We are pleased to announce the publication of the 2014 Skadden Energy Law Handbook, available as a PDF or via our web page. This updated edition of our 2006 Handbook addresses a broad range of energy regulation topics, including FERC, CFTC and federal antitrust enforcement authority, reliability, open access transmission tariffs, merger review, and numerous other issues under the FPA, NGA and PUHCA 2005. We hope this updated edition proves as useful as the first.

Here is an Excerpt from Chapter One of the Handbook:

The Hallmarks of a Successful Compliance Program:

Regulated companies across many industries have incentives to implement strong compliance programs that reduce the likelihood and magnitude of government sanctions. Entities regulated by FERC are no different. FERC has consistently emphasized that “[e]xperience has shown that a strong internal compliance program is an effective way of ensuring compliance with statutes, Commission rules, orders, regulations, and tariff provisions, and significantly increases the likelihood that an entity will abide by and follow the spirit of, relevant rules and regulations.”

With the enhanced authority granted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, FERC issued a series of compliance-related policy statements and guidelines to address civil penalty assessments and, pertinent to this chapter, the role of compliance programs in mitigating civil penalties. FERC also has issued Show Cause Orders and Orders Approving Settlements that discuss how certain compliance programs have factored into civil penalty assessments. This chapter is intended to provide regulated entities with a framework within which to assess FERC’s policies on compliance and a description of the key elements of a compliance program....