On September 29, 2009, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) released their 821-page draft climate bill, the “Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act”.  The Boxer Bill’s climate change cap-and-trade provisions parallel the legislation by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) which the House of Representatives passed in June.  There are, however, significant differences. 

On September 30, 2009, EPA issued two new proposals on the road to regulating greenhouse gases (“GHGs”) under the federal Clean Air Act (“CAA”).  Coming on the heels of the release of the Boxer-Kerry draft climate change legislation, both proposals are fraught with legal and policy uncertainty and may further complicate an already complicated regulatory environment. 

On September 24, 2009, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”), Joseph Kelliher spoke about the Commission’s enforcement program at Infocast’s FERC Compliance Summit.  Kelliher stated that the enforcement program was young, and has laid a “good foundation.”  However, Kelliher believes there is still room for improvement.

This past Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit finally released its decision in Connecticut v. AEP, a bellwether case involving whether carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants constitute a “public nuisance” subjecting emitters to common law tort liability. 

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.