On April 24, 2012, FERC declined a request by the owners of two Qualifying Facilities to initiate an enforcement proceeding against the Public Service Commission of West Virginia (“West Virginia Commission”) under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”).

On April 30, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved revisions to the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) transmission planning process in Docket No. ER12-1179-000.  PJM submitted the proposed revisions in order to expand its planning analyses beyond reliability and market efficiency considerations, developing a more extensive analysis that includes renewable resource integration, demand response programs, environmental initiatives and “at risk” generation.

On April 19, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the “Commission” or “FERC”) approved proposed tariff revisions of Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. and the Transmission Owners of the Midwest Independent System Operating, Inc. (collectively “MISO”) in its effort to facilitate the integration of Entergy Corporation and its operating companies (“Entergy”) into MISO.  The order clarifies how the costs of certain transmission projects will be allocated during the transition of Entergy into MISO, and sets the stage for future cost sharing between the current MISO and Entergy regions.

On April 20, 2012, FERC clarified through a WSPP, Inc. (“WSPP”) order that the Commission does not have jurisdiction over the trading of unbundled renewable energy certificates (“REC”) – i.e. those REC contracts that do not have an energy sales component.  However, the Commission did assert jurisdiction over bundled REC transactions under sections 201, 205, and 206 of the Federal Power Act.

On April 26, 2012, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff met with reporters to discuss the Commission’s accomplishments over the last year.  Wellinghoff focused on the steps FERC has taken in the past year to fulfill its mission of “ensuring consumers have reliable, efficient and sustainable energy.”  In addition, FERC’s Office of Energy Projects released a list of Energy Infrastructure Issuances from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012, which noted that FERC licensed 50 hydropower projects, certificated 22 natural gas pipeline projects and 13 natural gas storage projects.

On April 19, 2012, FERC approved the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) revised standards for identifying assets subject to NERC’s critical infrastructure program (“CIP”).  The revised standards replace NERC’s former risk-based approach with 17 uniform “bright-line” criteria.

On April 26, 2012, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved the nominations of Tony Clark (R) and John Norris (D) to be members of FERC.  The nominees are now eligible for consideration by the full Senate.