On April 2, 2009, Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) introduced an energy bill (S. 807) that would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) transmission siting authority, provide nuclear power incentives, expand offshore drilling and use oil and gas revenues to fund renewable energy and efficiency.

On April 2, 2009, FERC denied the two principle allegations in a complaint by PJM Interconnection, LLC (“PJM”) against a member company, Power Edge LLC (“Power Edge”) and several of its affiliates (collectively, “Tower Companies”), claiming Tower Companies manipulated PJM’s financial transmission rights (“FTR”) when Power Edge defaulted in December 2007.

On Wednesday, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, released the National Energy Security Act of 2009 (“NESA”). NESA, which is co-sponsored by Senator George Voinovich (R-OH), attempts to diversify and promote alternative forms of energy such as plug-in cars and trucks, biofuels, and domestic renewables and fossil fuels in order to decrease the United States’ dependence on foreign oil by 80% by 2050.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6-3 decision, reversed the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (“Court of Appeals”) and upheld the EPA rule that it could consider costs and benefits for existing cooling water intake structures. The EPA estimates that the Supreme Court’s ruling affects over 500 facilities that account for over half of the United States’ electricity production.

On March 26, 2009, FERC issued an order accepting in part and rejecting in part revisions to PJM Interconnection Inc.’s (“PJM”) Reliability Pricing Model (“RPM”) that were proposed in a February 9, 2009, settlement agreement. As part of the order, the Commission increased the cost of new entry (“CONE”), conditionally accepted PJM’s proposed redesign of the incremental auction process, and included new provisions to enable energy efficiency resources to participate in the capacity market.

On March 19, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) issued its third order on rehearing (“Order No. 890-C”) regarding its open access transmission reform rule, Order No. 890, in order to clarify the calculation of available transfer capability (“ATC”).

Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) “exceptional events rule,” which allows data recorded during unusually strong storms or natural disasters to be excluded when determining whether an area violates federal air quality standards.