On June 22, 2016, President Obama signed a bill reauthorizing the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) oil and gas pipeline programs through 2019. Obama’s final stamp on the Protecting our...more
6/29/2016
/ Barack Obama ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
Natural Gas ,
New Legislation ,
Oil & Gas ,
PHMSA ,
Pipelines ,
PIPES Act ,
Public Safety ,
Reauthorization ,
Underground Storage Tanks
On April 15, 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued its Draft Midwest Wind Energy Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan (Plan) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) proposing a regional approach to...more
Recent trends demonstrate a rapid growth in corporations directly buying renewable energy from wind, solar and other renewable energy generators. Renewable energy capacity under corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs)...more
California energy agencies and key stakeholders have finished the first step of a statewide planning process to evaluate transmission needs in the state and the region. This process, called the Renewable Energy Transmission...more
5/18/2016
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
CAISO ,
California Energy Commission ,
Comment Period ,
CPUC ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Renewable Energy ,
Solar Energy ,
Transmission Grid ,
Transmission Lines
On September 22, 2015, the White House, through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), issued guidance to the heads of certain federal departments and agencies (the Agencies)...more
9/29/2015
/ CEQ ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
FERC ,
Government Agencies ,
Infrastructure ,
NEPA ,
New Guidance ,
Obama Administration ,
OMB ,
Pipelines ,
Project Management
The end of the California State Legislature’s regular session for the year culminated in a frenzy of action, with Assembly members scrambling to pass dozens of bills before midnight on September 12, 2015. The California...more
9/21/2015
/ CAISO ,
Cap-and-Trade ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
CPUC ,
Energy Efficiency ,
Global Warming ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
ISOs ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Renewable Energy ,
Renewable Portfolio Standards ,
Transmission Grid
As California begins to turn the page on the first chapter of its efforts to combat climate change through AB 32 and to prepare for greater emissions reductions over the coming decades, the California Energy Commission (CEC)...more
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has released an August 2015 report projecting local reliability shortfalls in the Los Angeles basin planning area as early as 2021. The deficits may require new natural gas power...more
Existing and new power plants face increasing complexity as EPA’s historic final rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions represents a major expansion of EPA’s regulatory authority.
In a rare presidential announcement of...more
8/19/2015
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Coal-Fired Generation ,
Energy Sector ,
Energy Tax Incentives ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Final Rules ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Nuclear Power ,
Oil & Gas ,
Power Plants
Following the May 28, 2015 release by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of 14 final Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for land use plans designed to provide greater protection to the greater sage-grouse on...more
Phase I of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”) is underway on the 9.8 million acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”). As discussed in our previous post, the four lead...more
On Thursday, May 28, 2015, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released fourteen final Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) that incorporate greater-sage-grouse conservation measures into the land-use plans for about 50...more
On May 26, nine western states filed an amicus brief in People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners (PETPO) v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service urging the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to limit the reach of...more
On May 18, 2015, the federal agencies that oversee the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service proposed significant changes to the process by which...more
On April 21, 2015, Sally Jewell, the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, announced that a sub-population of greater sage-grouse along the California-Nevada border does not require Endangered Species Act protection....more
On April 1, 2015, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) announced that it would list the northern long-eared bat as a “threatened species” under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”).
The listing comes in response to a...more
On March 6, 2015, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) updated its Guidance Manual for Preparation of Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) for the purpose of better characterizing exposure risks...more
Concerns from local agencies, industry, and environmental groups over the long-awaited Draft Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”)/Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan...more
On October 16, 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued an Order on Tariff Revisions, FERC Docket No. ER14-2574, conditionally accepting, with two substantive modifications, tariff changes proposed by...more
On Sept. 23, 2014, the California Energy Commission, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental...more
On September 23, 2014, the California Energy Commission (“CEC”), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (“CDFW”), US Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), and US Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) released the Draft...more
On September 5, 2014, San Diego Gas & Electric (“SDG&E”) issued a 2014 Energy Storage System (“ESS”) Request for Offers (“RFO”) soliciting at least 25 MW—and up to 800 MW—of energy storage (the “2014 ES RFO”). SDG&E’s 2014...more
We analyze EPA’s novel proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants as it will shape its regulation of other industry sectors.
On June 2, 2014, EPA released its long-anticipated proposal to...more
On March 13, 2014, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) adopted D.14-03-004, which authorized Southern California Edison (SCE) to procure 500-700 MW of additional resources and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to...more
Electricity Generation in California: Key Developments and Trends, a webcast hosted by Latham & Watkins partner Michael Carroll and associate Marc Campopiano, focused on the recent developments that are constraining...more