To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
The Texas House of Representatives and Senate are considering
three similar, but not identical, legislative drafts that could
impose substantial grid charges directly on renewable generation
businesses.
House Bill 4466,
which is scheduled for hearing on April 8, would require the Public
Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to require the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state s internal
market operator, to directly assign to the renewable projects
themselves the costs of ancillary services that ERCOT incurs
(including standby backup, and reactive power) to address renewable
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
On March 29, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) published its Final Rule regarding Waiver of the Water
Quality Certification Requirements of Section 401(a)(1) of the
Clean Water Act in the Federal Register (86 FR 16298). The Final
Rule amends FERC s regulations found in Part 153 and Part 157
of Title 18 to categorically establish a one-year time period for a
state- or tribal-certifying authority to act on a water quality
certification request related to natural gas pipelines and
liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects pursuant to Section 3 or
Section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act (NGA). As described in Holland
On March 26, 2021, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed Chapter 8 of the Acts of 2021, An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy, into law, cementing the Commonwealth's status .
The White House this morning released a fact sheet on
The American Jobs
Plan, also known as President Biden s
infrastructure plan. There s a lot in here (as there
should be for a couple of trillion dollars!), so today I ll
focus on energy infrastructure. Here are the
highlights:
$100B to build a more resilient electric transmission
system. This includes the creation of a targeted
investment tax credit that incentivizes the buildout of at least
200 gigawatts of high-voltage capacity power lines.
Creation of a Grid Deployment Authority within DOE
to facilitate transmission line siting.
A ten-year extension and phase down of an expanded
In Short
The Situation: With a new federal
administration committed to expansive environmental policy change,
a wave of state attorney general environmental action is likely
also on the horizon.
The Result: As new environmental initiatives
rollout, state attorneys general will likely become more active in
challenging or supporting proposed regulatory changes. While some
of this activity may fall along party lines, some will be
bipartisan. An uptick in enforcement actions is also likely
looming, as state attorneys general embrace the new
administration s emphasis on environmental change.
Looking Ahead: State attorneys general have
increasingly acted through multistate coalitions in recent years,