On January 31, 2012, FERC issued a notice of workshop that will take place on February 28, 2012.  Among other topics, the workshop will include a discussion of whether it would be appropriate to utilize open seasons as a way to allocate capacity on a merchant transmission line.

On February 3, 2012, FERC Commissioner Phillip Moeller (R) released a request seeking comments from natural gas and electricity markets on ways to become more coordinated and ensure reliability.

On January 30, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) conditionally approved a series of changes to the California Independent System Operator Corporation’s (“CAISO”) generator interconnection procedures (“GIP Phase 2”).

On January 30, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC or Commission”) staff issued a white paper for comment regarding how the Commission should advise the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on requests for extensions to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (“MATS”) rule. 

On February 3, 2012, FERC interpreted a key reliability standard to clarify what types of relay and communication equipment should be subject to internal testing and audit procedures. FERC directed NERC to do further work regarding the inclusion of the certain reclosing relays and DC control circuitry in maintenance, testing, and internal audit programs.

On January 25, 2012, the California Independent System Operator Corporation (“California ISO”) filed a petition with FERC to waive section 43.2.6(3) of their tariff to permit the CAISO to issue a Capacity Procurement Mechanism (“CPM”) designation related to a Calpine Corporation (“Calpine”)  facility.  California ISO seeks to prevent the May 2012 retirement of Calpine’s Sutter Energy Center (“Sutter”), an air-cooled, combined cycle, 525 MW facility.