The U.S. Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) on December 1, 2009 instituted a formal proceeding to examine tariff rules established by the BNSF Railway Company (“BNSF”) that limit the amount of coal dust that can be emitted by trains transporting coal over certain railroad lines leaving the Powder River Basin (“PRB”).

On November 19, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued a declaratory order confirming that sales by a developer of on-site solar generating projects (“PPA Provider”) to end-use customers do not constitute the sale or transmission of electric energy under FERC’s control.

On November 19, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) announced the launch of investigations into the interstate natural gas pipeline rates for Northern Natural Gas Company (“Northern Natural”), Great Lakes Gas Transmission LP (“Great Lakes”), and Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (“NGPL”) to determine if the pipelines are over-recovering cost of service, causing unjust and unreasonable rates under section 5 of the Natural Gas Act. 

On Monday, November 16, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed more stringent air quality standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2) in an effort to provide additional protection to public health.  The proposal focuses on short-term exposures to peak SO2 levels, and would establish a new national one-hour standard at between 50 and 100 ppb.