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PHMSA Inspections to Focus on Integrity Management Program Evaluations
Effective immediately, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) inspections will emphasize the review of operator methods for integrity management (IM) program evaluations, the agency said in an Advisory Bulletin released earlier today. PHMSA also stated that it will carefully...
FERC Tees Up Enforcement for 2013
The specter of enforcement actions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is looming large over the energy industries. In the post-election flurry of FERC enforcement activity, FERC curtailed JP Morgan Venture Energy Corp.'s authority to sell power at market-based rates...
FTC Defers to State Resolution of Competitive Concerns Arising Out of Acquisition of Natural Gas Assets
On November 7, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission announced it had closed its investigation of Hilcorp Alaska LLC's proposed $375M acquisition of Marathon Oil Company's Cook Inlet, Alaska natural gas production, storage, and pipeline assets, despite identifying several competitive concerns...
What's in Store for Offshore Energy After the 2012 Election
President Obama describes his energy policy as an "All of the Above" approach that encourages production of traditional fossil fuels while supporting the growth of renewables. Despite an increase in overall U.S. energy production over the past four years, output...
CFTC Provides a Bit of Last-Minute Breathing Room on Swaps Regulation
On Friday October 12, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) regulations defining the term "swap" took effect, triggering a cascade of new regulatory requirements pursuant to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) for entities holding...
Prepping for CFIUS: Understanding and Managing Foreign Investments in the U.S.
In late September 2012, the Obama Administration blocked plans by a Chinese company to build wind projects in Oregon, citing national security considerations due to the close proximity of a U.S. Navy site near the proposed site. This recent order...
PJM IBTs - What Is Going On?
There is another development in the PJM Internal Bilateral Transactions (IBT) saga. PJM appears to have indirectly threatened to investigate parties that seek to comment on and help resolve the generic issues raised by PJM's interpretation of its tariff and...
UPDATE: PJM Provides Its View
Internal Bilateral Transactions: Regulatory Risk & Confusion Reign As explained in our alert "
Internal Bilateral Transactions: Regulatory Risk & Confusion Reign
Internal Bilateral Transactions (IBTs) are bilateral transactions occurring between market participants within a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) market. While these transactions have differing names in various RTOs ( IBTs in PJM, ISO-NE, and NYISO; Financial Schedules in MISO; Inter-SC Trades...
Electricity Buy/Sells: Permitted, Prohibited, or Simultaneous Exchanges?
Recently the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission clarified the regulatory status of a type of energy transaction called a "Simultaneous Exchange." However, at the same time, the Commission has created ambiguity in a related area. That is, whether electricity Buy/Sell transactions...
Priority Access on Interconnection Lines: FERC's Policy Under Review
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently issued a Notice of Inquiry seeking comment on whether and/or how FERC should revise its current policy concerning priority rights on interconnection lines that connect generators to the larger transmission grid. Comments are due...
Companies File Rehearing Requests on PJM Western Hub IBT Issue
As previously noted in an Energy Legal Blog post on March 19 , in an order resolving a complaint filed by DC Energy, LLC and DC Energy Mid"Atlantic, LLC against PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)...
FERC Order Appears to Find Most PJM Internal Bilateral Transactions Improper
In an order resolving a complaint filed by DC Energy, LLC and DC Energy Mid-Atlantic, LLC against PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM), 1 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has ruled that in order for an Internal Bilateral Transaction (IBT) to...
FERC Decides to Retain Existing Merger Review Policies
On February 16, 2012, FERC issued an order ( February 16 Order ) reaffirming its existing merger review policies under Section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) and its current framework for analyzing requests for market-based rate authority under...
FERC Orders Prior Authorization for a Subcategory of Locational Exchanges of Power
On February 16, 2012, FERC issued two orders regarding locational exchanges of wholesale electric power, the implications of which will require prior authorization for a subset of future locational exchanges. FERC also indicated that its decisions might result in modifications...