At the open meeting on June 21, 2012, FERC announced the issuance of multiple Notice of Public Rulemakings (“NOPR”) pertaining to: (1) changes to policies governing the sale of ancillary services; (2) changes to the definition of the “bulk electric system;” and (3) revisions to filing requirements for Electric Quarterly Reports (“EQR”).

On June 11, 2012, FERC conditionally approved the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator’s (“MISO”) proposed changes to the resource adequacy provisions of its tariff. FERC conditionally approved a controversial capacity market design, but ordered some significant changes to MISO’s proposal that differ from capacity markets in place in eastern RTOs.

On June 11, 2012, FERC submitted a brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) in defense of its authority to impose a $30 million civil penalty on former gas trader Brian Hunter.  The case is before the court on a petition for review of FERC’s penalty order in the Hunter case and pits FERC against not only Hunter, but the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), which argued to the court that FERC lacked jurisdiction to fine the trader.

On June 14, 2012 the Commission accepted the tariff filing of Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. (“Iroquois”) specifying the priority rules that should apply to Iroquois’ transportation and other services for initial scheduling purposes and in the event of a constraint at either a receipt or a delivery point or along the transportation path. 

On June 15, 2012, Tony Clark was sworn in as a Commissioner of FERC.  Commissioner Clark’s nomination was approved by the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on April 26, 2012 (see April 30, 2012 edition of the WER), and confirmed by the Senate on May 24, 2012 (see June 4, 2012 edition of the WER).