and expensive requirements for CCBs disposal and management.  And for certain utilities, EPA’s regulatory proposal effectively signals the end of ash pond disposal for CCBs.

On April 27, 2010, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (“Senate Energy Committee”) considered President Obama’s nomination of Cheryl LeFleur, the former CEO of National Grid’s U.S. electric distribution business, as well as the re-nomination of Commissioner Philip Moeller, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”).

On April 23, 2010, FERC accepted a filing by ISO New England Inc. (“ISO-NE”) and the New England Power Pool Participants Committee (“NEPOOL”) to revise market rules for the ISO-NE Forward Capacity Market (“FCM”).  The Commission set several contested issues for paper hearing, but allowed ISO-NE to implement all of the proposed changes for the upcoming auction in August.

On April 23, 2010, FERC conditionally approved the New York Independent System Operator’s (“NYISO”) proposed revisions to their Market Administration and Control Area Services Tariff (“Services Tariff”).  Specifically, NYISO’s proposed revisions dealt with the issue of “Customer Compliance with Laws, Regulations and Orders.” 

On April 21, 2010, the U.S. Department of the Interior (“Interior” or “DOI”) issued the nation’s first Request for Interest for the development of renewable energy projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.  The Request for Interest covers federal waters in between the shipping routes of the Delaware Bay off the coast of Delaware. 

On April 19, 2010, the Southwestern Power Pool, Inc. (“SPP”) filed proposed revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“OATT”) to include a new transmission upgrade cost allocation method called the “Highway/Byway” method, which moves away from allocating costs on a zonal basis to a broader SPP-wide basis.