On February 16, 2012, FERC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NOPR”) proposing to revise its regulations governing interstate natural gas pipeline business practices and standards.  FERC’s proposed rule would adopt and incorporate by reference, (with certain exceptions) certain standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards Board (“NAESB”).

On February 16, 2012, the Commission issued an order retaining its existing policies concerning the analysis of horizontal market power in connection with transactions under section 203 of the Federal Power Act.  The Commission declined to revise its policies to incorporate the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission’s August 19, 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines (the “2010 DOJ/FTC Guidelines”), as previously contemplated by its March 17, 2011 Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”).

On February 16, 2012, FERC defined the scope of permissible locational exchanges of electric energy in response to Puget Sound Energy, Inc.’s 2010 petition for a declaratory order.  In doing so, the Commission held that certain exchanges that occur at one or more locations on an affiliate’s transmission system require special authorization.

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.