On November 16, 2017, the Office of Enforcement (OE) at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) released its annual Report on Enforcement. The report contains data on investigative and enforcement...more
Last week, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released an initial list of actions to implement Executive Order 13807, which was intended to streamline the federal review of major projects under the National...more
Last week, the Deputy Secretary of Interior, David Bernhardt, issued a memo directing the Department's bureaus to streamline environmental impact statements (EISs) prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act...more
On August 15, President Trump signed an Executive Order calling for streamlined federal review of major infrastructure projects. The Order applies to federal approvals for infrastructure projects in the following sectors...more
A June 5, 2017, Department of Justice (DOJ) policy directive threatens the ongoing availability of Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) in civil environmental settlements. SEPs have traditionally provided a means by...more
On February 28, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order to begin the process of rescinding or revising the infamous Waters of the United States (or WOTUS) Rule. Years in the making, the WOTUS Rule was supposed to...more
This month, the Office of Enforcement (OE) of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its tenth Annual Report on Enforcement. The report provides FY2016 statistics on the investigative and enforcement...more
On August 1, 2016, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released its final guidance on how and when federal agencies should consider the direct and indirect impacts from climate change, including from...more
On July 21, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposed a new data collection rule that would require market-based rate (MBR) sellers and entities trading virtual products or holding firm transmission...more
7/29/2016
/ Confidential Information ,
Data Collection ,
Databases ,
Electricity ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Trading ,
FERC ,
Market Manipulation ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wholesale
On May 31, 2016, the Supreme Court of the United States held that final determinations by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding the presence or absence of “waters of the United States” can be appealed to the courts. The...more
6/2/2016
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Administrative Procedure Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Judgment ,
Hawkes Co v United States Army Corps of Engineers ,
Judicial Review ,
Jurisdictional Determination (JD) ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 404 ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
In this eight-week alert series, we are providing a broad look at current and emerging issues facing the energy sector. Attorneys from across the firm will discuss issues ranging from environmental disclosures and risk...more
3/18/2016
/ Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Demand Response ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Federal Power Act ,
FERC ,
FERC v Electric Power Supply Association ,
Michigan v. EPA ,
Natural Gas Act ,
ONEOK v Learjet ,
Order to Stay ,
Preemption ,
Renewable Fuel Standard ,
SCOTUS
On March 10, 2016, President Obama announced that Canada would join the United States in its goal to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector. The President said that the countries together would “move swiftly to...more
Important energy issues continue to arise at the intersection of law and policy in California. Here are eight hot topics that require the attention of entities with interests in California's energy sector....more
3/14/2016
/ CEQA ,
CPUC ,
DRECP ,
Energy Efficiency ,
Energy Sector ,
Energy Storage ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Spills ,
PHMSA ,
Pipelines ,
Renewable Energy ,
Renewable Portfolio Standards ,
Water
In this eight-week alert series, we are providing a broad look at current and emerging issues facing the energy sector. Attorneys from across the firm will discuss issues ranging from environmental disclosures and risk...more
The Office of Enforcement (OE) of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently released its annual report for the past fiscal year. The report provides FY2015 statistics on the investigative and enforcement...more
On September 17, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) proposed rule requiring wholesale electricity buyers and sellers (participants in markets run by Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) or Independent...more
The US Supreme Court held yesterday that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unreasonably failed to consider costs when it made the initial decision to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from power...more
Yesterday, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers released a final rule defining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act, or “waters of the United States.”...more
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act — more commonly known as the Clean Water Act — establishes a stringent regulatory and permitting regime governing the discharge of pollutants into rivers, streams, wetlands, and other...more