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Inflation Reduction Act
FERC Accepts CAISO’s Proposed Tariff Amendments Addressing Inoperability of Aliso Canyon
On June 1, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted revisions to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) tariff to address market conditions associated with the limited operability of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. [1] Aliso Canyon...
CFTC Proposal Creates Jurisdictional Controversy and Uncertainty in the RTO and ISO Markets
On May 10, 2016, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) issued a proposed amendment (“May 10 Proposed Amendment”) [1] to a final order issued on March 28, 2013 (the “RTO-ISO Order”) that exempted certain specified transactions of six...
FERC Finds Problems in Enbridge Audit
On May 9, 2016, the Director of the Office of Enforcement, under delegated authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), issued a final audit report of Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (EEP) and its crude oil pipeline, the North Dakota...
U.S. Futures Exchanges Disciplinary Actions Report - April 2016
ICE FUTURES U.S. 2015-025 Spoofing Violation of Rule 4.02(I) – Trade Practice Violations. Allegedly, an individual engaged in a pattern of trading activity in the Coffee “C” (“KC”) Futures market between March 2015 and May 2015 where numerous order book...
FERC Denies Request for Discovery by Respondent in FERC Enforcement Case
On May 6, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued an order denying ETRACOM LLC (“ETRACOM”) and Michael Rosenberg’s Motion to Require Disclosure of Certain Materials and Information or, in the Alternative, for Issuance of Subpoena...
FERC Notice of Alleged Violation Foreshadowed by Market Monitor Report in Southwest Power Pool
On May 6, 2016, the Office of Enforcement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a Staff Notice of Alleged Violations (“NAV”), disclosing a nonpublic investigation in which FERC staff has preliminarily determined that Saracen Energy Midwest, LP (“Saracen”)...
FERC Proceeds With Enforcement Action Against Total Gas & Power North America
On April 28, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued an order [1] directing Total Gas & Power North America, Inc. (“TGPNA”) and two natural gas traders (together the “Respondents”) to show cause why they should not be found...
U.S. Futures Exchanges Disciplinary Actions Report: March 2016
ICE FUTURES ICE 2014-072 Position Limits; Misc. Violation of Rule 4.04: Conduct Detrimental to the Exchange; and Rule 6.19: Position Limits for Cotton No. 2 Contracts. Allegedly, an entity may have violated Exchange Rule 4.04 when, after Exchange Staff had...
Court Rules on Rights of Respondents in FERC Enforcement Actions
On April 11, 2016, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a procedural order denying motions to dismiss actions initiated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) seeking affirmance of two orders assessing civil penalties against...
Industry Groups Alert FERC that the Viability of Contract Formation and Contract Sanctity are at Stake in Review of Initial Decision
On May 22, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) issued Opinion No. 537, [1] reversing the March 28, 2014 Initial Decision [2] in part and remanding for clarification and further findings by the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). The issues...
U.S. Futures Exchanges Liberalize Exceptions to Position Limit Aggregation Rules
Effective March 18, 2016 and April 4, 2016 [1] respectively, the major U.S. futures exchanges, ICE Futures U.S., Inc. (“ICE”) and the CME Group exchanges (“CME Group”), [2] have amended their rules regarding aggregation of positions for purposes of determining...
FERC Report on Transmission Investment and Related Technical Conference
At the March 17, 2016 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") meeting, FERC's Office of Energy Policy and Innovation presented a report assessing the effectiveness of FERC's transmission investment policies, including Order No. 1000 reforms and identifying possible policy changes ("Report")...
U.S. Futures Exchanges Disciplinary Actions Report: February 2016
Disciplinary Actions ICE FUTURES ICE 2012-038 Block Trades Violation of Rule 4.07(c) "“ Block Trading. Allegedly, an entity violated ICE Futures U.S. ("IFUS") Rule 4.07(c) by failing to report a 180 lot block trade, that was erroneously submitted to IFUS...
U.S. Futures Exchanges Disciplinary Actions Report: January 2016
**To make our monthly futures exchange reports more concise and user-friendly, we have narrowed the scope to cover relevant enforcement actions and generally not to cover routine exchange issuances. Disciplinary Actions CME GROUP CME 13-9587-BC-3 Pre-Arranged Trades Violation of Rules...
Monthly Futures Exchange Issuance Report: December 2015
December's Highlight On November 4, 2015, the Chairman of the CFTC, Timothy Massad, gave a speech to the Futures Industry Association Futures and Options Expo, in which he focused on the subject of swap data reporting. The Chairman noted the...