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PCCA Journal|1

st

Quarter 2015

25

POWER NEWS

Continued on page 26

FERC Plans Conferences

Focused on EPA’s Clean Power Plan

T

he Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

(FERC) in December announced a series of

technical conferences to discuss implications

of compliance approaches to the EPA’s pro-

posed Clean Power Plan rule. The conferences

will focus on issues related to electric reliability, wholesale

electric markets and operations, and energy infrastructure.

The conferences began with a commission-led National

Overview session at FERC headquarters on February 19.

Subsequent staff-led regional technical conferences will be

held in Washington, St. Louis, and Denver on dates to be

announced. Commission members may participate in those

conferences.

“The commission clearly has a role to play in ensuring that

the nation’s energy markets and infrastructure adapt to sup-

port compliance with the proposed Clean Power Plan,” said

FERC Chairman Cheryl A. LaFleur. “These technical confer-

ences will be an opportunity for the commission to hear from

a wide range of stakeholders across the country on issues

related to reliability, market operations, and energy infra-

structure.”

Topics at the National Overview technical conference in-

cluded:

s฀

Whether state utility and environmental regulators, regu-

lated entities, and others have the appropriate tools to

identify reliability and/or market issues that may arise.

s฀

Potential strategies for complying with the EPA regulations

and coordinating with FERC-jurisdictional wholesale and

interstate markets.

s฀

How planning entities, industry, and states coordinate reli-

ability and infrastructure planning processes with environ-

mental compliance efforts to ensure the adequate develop-

ment of new infrastructure and to manage any potential

reliability and operational impacts of proposed compliance

plans.

Each of the three regional conferences will include discus-

sion of potential effects on each region’s reliability, power

system operations, and generator dispatch under various

compliance approaches. Further information also will be

posted on the Calendar of Events on the FERC website, www.

ferc.gov, prior to the conferences.

Chamber Analysis Details State Concerns

with Proposed EPA Power Plant Regulations

A

comprehensive new analysis

released in January by the U.S.

Chamber’s Institute for 21st

Century Energy demonstrates the sever-

ity and breadth of state objections to

EPA’s proposed clean power plan rule.

Released last June by the Obama

administration, the rule represents one

of the largest and costliest regulatory

actions in history. Last fall, stakeholders

and the public were invited to submit

comments to EPA for consideration. All

fifty states, often through their public

utility commissions or environmental

agencies, submitted comments.

“What is truly striking is the level

of concern many states have regard-

ing EPA’s rule—whether they are blue

states, red states, or purple states,” said

Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the

Energy Institute. “Keeping the power on

and keeping electricity affordable are

not partisan issues, and indeed those

responsible for critical functions in many

states of all political stripes are telling

the Obama administration that major

changes must be made to this rule.”

The Energy Institute’s analysis identi-

fies 12 significant and common themes

raised by states, ranging from rushed

regulatory timelines (34 states), the legal

basis of the rule (32 states), threats to

reliability (32 states), and negative eco-

nomic consequences (28 states). At least

40 states questioned the achievability

of at least one of the “building blocks”

upon which the rule is based.

“EPA has emphasized from the start

that listening to the states and to stake-