On August 30, 2019, FERC instituted a section 206 proceeding to require PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”) to revise its Amended and Restated Operating Agreement (the “PJM Operating Agreement”) in light of a recent reversal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the “D.C. Circuit”).  In the new section 206 proceeding, FERC is requiring PJM to revise the PJM Operating Agreement to include projects needed solely to address Form No. 715…

On September 10, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (“Third Circuit”) vacated a federal district court order permitting PennEast Pipeline Company (“PennEast”) to exercise eminent domain power under the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”) over property interests owned by the State of New Jersey.  The Third Circuit found that while the NGA delegates the federal government’s eminent domain authority to private gas companies, it does not delegate the federal government’s separate…

On September 6, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) dismissed the City of Oberlin, Ohio’s and the Coalition to Reroute Nexus’s (collectively, “Petitioners”) request to vacate FERC’s authorization for Nexus Gas Transmission, LLC (“Nexus”) to: (1) construct and operate an interstate natural gas pipeline through parts of Ohio and Michigan; and (2) use eminent domain to acquire any necessary rights of way to complete the project (see…

On August 27, 2019, FERC issued a final rule amending its regulations at 18 C.F.R. § 385.2001(a) to require that all physical filings and submissions to be delivered to FERC, other than those sent via the U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”), are to be sent to FERC’s off-site security screening facility in Rockville, Maryland.  FERC’s rule makes no changes to electronic filings submitted through its online system.  The final rule was published in the Federal Register…

On August 27, 2019, FERC staff and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) staff (collectively, “Staff”) jointly issued a white paper on Notices of Penalty (“NOP”) for violating Critical Infrastructure Protection (“CIP”) Reliability Standards, which details requirements for Bulk Power System cyber security.  Staff elected to draft the white paper in response to the increase in Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests for the disclosure of non-public information in CIP NOPs, such as the…

On August 27, 2019, FERC affirmed its earlier rejection of PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM’s”) proposal to, in certain circumstances, exempt incumbent transmission owners from executing a Designated Entity Agreement pursuant to the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan (“RTEP”) process set forth in Schedule 6 of its Operating Agreement, but not to exempt other transmission developers from this requirement (“August 27 Order”).  The August 27 Order on rehearing and compliance affirmed FERC’s conclusion in a July 2018…

On August 22, 2019, FERC dismissed as premature Alternative Transmission Inc.’s (“ATI”) petition for declaratory order (“Petition”) asking FERC to declare that ATI’s alternative transmission facilities and services are subject to FERC’s jurisdiction and that ATI, as the owner and operator of the facilities, will be a public utility under the Federal Power Act (“FPA”).…