Valerie L. Green

  • August 15, 2023

DOE Issues Proposed Rules to Accelerate Permitting and Enable More Rapid Deployment of Interstate Transmission Projects

Clean Energy, Permitting, Regulatory, Renewable Energy, Siting
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

On August 10, 2023, the Department of Energy (“DOE”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (“NOPR”) proposing to establish an integrated Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits Program (“CITAP Program”) that provides an expedient approval process for qualifying interstate transmission projects. Triggered by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA,” also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law”) and the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”), the CITAP Program intends to relieve capacity constraints and congestion on the nation’s electric transmission grid by:

  • Improving the existing Integrated Interagency Pre-application Process (“IIP Process”) to identify the relevant necessary permits at the earliest opportunity;
  • Setting a two-year deadline for Federal entities to issue decisions and permits authorizing electric transmission projects after the publication of a Notice of Intent (“NOI”) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”);
  • Simplifying the administrative record by incorporating the IIP Process administrative file into a single docket that contains all
Continue Reading...
  • August 07, 2023

FERC Makes Meaningful Revisions to Interconnection Process with Order No. 2023

Clean Energy, Energy Storage, FERC, Regulatory, Siting
Authors:
Practice area:

On July 28, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued Order No. 2023  requiring all public utility transmission providers to adopt reforms to FERC’s pro forma generator interconnection procedures and agreements to address interconnection queue backlogs and prevent undue discrimination for new technologies.

In what FERC Chairman Willie Phillips referred to as “a watershed moment for our nation’s transmission grid,” the new rule includes several areas of reform. Order No. 2023 builds off FERC’s June 2022 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”), in large part adopting the NOPR but deviating in several key areas after the receipt of approximately 4,500 pages of comments helping FERC inform its decision. Reforms in Order No. 2023  include:

  • Implementing a first-ready, first-served cluster study process, where transmission providers will conduct cluster interconnection studies encompassing numerous proposed generating facilities, rather than separate studies for each individual generating facility.
  • Speeding up interconnection queue processing by imposing firm deadlines with penalties
Continue Reading...
  • November 22, 2022

FERC Releases Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Enforcement Report

FERC, Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:

On November 17, 2022, the Staff of the Office of Enforcement (“OE”) of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued its sixteenth  Annual Report on Enforcement (the “Report”).[1] The Report discusses the activities performed by OE’s Division of Investigations (“DOI”), Division of Audits and Accounting (“DAA”), and Division of Analytics and Surveillance (“DAS”).

The Report provides ample reason for all participants in the energy markets regulated by FERC to continue to place an emphasis on compliance and annual reporting.  The increase in investigations, the scope of DAS’s surveillance activities, and the resolution of self-reports without significant further investigation or penalties suggests that FERC continues to prioritize enforcement activities and values a strong culture of compliance by market participants.

FERC’s Strategic Plan and OE’s Priorities

OE’s priorities follow FERC’s March 28, 2022 Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2022-2026 (“Strategic Plan”). The Strategic Plan set forth several of FERC’s principal missions, including: accounting for significant

Continue Reading...
  • March 24, 2022

Update: FERC Commissioners Vote Unanimously to Revise Pipeline Certificate and GHG Emission Policy Statements

Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has reached consensus to revise the two policy statements it issued on February 18, 2022, impacting the permitting and construction of new natural gas pipeline facilities

During the March 24, 2022 FERC open meeting, Chairman Glick explained that the new order will:

  • Change the status of both policy statements to be “draft” policy statements
  • Reopen the comment period for both draft policy statements so that the Commission can re-engage with stakeholders and further develop the record
  • Further develop the record, and revise both policy statements to make them applicable only prospectively to any pipeline certificate applications that are filed subsequent to the issuance of any final versions of the policy statements.

Currently-pending certificate applications will be reviewed pursuant to the Commission’s 1999 Policy Statement  and relevant FERC and judicial precedent.  Although the vote was unanimous, each of the Commissioners indicated that they intend to issue separate statements explaining their

Continue Reading...
  • March 15, 2022

Amidst Ongoing Policy Statement Controversy, D.C. Circuit Remands Another FERC Pipeline Order Over GHG Analysis

FERC, Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

Once again finding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC” or “Commission”) environmental assessment (“EA”) analysis of the downstream effect of greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions associated with interstate natural gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals certificated pursuant to the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) legally insufficient, on March 11, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a remand directing FERC to consider the reasonably foreseeable indirect effects of burning natural gas as the result of a pipeline expansion project.  The court directed FERC to consider such indirect downstream impacts on remand and to prepare a conforming EA, but declined to vacate the FERC’s orders. Food & Water Watch and Berkshire Environmental Action Team v. FERC, No. 20-1132 (Mar. 11, 2022) (“Food & Water Watch”).  Food & Water Watch, authored by Chief Judge Srinivasan and joined by Judges Millett and Katsas, appears to provide further support for some of the reasoning provided by

Continue Reading...
  • March 03, 2022

Contentious Senate Committee Hearing Highlights the Politically-Charged Nature of FERC’s Recent Pipeline Policy Statements

FERC, Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing today to question Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard Glick and Commissioners Allison Clements, Mark Christie, James Danly, and Willie Phillips about FERC’s two recent policy statements regarding natural gas certificates.  Those two policy statements, each of which were issued by 3-2 vote with Commissioners Christie and Danly dissenting with separate statements, were issued on February 18, 2022 and are the subject of a separate Pierce Atwood blog post. Members of the Pierce Atwood Energy team watched the livestream video of the Senate hearing, and, in this post, provide some high-level insights based on the Senators’ questions and Commissioners’ responses today.

To no one’s surprise, the hearing was a politically-charged event. With one notable exception, the participating Senators’ response to FERC’s actions was split along party lines, with Democrats generally supporting the policy statements and Republicans criticizing the policy statements with openly expressed dismay and frustration.  The FERC Commissioners’

Continue Reading...
  • February 21, 2022

FERC Issues Two Controversial Policy Statements on Natural Gas Infrastructure

FERC, Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

On February 18, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued two controversial policy statements that will significantly impact the permitting and construction of new natural gas pipeline facilities.  The policy statements were each approved by a 3-2 majority with Commissioners Danly and Christie issuing separate dissents.

The Updated Policy Statement on Certification of New Interstate Natural Gas Facilities (“Updated Policy Statement”) revises FERC’s 1999 Certificate Policy Statement to give environmental analysis and policy, including environmental justice, a greater role in determining whether FERC should approve new natural gas transportation facilities as consistent with the “public convenience and necessity” under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”).  A companion Interim Policy Statement on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Natural Gas Infrastructure Project Reviews (“GHG Policy Statement”) seeks to explain how FERC will assess the impacts of natural gas infrastructure projects on climate change in its reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and the NGA.

Continue Reading...
  • November 23, 2021

Technical Conference Sparks Debate Over FERC’s Legal Authority to Consider Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Pipeline Certification Review

FERC, Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

On November 19, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) convened a staff-led technical conference to discuss methods natural gas companies may use to mitigate the effects of direct and indirect greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions resulting from pipeline construction and expansion projects that are subject to Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) sections 3 and 7 authorizations by FERC (the “Conference”). The Conference included three panel discussions:  1) The Level of Mitigation for a Proposed Project’s Reasonably Foreseeable Greenhouse Gas Emissions; 2) Types of Mitigation; and 3) Compliance and Cost Recovery of Mitigation.

One of the threshold questions posed by the Commissioners, and a recurring theme throughout the conference, was whether FERC has the legal authority to consider GHG emissions as part of its certification process. Chairman Richard Glick asserted that FERC has authority to mitigate GHG emissions and that doing so will provide greater certainty for the industry, and expressed concern regarding FERC’s handling of the issue to date, given the flurry of recent decisions

Continue Reading...
  • September 27, 2021

FERC Staff Recommends Natural Gas Infrastructure Winterization Measures in Light of 2021 Extreme Winter Weather Events

FERC, Natural Gas Pipelines, Regulatory
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), in coordination with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”), presented its preliminary findings and recommendations at FERC’s Open Meeting on September 23 regarding its inquiry into the February 2021 Cold Weather Event in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”), Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (“SPP”), and Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”).

The February 2021 Cold Weather Event occurred from February 8 through 20, 2021, during which large numbers of generating units experienced outages, derates, or failures to start, resulting in energy and transmission emergencies. The power outages affected millions of customers throughout the ERCOT, MISO, and SPP regions. On February 16, 2021, FERC and NERC announced a joint inquiry to examine the root causes of the event.

The preliminary findings indicate that a majority of the unplanned generating unit outages, derates, and failures to start were due to natural gas fuel supply issues. The major causes of the decline in natural gas

Continue Reading...
  • July 22, 2021

House of Reps, TSA Tackle Cybersecurity in the Energy Industry

Uncategorized
Authors:
Practice area:
Industries:

This week, the House of Representatives approved three measures aimed at improving cybersecurity in the energy industry:

  • Energy Emergency Leadership Act. This Bill requires the Secretary of Energy to assign energy emergency and cybersecurity responsibilities to an Assistant Secretary, including responsibilities regarding infrastructure and cybersecurity.

 

 

  • Cyber Sense Act of 2021. This Bill encourages coordination between the Department of Energy and electric utilities. It also requires the Department of Energy to test products and technologies intended for use in the bulk power system.

These measures, which will now move to the Senate, are in response to the slew of recent cybersecurity attacks against critical U.S.

Continue Reading...