Appellate Briefs

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1288 Order authorizing abandonments, of offshore and mainline facilities, by removal, in-place, and sale to Triton Gathering LLC, and determining jurisdictional status of facilities.  Stingray Pipeline Co., L.L.C., 183 FERC ¶ 61,201 (2023), order on reh’g, 185 FERC ¶ 61,171 (2023).

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1134, et al. Order on tariff revisions concerning reactive power supply. Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., 182 FERC ¶ 61,033 (2023), order on reh’g, 184 FERC ¶ 61,022 (2023).  

S. Ct. No. 23-1069 Brief for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  PJM proposed revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff, regarding application of the Minimum Offer Price Rule in its capacity market, go into effect by operation of law.  PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., Notice of Filing Taking Effect by Operation of Law (Sept. 29, 2021) (noting that Commission did not act on PJM’s filing “because the Commissioners are divided two against two as to the lawfulness of the change”), rehearing denied by operation of law, 177 FERC ¶ 62,105 (Nov. 29, 2021).  

D.C. Cir. No. 22-1334 and 23-1151 Order rejecting proposed tariff revisions, to require market participants representing load serving entities participating in MISO’s planning resource auction to implement a Minimum Capacity Obligation.  Midcontinent Independent System Operator,  Inc., 180 FERC ¶ 61,142 (2022), order on reh’g, 183 FERC  ¶ 61,112 (2023).

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1236 Order denying complaint and petition, seeking reimbursement of funds paid to WAPA for the expansion of WAPA’s Kimball Substation.  Kimball Wind, LLC v. Western Area Power Administration, Rocky Mountain Region, 183 FERC ¶ 61,085 (2023), order on reh’g, 184 FERC ¶ 61,150 (2023).

S. Ct. No. 23-773 Brief for the Federal Respondent in Opposition. Order adopting the PJM Market Monitor’s Unit-Specific Avoidable Cost Rate, and granting PJM request for waiver of certain pre-auction deadlines in the event the Commission establishes a lower value for the replacement default offer cap.  Independent Market Monitor for PJM v. PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., 176 FERC ¶ 61,137 (Sept. 2, 2021); Notice of denial of rehearing by operation of law and providing for further consideration, 177 FERC ¶ 62,066 (Nov. 4, 2021); Order on Rehearing, 178 FERC ¶ 61,121 (Feb. 18, 2022).

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1226 Order issuing certificate to construct and operate two new interstate natural gas pipelines (Line 200 and Line 300 Project) in Beauregard and Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana.  Driftwood Pipeline LLC, 183 FERC ¶ 61,049 (2023); Notice of Denial of Rehearing by Operation of Law, 185 FERC ¶ 62,064 (Nov. 6, 2023).

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1175, et al. Order on remand, reaffirming authorization of Texas LNG facility. Texas LNG Brownsville LLC, 183 FERC ¶ 61,047 (2023), order on reh’g, 185 FERC ¶ 61,079 (2023).

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1174, et al. Order on remand from 2021 D.C. Cir. decision, Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera v. FERC, 6 F.4th 1321 (D.C. Cir. 2021), and amending Rio Grande LNG certificate.  Rio Grande LNG, LLC & Rio Bravo Pipeline Company, LLC, 183 FERC ¶ 61,046 (2023), order on reh’g, 185 FERC ¶ 61,080 (2023).

5th Cir. No. 60113 Response of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Opposition to Renewed Petition For Writ of Mandamus

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1081 and 23-1152 Order denying complaint and petition, alleging that SPP and AECI have adopted certain operating guides that result in improper curtailment of Tenaska’s Clear Creek Wind generating facility.  Tenaska Clear Creek Wind, LLC v. Southwest Power Pool, Inc., et al., 181 FERC ¶ 61,1225 (2022), order on reh’g, 183 FERC ¶ 61,043 (2023).

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1089, et al. Order conditionally accepting filing to reform PJM interconnection process, by transitioning from a serial first-come, first-served queue process to a first-ready, first-served clustered cycle approach.  PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., 181 FERC ¶ 61,162 (2022), order on reh’g, 184 FERC ¶ 61,006 (2023).    

D.C. Cir. No. 21-1256, et al. Orders rejecting rate filing and denying complaint, challenging funding methodology for System Upgrade Facilities and System Deliverability Upgrades.  New York Independent System Operator, Inc., et al., 176 FERC ¶ 61,143 (2021), and Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., et al. v. New York Independent System Operator, Inc., 176 FERC ¶ 61,149 (2021), order on reh’g, 178 FERC ¶ 61,194 (2022).  

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1046 Order granting, subject to conditions, Texas Gas application to construct and operate natural gas facilities in Kentucky and Indiana (Henderson County Expansion Project), to serve new natural gas-fired electric generation turbines at CenterPoint’s existing A.B. Brown plant in Posey County, Indiana.  Texas Gas Transmission, LLC, 181 FERC ¶ 61,049 (2022); Notice of Denial of Rehearing by Operation of Law and Providing for Further Consideration, 181 FERC ¶ 62,197 (Dec. 22, 2022); Notice of Denial of Rehearing by Operation of Law (June 8, 2023).  

4th Cir. No. 23-1192 Order on petition for declaratory order, asking the Commission to declare that Blue Ridge members are permitted to utilize battery storage technology on their systems to manage their demands under the terms of full requirements power contracts with Appalachian Power.  Blue Ridge Power Agency, 181 FERC ¶ 61,048 (2022); Notices of Denial of Rehearing by Operation of Law, 181 FERC ¶ 62,199 (2022) and 184 FERC ¶ 62,048 (2023).  

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1174, et al. Respondent’s opposition to motion for stay. Rio Grande LNG, LLC & Rio Bravo Pipeline Company, LLC, 183 FERC ¶ 61,046 (2023), order on reh’g, 185 FERC ¶ 61,080 (2023).   

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1041, et al. Order on remand, concluding that San Francisco’s loads within the customer classes served on October 24, 1992, are entitled to grandfathered service under PG&E’s Wholesale Distribution Tariff.  City & Cty. of San Francisco v. Pac. Gas & Elec. Co., 181 FERC ¶ 61,036 (2022), order on reh’g, 182 FERC ¶ 61,167 (2023).  

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1192, et al. Order on rehearing, reversing order on remand, shortening length of amortization period (from 20 to 17 years) when calculating the net annual cost of the hypothetical peaking plant used to define the demand curves in the New York ISO Installed Capacity Market.  New York Independent System Operator, Inc., 183 FERC ¶ 61,130 (May 19, 2023), order on reh’g, 185 FERC ¶ 61,010 (Oct. 4, 2023).

D.C. Cir. No. 22-1059, et al. Order granting in part, and denying in part, complaint, alleging that SPP erroneously assigned Tenaska approximately $66 million in network upgrade costs during a restudy of Tenaska’s Clear Creek Wind Project as part of SPP’s affected system study process. Tenaska Clear Creek Wind, LLC v.

D.C. Cir. No. 23-1075 Notice that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s denial of Brookfield’s request for water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act for the Shawmut Hydroelectric Project satisfies the requirements of section 121.7(e)(1) of the EPA’s regulations implementing the CWA.  Brookfield White Pine Hydro LLC (Notice issued Nov. 22, 2022), order on reh’g, 182 FERC ¶ 61,169 (2023).