FERC recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to expand the existing duty of candor rule by adding a requirement in 18 CFR Part 1 that any entity communicating with FERC or other specified organizations related...more
US Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced legislation on July 28, 2022, to provide FERC with the authority to temporarily or permanently ban any person from trading or transacting in...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show cause orders to two natural pipelines—Rover Pipeline and Midship Pipeline Company—following its December 2021 open meeting, and sent a related dispute involving Midship for...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced on February 22 that its Office of Enforcement would examine wholesale natural gas and electricity market activity during last week’s extreme cold weather ...more
2/24/2021
/ CFTC ,
Electricity ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Policy ,
FERC ,
Government Investigations ,
Infrastructure ,
Market Manipulation ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Price Gouging ,
Severe Weather ,
Wholesale
On February 17, Texas Governor Greg Abbott took the extraordinary measure of directing the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) to restrict out-of-state exports of natural gas produced in Texas through February 21. Noting the...more
After severe winter weather forced Texas into experiencing power outages and rolling blackouts, there will likely be resulting federal and state investigations into the outages, federal investigations into commodity and...more
2/18/2021
/ CFTC ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Futures ,
Government Investigations ,
Natural Gas ,
NERC ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Power Grid ,
Reliability Standards ,
Severe Weather ,
Storm Damage
A natural gas trader pleaded guilty in federal district court last week to conspiring to commit commodities fraud and wire fraud in an insider trading scheme over natural gas futures. His co-conspirator had pleaded guilty...more
2/12/2021
/ Anti-Manipulation Rule ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Fraud ,
Futures ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Insider Trading ,
Market Manipulation ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Wire Fraud
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposed revisions to its Policy Statement on Natural Gas and Electric Price Indices (Policy Statement) on December 17 to encourage market participants to report transactions to...more
The US Department of Energy (DOE or Department) finalized a rulemaking proceeding last week that revises its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing procedures pertaining to certain authorizations under the...more
12/8/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Exports ,
FERC ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Reform
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) Office of Enforcement (OE) issued its 2020 Report on Enforcement on November 19. The report provides a review of OE’s activities during fiscal year 2020 (FY...more
A cyberattack on a single gas compression facility resulted in the shutdown of a natural gas pipeline for two days, according to a recent alert from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure...more
2/26/2020
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Emergency Response ,
Hackers ,
Information Technology ,
National Security ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain ,
Threat Management
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA’s) long-awaited final rule on the minimum safety standards for underground natural gas storage facilities (UNGSFs) was published in the February 12 Federal...more
2/19/2020
/ Energy Policy ,
Final Rules ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
PHMSA ,
PIPES Act ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safety Standards ,
Underground Storage Tanks
A declaratory order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the Commission) on January 30 in Docket No. RP20-41-000 grants pipeline developers greater certainty in planning and siting construction. The order was...more
2/7/2020
/ Asset Seizure ,
Construction Project ,
Eminent Domain ,
Energy Projects ,
FERC ,
Infrastructure ,
Land Developers ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Pipelines ,
Property ,
Property Ownership ,
Right of Way ,
Site Plans ,
State-Owned Enterprises
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed and settled charges on October 24 against Upstream Energy Services LLC (Upstream Energy) for acting as an unregistered futures commission merchant. The Commission’s order...more
A proposed rule by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could reduce costs for oil and gas producers and processors by eliminating certain air emission requirements. The EPA issued a proposed rule on August 29 to roll...more
The US Supreme Court has denied a petition for certiorari filed by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, which challenged a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit concerning Pennsylvania’s water quality...more
Rate reductions across the natural gas sector could materialize as a result of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s ongoing investigation of benefits gained by the recent reduction in the federal corporate income tax...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking stakeholder comments through a Notice of Inquiry as it contemplates updating its policy statement on how FERC-jurisdictional facilities are reviewed and authorized....more
Over a half dozen natural gas rate proceedings are expected to be initiated in 2018, many of which will raise issues such as the impact of the new tax laws on rates and the inclusion of a pipeline modernization tracker in...more
The newly enacted legislation further bolsters PHMSA’s growing oversight of storage and pipeline transport facilities.
On June 22, US President Barack Obama signed the Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and...more
6/29/2016
/ Barack Obama ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
FERC ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
PHMSA ,
Pipelines ,
PIPES Act ,
Public Safety
The proposal furthers an ongoing effort to minimize Dodd-Frank burdens on commercial end users.
On April 4, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an order proposing guidance about the Dodd-Frank...more
FERC proposes to establish a framework that allows pipelines to use surcharge or tracker cost-recovery mechanisms to accelerate system improvements associated with new safety and environmental compliance regulations....more