The Obama Administration on Tuesday overturned Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) regulations passed under President George W. Bush that had modified requirements for government agencies to consult with federal biologists prior to undertaking projects with the potential to affect threatened or endangered plants and animals.

On April 21, 2009, Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue signed the Georgia Nuclear Energy Financing Act (“Act”). The Act provides that a Georgia utility shall recover its costs of financing associated with the construction of a nuclear generating facility during the construction period after the proposed plant’s certification by the Georgia Public Service Commission (“GPSC”).

On April 22, the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (“MMS”) approved final regulations to establish a program to grant leases, easements, and rights-of-way (“ROW”) for renewable energy activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). The final rule is effective as of June 29, 2009.

On April 20, 2009, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) claiming that unnamed power suppliers used a loophole in the Independent System Operator of New England’s (“ISO-NE”) market rules to receive $85.8 million in capacity payments while failing to deliver energy when called upon by ISO-NE. Blumenthal’s complaint asks the Commission to make the companies’ names public and to order them to disgorge their profits.

On Wednesday, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff addressed a number of ongoing energy issues during a U.S. Energy Association forum, including his belief that renewable energy and demand-side management could significantly mitigate and perhaps eliminate the need for traditional baseload power plants. Additionally, Chairman Wellinghoff discussed the Commission’s ability to regulate carbon credit markets.

On April 16, FERC’s Office of Enforcement released its “2008 State of the Markets Report” on natural gas and electric market performance during the previous year. Generally, average electricity and natural gas prices in 2008 were substantially greater than prices in 2007 in almost every region of the United States.

On April 16, 2009, President Barack Obama and President Felipe Calderon announced that the U.S. and Mexico would strengthen cooperation to achieve a low carbon future and promote clean energy resources by establishing the U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Framework on Clean Energy and Climate Change (“Framework”). Both Presidents agreed that the two nations need to work together to obtain the common goal of addressing global warming.