On March 19, 2009, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) to approve six Modeling, Data and Analysis (“MOD”) Reliability Standards that would require certain users, owners and operators of the transmission system to develop consistent methodologies for the calculation of ATC.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has reached a proposed determination regarding whether or not greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions endanger public health, public welfare, or both. Not yet published, EPA’s proposed “endangerment finding” was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) on Friday, March 20th, and is currently undergoing an inter-agency review led by the OMB.

Yesterday, the White House announced that President Obama named the current Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”), Jon Wellinghoff, to the post permanently. Chairman Wellinghoff is widely seen as a proponent of the White House’s green energy policy.

In addition, the White House announced that…

On Monday, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff agreed to principles that will allow the agencies to finalize a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) regarding each agency’s role in developing renewable energy on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”).

On Thursday, FERC issued a proposed policy statement and action plan to develop a smarter grid for the U.S. electric transmission system. The Commission’s intent is to prioritize the development of key interoperability standards, provide guidance to the electric industry regarding the need for full cybersecurity for “Smart Grid” projects, and provide an interim rate policy under which jurisdictional public utilities may seek to recover the costs of Smart Grid deployments before relevant standards are adopted through a Commission rulemaking.

On March 9, 2009, Texas Representative Jim Keffer (R) and Senator Wendy Davis (D) filed several bills that would drastically alter the electricity market in Texas. Both lawmakers say the bills aim to cut wholesale electricity prices, but the bills met instantaneous opposition from state power companies, specifically NRG Energy Inc. (“NRG”) and Energy Future Holding’s Luminant (“Luminant”).

On Monday, Commissioner Joseph T. Kelliher announced that we would leave the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) effective today. Commissioner Kelliher’s announcement was expected even though his term does not end until 2012. Commissioner Kelliher has served at FERC since November 20, 2003 and was chairman from July…

On Tuesday, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) released draft legislation on transmission siting, planning and cost allocation. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced similar legislation last week (see March 6, 2009 edition of the WER). While Sen. Reid’s bill strengthens FERC’s existing backstop siting authority, Sen. Bingaman’s proposal would allow project developers to go directly to FERC and bypass the state approval process altogether in certain circumstances.