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On October 15, 2015, FERC issued a certificate of public convenience and necessity under section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) and a blanket certificate under Part 157 of the FERC’s regulations to Regency Field Services LLC (“Regency”) to continue operating the existing Coyanosa Residue Line.  In issuing the certificates, FERC held that the Coyanosa Residue Line was jurisdictional under FERC’s current five-mile processing plant “stub line” test, even though the line was in operation well before FERC adopted the test in 1994.

On October 15, 2015, the FERC issued Order No. 816 in which it promulgates a final rule (“Final Rule”) to revise its requirements for market-based rate (“MBR”) authorizations for wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity, and ancillary services by public utilities.  The FERC expects that the changes implemented under the Final Rule will increase transparency in the MBR application process and relieve burdensome reporting requirements for MBR sellers, while continuing to ensure that MBRs are just and reasonable.

On October 15, 2015, the Commission accepted the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) compliance filing implementing NERC’s Risk-Based Registration (“RBR”) initiative, and, among other things, authorized NERC’s proposal to eliminate the Load-Serving Entity (“LSE”) registration function.  The Commission further directed NERC to submit an informational filing on the impact of the removal of the LSE function on the next-day studies of Transmission Operators and Balancing Authorities.

On October 15, 2015, FERC issued an order denying rehearing and granting clarification of Order No. 807, which contained regulations and policies regarding open access to and priority rights on Interconnection Customer’s Interconnection Facilities (“ICIF”). Two groups—one including the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (“NRECA”) and the other including the American Public Power Association and the Transmission Access Policy Study Group (“APPA” and “TAPS,” respectively)—sought rehearing and clarification of Order No. 807. Order No. 807 amended FERC’s regulations to: (1) waive the Open Access Transmission Tariff, Open Access Same-Time Information System, and Standards of Conduct requirements for entities that are subject to such requirements solely because they own, control, or operate ICIF; (2) provide that a third party seeking service on ICIF may follow the procedures of sections 210, 211, and 212 of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”); and (3) establish that, for the first five years after the commercial operation date of the ICIF, FERC will apply the rebuttable presumption that the ICIF owner has definitive plans to use its facilities, and thus it is in the public interest to grant it priority rights to use the ICIF capacity.

On October 1, 2015, FERC issued an order approving the California Independent System Operator’s (“CAISO”) revisions to its capacity procurement mechanism (“CPM”) to, among other things, implement a competitive solicitation process to procure backstop capacity. In the order, FERC found that (1) compensating CPM capacity based on a competitive solicitation process will result in compensation driven by competitive factors and (2) the use of a soft cap and 20 percent adder to compensate resources will provide them with enough revenue for system upgrades and improvements.

On October 6, 2015, FERC Commissioner Philip D. Moeller announced his intention to leave the Commission at the end of October.  Commissioner Moeller has been with the Commission since 2006, when he was appointed by former President George W. Bush.  In 2010, Commissioner Moeller was re-appointed by President Obama for a five-year term that expired on June 30, 2015; however, he was permitted to remain at the agency until Congress adjourns, unless a replacement was confirmed and sworn in.  At this time, no one has been nominated to replace Commissioner Moeller.

On September 28, 2015, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) submitted to FERC its annual analysis on the use of Technical Feasibility Exceptions (“TFEs”).  TFEs are exceptions from strict compliance with NERC Critical Infrastructure Protection (“CIP”) Reliability Standards that Registered Entities may apply for, pursuant to a process established in the NERC Rules of Procedure.

On September 16, 2015, the Commission dismissed a petition filed by the Working group for Investment in Reliable and Economic electric Systems (“WIRES”) in which WIRES requested that the Commission institute a generic proceeding to determine whether the Commission’s discounted cash flow (“DCF”) methodology continues to be the most appropriate method of computing public utility Return on Equity (“ROE”).

On September 21, 2015, FERC Office of Enforcement Staff issued a Notice of Alleged Violations against Total Gas & Power, North America, Inc. (“TGPNA”) and TGPNA’s West Desk traders and supervisors, Therese Nguyen and Aaron Hall.  FERC Staff stated that in a nonpublic investigation, the Office of Enforcement Staff made a preliminary determination that TGPNA and its traders and supervisors violated section 4A of the Natural Gas Act and FERC’s Anti-Manipulation Rule.

On September 22, 2015, President Obama’s Administration announced concurrent actions intended to help achieve certain goals established in the Administration’s 2014 comprehensive plan to modernize infrastructure permitting.  Those actions include an enhanced Federal Infrastructure Permitting Dashboard (“Dashboard”), new guidance establishing metrics for the permitting and review of infrastructure projects, and the first update since 1988 of the Synchronizing Environmental Reviews for Transportation and Other Infrastructure Projects handbook (“Red Book”).