On June 29, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by FERC under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) authorizes a private company to exercise eminent domain to condemn state-owned property.  In particular, the opinion holds that states cannot claim sovereign immunity from condemnation lawsuits filed by certificated pipelines against the state in order to take public land to construct, own, and operate an interstate gas pipeline project.    

On June 23, 2021, FERC accepted in part and rejected in part the New York Independent System Operator’s (“NYISO”) February 2021 proposal to revise its process for procuring operating reserves throughout the New York Control Area (“NYCA”). FERC accepted NYISO’s proposed revisions to its Operating Reserves Demand Curve (“ORDC”), including revisions to certain shortage pricing values, subject to a compliance filing providing at least two weeks’ notice of the actual effective date of the revisions. NYISO subsequently submitted that compliance filing on June 29, 2021 noting an effective date of July 13, 2021. The June 23 order also rejected NYISO’s proposal to establish a process for procuring reserves in excess of quantities required by minimum reliability standards, without prejudice to NYISO submitting a more specific proposal in the future.

On June 17, 2021, FERC set aside its previous decision in Order No. 2222-A that allowed state regulatory authorities to prohibit demand response resources from participating in distributed energy resource (“DER”) aggregations in wholesale energy markets when the DER aggregation contains only demand response resources. As a result, upon the effective date of Order No. 2222-B, state regulatory authorities will be able to prohibit demand response resources from participating in all wholesale DER aggregations. However, FERC also stated that it will further consider the issue in the Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”) proceeding established in Order No. 2222-A to consider whether to revise its regulations to remove the demand response opt-out established in Order Nos. 719 and 719-A. FERC also extended the comment period in the NOI proceeding to ensure an adequate opportunity for interested parties to comment on these issues. Finally, Order No. 2222-B clarified the appropriate restrictions to avoid double counting of services and the compensation of demand response resources that participate in DER aggregations. Commissioners Neil Chatterjee and James Danly wrote separate concurring opinions; Commissioner Mark Christie concurred in part and dissented in part.

On June 17, 2021, FERC issued an order providing guidance on the means by which sellers in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (“WECC”) market can demonstrate that sales made above the $1,000/MWh soft price cap were just and reasonable.  This guidance has been provided for sellers with pending justification filings, which have been granted 30 days to amend or supplement their filings accordingly, as well as any sellers making prospective justification filings.

On June 17, 2021, FERC took two actions to encourage transmission development across the U.S.  Specifically, FERC issued an order establishing a joint state-federal task force to evaluate transmission development issues, and also issued a policy statement clarifying that states and public utilities remain free to coordinate and collaborate on transmission projects. As Chairman Glick stated in the Commission meeting announcing the order and policy statement, these actions are intended to enable FERC to be “fully engaged with [its] state partners,” ahead of “several transmission initiatives” that may be issued from the Commission in the coming months.

On February 11, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced plans to create a senior position at the Commission to coordinate incorporation of environmental justice (EJ) concerns into the Commission’s decision-making process.  FERC Chairman Richard Glick indicated that the newly created office would be a cross-cutting position and that its eventual occupant would be charged with working with experts across all FERC program offices to ensure that EJ and equity matters are integrated into Commission decisions.  On May 20, Chairman Glick announced the appointment of Montina Cole to serve as Senior Counsel for Environmental Justice and Equity.  The FERC press release describes Cole as a “seasoned executive and attorney” with an active consulting and legal practice, “where she works at the intersection of climate policy, racial equity and resilience.”

In an order dated May 20, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC, or the Commission) terminated the hydropower licenses for three projects located on the Tittabawasee River in Michigan—the Secord (P-10809), Smallwood (P-10810) and Sanford (P-2785) dams.  The termination by implied surrender follows a May 2020 breach at the…

On May 20, 2021, FERC issued a Show Cause Order directing GreenHat Energy, LLC (“GreenHat”) and its owners to show why they did not violate the Federal Power Act, FERC’s regulations, the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”) Tariff, and the PJM Operating Agreement by manipulating PJM’s Financial Transmission Rights (“FTR”) market, generating $13 million in unjust profits and imposing $179 million in losses on PJM members. FERC also directed GreenHat and its owners to file an answer with FERC within 30 days showing why they should not be required to disgorge $13 million in unjust profits, plus interest, and to pay civil penalties totaling $229 million. FERC’s order is accompanied by a report from FERC’s Office of Enforcement (“OE Report”). Commissioner James Danly issued a separate concurring statement.

On May 20, 2021, FERC issued two orders in which it authorized two pipeline companies to construct and abandon certain pipeline facilities, subject to conditions. In an exciting and sometimes tense Commission open-meeting, the Commission ultimately approved Northern Natural Gas Company’s (“Northern”) application to construct and operate certain pipeline compression and auxiliary facilities and abandon short segments of existing pipeline (“2021 Expansion Project”) in Minnesota.

On May 19, 2021, FERC issued an order dismissing requests for rehearing of an order directing briefing (“Briefing Order”) about the operation of Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC’s  Atlantic Bridge project after finding that requesting parties were not “aggrieved” under court precedent interpreting Section 19(a) of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”).  Commissioner James Danly wrote separately in dissent explaining his view that FERC’s request for briefing means that the determinations made in the Atlantic Bridge certificate order are no longer settled and that the certificate order is in fact no longer final.