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Here We Go Again: Another Attempt at Recovery for Ratepayers Resulting from KeySpan-Morgan Stanley Swap
Another class action lawsuit has been filed against KeySpan Corporation (KeySpan) and Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. (Morgan Stanley), claiming damages for antitrust violations resulting from an allegedly illegal swap agreement that allowed KeySpan to manipulate energy prices in the...
Top 12 Energy Issues for '12
With the 2012 election year upon us, it promises to be an interesting year in energy politics and policy. Here are 12 (really 13 because of some creative headline writing) issues that will keep the sector hopping this year. 1...
Big Brother Is Watching: FERC Proposes to Increase Market Surveillance
Citing the ever-increasing volume and complexity of physical and financial trading in the regional transmission organizations (RTO) and independent system operators (ISO), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on October 20, 2011. If...
Offshore Winds Blowing in New Directions
In the aftermath of the offshore wind industry's recently completed annual get-together in Baltimore last week, there are many signs of success on the ocean blue's horizon. While those possibilities shine brightly in a number of key areas, the industry...
Luminant to Close Coal Plants Due to EPA Rule
Despite facing clear reliability problems because of record temperatures in Texas, Luminant said today they will close facilities to comply with EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which will cause the loss of approximately 500 jobs. The rule, which EPA released...
Interior Department Proposes Guidelines for Protecting Wildlife from Wind Energy Development
Fossil fuels are under fire from opponents of hydraulic fracturing in the gas drilling process or, in coal's case, everything from mountaintop mining to mercury emissions. And now with the crisis in Japan, nuclear power is facing new challenges. Of...
More Power to the Water
Power from water is again in the news as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee moves forward on measures to increase hydropower and improve the impact of energy development on water resources. As well, the national trade group representing...
SEC Proposes Rule Requiring Oil, Gas and Mining Companies to Disclose Payments to Governments
By Jonathan Halpern and Thomas Kokalas Under a rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, oil, gas and mining companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges would be required to disclose payments they made to foreign governments or the United...
FERC Tightens Credit Practices in Organized Markets
A final rule that tightens and standardizes credits practices for organized wholesale electricity markets "” independent system operators (ISO) and regional transmission organizations (RTO) "” was issued by FERC October 21. To comply with the credit practices prescribed in the...
Fate of Ocean Power Projects Requires FERC and Interior Cooperation
Jurisdictional jockeying between FERC and the Department of Interior threatens development of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) ocean power projects. The issue calls out for agency cooperation and possibly an interagency agreement similar to that between FERC and the U.S. Forest...
Employee Function Replaces Corporate Separation as Cornerstone of FERC's New Standards of Conduct
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission adopted revised Standards of Conduct (Standards of Conduct) for Transmission Providers "• both natural gas pipelines and electric transmission systems "• in its October 16 Order No. 717. The single largest change from earlier SC...
Energy Beneficiaries of Economic Stimulus Package
The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 embedded in the economic stimulus legislation (H.R. 1424) that President Bush signed into law on October 3, 2008, provides nearly $17 billion in various tax credits to promote clean power generation technologies...
GAO Report Urges FERC to Be More Specific on Costs, Benefits of RTO Membership
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report to Congress on September 26 urging FERC to take additional steps to analyze the benefits and performance of the Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that manage regional transmission grids. FERC's development of RTOs...
PJM's RPM Dodges Buyers' Bullets However Well Aimed
FERC stopped a rebellion of PJM Interconnection power buyers in a September 19 order that rejected their complaint against PJM's reliability pricing model (RPM) capacity obligation and auction. A motley crew of buyers and their representatives "” coops, state commissions...
FERC Revisits Who in PJM Is Going to Pay for Transmission Upgrades
FERC conditionally approved a contested settlement on the allocation of transmission owner costs for projects approved through the regional transmission expansion plan (RTEP) of PJM Interconnection, LLC. The settlement directs how PJM will allocate the transmission owners' costs of RTEP...