On June 28, 2017, President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Richard Glick, a Democrat from Virginia, to be a FERC Commissioner for a five-year term ending June 30, 2022.  In addition, on June 30, 2017, Commissioner Colette Honorable announced that June 30, 2017 was her final day as a FERC Commissioner and that she would not be staying past her term (see May 9, 2017 edition of the WER).

On June 21, 2017, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (“Sixth Circuit”) upheld FERC’s determination that American Transmission Systems (“ATS”) and Duke Energy Ohio, Inc. (“Duke”) are not required to pay for projects that the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”) approved after ATS and Duke announced separately that they would be withdrawing from MISO, but prior to their actual departures.

On June 23, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) held that Millennium Pipeline Company, L.L.C. (“Millennium”) lacked standing to challenge whether the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“Department”) had unlawfully delayed issuing a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) § 401 water quality certificate for Millennium’s pipeline project by failing to act on Millennium’s application within the one year statutory period.  In doing so, the D.C. Circuit stated that even if the Department had unlawfully delayed issuing the CWA § 401 certificate, the Department’s delay would operate as a waiver of the certification requirement.  As a result, the D.C. Circuit explained that Millennium could ask FERC to determine whether the Department waived the CWA § 401 certification requirement, and if so, whether FERC would authorize Millennium to begin construction of its pipeline project.

On June 20, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit” or “the court”) rejected petitions for review challenging FERC’s approval of capacity market rules set by the PJM Interconnection, LLC (“PJM”) in 2014.  The D.C. Circuit held that FERC’s approval of the rules was adequately explained and within its statutory authority under the Federal Power Act.  In particular, the D.C. Circuit rejected assertions from various environmental, clean energy, and public utility petitioners that the new capacity market rules unduly discriminated against variable energy resources.

On June 22, 2017, both chambers of the New York State Legislature unanimously passed legislation—Senate Bill 5190 and Assembly Bill 6571 (collectively, the “Bill”)—which would require the New York Public Service Commission (“NYPSC”) to commence a proceeding to establish an Energy Storage Deployment Program for the State of New York within ninety days of the Bill’s effective date.  The Bill would also require that, no later than January 1, 2018, the NYPSC establish a target for the installation of energy storage systems through 2030, and programs that will enable the State of New York to meet those targets.  The Bill now heads to Governor Andrew Cuomo for signature.

On June 8, 2017, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) released a report on the August 2016 Blue Cut Fire, which resulted in the loss of 1,200 megawatts (“MW”) of solar photovoltaic (“PV”) power generation.  NERC’s report contains recommendations for avoiding similar incidents by reconfiguring solar inverters, the devices that convert solar energy from direct current to alternating current.

On June 7, 2017, Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would, among other things, revise the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) to require FERC to (1) review two proposed interstate pipeline projects together under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”) if the two pipelines are proposed within one year of each other and would be within 100 miles apart and (2) ensure that open houses regarding a proposed pipeline occur in each county in which the pipeline would be located.  In addition, on June 13, 2017, Representative H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) introduced a similar bill in the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

On June 8, 2017, the California Independent System Operator (“CAISO”) released the draft final proposal of Phase 2 of its energy storage and distributed energy resources (“ESDER”) initiative.  The aim of the proposal is to lower the barrier to entry and market participation for various transmission grid-connected energy storage and distribution-connected resources. “Integrating these resources,” the proposal states, “will help lower carbon emissions and add operational flexibility.”

On June 6, 2017, the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted to advance the nominations of FERC Nominees Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson to the Senate floor.  The Committee approved both Nominee Chatterjee and Nominee Powelson by a vote of 20-3 each.  The vote follows the…