Legal & Regulatory

Cheryl A. LaFleur One of the most controversial issues facing the energy world today is how our electric sector will respond to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved an electric security plan (ESP) for AEP Ohio—a unit of American Electric Power—on Feb. 25, but declined to adopt the company’s proposed power purchase agreement (PPA) as it relates to the Ohio Valley Electric Corp. (OVEC). The PPA rider was a point of contention with several groups […]

Duke Energy has been charged by federal authorities with nine misdemeanor counts of violating the Clean Water Act and other federal regulations stemming from improper disposal of coal ash at multiple sites in North Carolina. Duke said in a statement on Feb. 20 that it had entered a plea agreement with federal prosecutors to settle […]

Although there has been plenty of discussion in the U.S. power industry about the challenges posed by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP), Missouri-based Ameren Corp. is the first generating company to go public with a specific set of proposed revisions. On Feb. 11, Ameren released a white paper that proposed […]

Two developments yesterday, one quiet, one rather loud, suggest the long-predicted existential threat to the traditional utility model may be at hand. The quiet news came from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which reported that utility-scale solar generation crossed the 5-GW mark for the first time yesterday. Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. PST, […]

In yet another black eye for the long-delayed and hugely over-budget Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle plant (IGCC), the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 12 that the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) erred in granting plant owner Mississippi Power rate increases in 2013 and 2014, and ordered that the increases be refunded to […]

According to Peter S. Glaser, partner with Troutman Sanders LLP, who practices in the energy and environmental law fields, saying “no” is an option that states have in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan proposal. Speaking during a panel discussion at George Mason University’s Law and Economics Center on Feb. 4, […]

The Byron Sher Auditorium in Sacramento, Calif., was filled at times with students, parents, and other concerned citizens as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held the last of three public hearings on proposed updates to the national air quality standards for ground-level ozone on Feb. 2. The hearings were scheduled as part of the policymaking […]

The world will fall short of the goal of providing universal sustainable electricity access by 2030 set by the United Nations and World Bank without “immediate concerted action” by governments, industry, and the international community, according to a survey of utilities around the world conducted by the Global Electricity Initiative (GEI). The GEI is a […]

The long-drawn-out political impasse on Australia’s review of its Renewable Energy Target (RET) has generators reeling from what they say are “constant policy changes and distortions from successive interference by governments.” Australia’s RET, which has been in operation since 2001, was increased in 2010 to require that about 20% of the nation’s then-projected demand in […]