On September 21, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) approved an uncontested settlement with its Enforcement Litigation Staff and  Energy Transfer Partners L.P., Energy Transfer Company, ETC Marketing Ltd., and Houston Pipe Line Company LP (collectively “ETP”) for $30 million in a market manipulation case. 

On September 17, 2009, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) on standards for measuring and verifying the performance of demand response services.  The proposed rule would lay the groundwork for expanding the use of demand response in organized wholesale markets.

On September 2, 2009, Milford Wind Corridor, LLC (“Milford”) submitted a Petition for Declaratory Order requesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) to confirm that it can retain its firm rights to use 1,000 MW of transmission on a generator lead Milford constructed itself in order to interconnect the full capacity of five planned phases of its entire wind project.

In a court filing on September 16th, the Justice Department announced that the EPA will reconsider controversial Bush-era National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”) for ozone, sometimes referred to as smog.  EPA plans to act on a very fast schedule, with a proposed new ozone standard by December 21 and a final rule by August 31, 2010. 

In a joint press conference on September 15, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) released details of a new national suite of automobile standards that would mandate increased corporate average fuel economy (“CAFE”) standards and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions limits.