D.C. Circuit Denies Review of EPA's Designations of Ozone Attainment Rule
On June 2, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ("D.C. Circuit") denied nineteen consolidated petitions for review of the Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") compliance determinations with EPA's 2008 ground-level ozone standards, known as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards ("NAAQS"). By denying review, the D.C. Circuit affirmed EPA's authority to make such compliance determinations under the Clean Air Act, and upheld EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act and EPA's corresponding obligations as applied to the NAAQS. [Read more →]
FERC Issues Civil Penalties against Powhatan and Energy Trader for Market Manipulation
On May 29, 2015, FERC assessed civil penalties against Powhatan Energy Fund LLC ("Powhatan"), Dr. Houlian Chen, and two funds owned by Dr. Chen, HEEP Fund, LLC ("HEEP") and CU Fund, Inc. ("CU Fund") (collectively, "Parties") for market manipulation in PJM Interconnection L.L.C.'s ("PJM") energy markets. In doing so, FERC held that the Parties engaged in fraudulent Up-To Congestion ("UTC") transactions to garner excessive amounts of transmission credits. The civil penalties include a $16.8 million penalty against Powhatan, a $10.8 million penalty against CU Fund, a $1.92 million penalty against HEEP, and a $1 million penalty against Dr. Chen. FERC also ordered disgorgements against Powhatan for $3,465,108, CU Fund for $1,080,576, and HEEP for $173,100. [Read more →]
NERC Issues 2015 State of Reliability Report
On May 28, 2015, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") issued its annual State of Reliability Report (the "Report"), and made several key findings regarding the reliability of the Bulk-Power System ("BPS"). According to NERC, the goal of the Report was to "quantify risk and performance, highlight areas for improvement, and reinforce and measure success in controlling risks to reliability." NERC based much of its analysis on data collected from January 2014 through December 2014. [Read more →]
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