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. 

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.