On February 19, I posted a blog about the fact that CLF had joined with several state consumer advocates and with other environmental organizations to file an amicus curiæ brief in the United States Supreme Court. CLF and the others are urging the Court to hear an appeal from a D.C. Circuit Court ruling about…
Feb 20
2015
2015
Feb 19
2015
2015
CLF Files Brief in U.S. Supreme Court
On February 17, 2015, CLF joined with several state consumer advocates and with other environmental organizations to file an amicus curiæ brief in the United States Supreme Court, urging the Court to accept a case on appeal. The appeal is from a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory…
Jan 26
2015
2015
ISO Corrects Its Big Mistake — And Will Count Renewable Energy
At the January 21, 2015 meeting of the ISO’s Planning Advisory Committee (PAC), the ISO made clear that – for the first time in its history – the ISO is going to count renewable energy Distributed Generation (DG) in calculating how much electricity capacity it buys in its annual “Forward Capacity Auction” (FCA). Although many…
Jan 12
2015
2015
FERC Agrees With CLF About the ISO’s Big Mistake, Not Counting Renewable Energy
On October 15, 2014, I posted a blog that explained that the ISO, the entity that operates New England’s electricity grid, had made a huge mistake in neglecting to use its own renewable energy forecast in deciding how much electricity to buy for the period 2018-2019. On January 2, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,…
May 22
2014
2014
Why “Ratepayer” is a Dirty Word
There is no such thing as a ratepayer. To folks in the energy business (particularly those involved in regulated electricity or natural gas utilities), this is an absurd statement. “Of course there are ratepayers. They are the people who buy electricity or gas from us, paying the rates that state and federal regulators have approved,”…
Aug 28
2013
2013
A Critical Moment At A Critical Agency as the Baton Goes from Wellinghoff to Ron Binz (Hopefully)
There are few more important, and more obscure, agencies in Washington D.C. than the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the regulator of the wholesale electricity transmission systems and “bulk” (imagine big quantities, like giant tubs from Costco) U.S. electricity markets. FERC oversees an incredibly complex electricity system. Our grid meshes together rural systems, where power lines…
Apr 26
2013
2013
A Message to the Energy Industry: The Demise of Northern Pass 1.0
Earlier this week, I brought a message from New Hampshire to a gathering of major players in the Northeast’s energy industry in lower Manhattan, the Platt’s Northeast Energy Markets Conference. Remember Northern Pass, that novel Northeast Utilities transmission project that would import 1,200 megawatts of large-scale hydropower from Hydro-Québec? The project, as it was conceived…
Apr 18
2013
2013
Accomplishing Good Things Quietly: CLF On New England’s Electricity Grid
As New England’s leading environmental organization, CLF has more than 60 staff people who work every day for healthy communities, clean water, and to reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change. Sometimes we win big victories that make headlines, like when my colleague, Shanna Cleveland, won a major victory in federal court that required the…
May 1
2012
2012
The Last Remaining LNG Site: Passamaquoddy Bay, Maine
For some reason, the folks behind the last remaining proposed LNG import facility on the East Coast, Downeast LNG, are still pursuing their license from FERC to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay here in Maine. And even more perplexing, FERC is still willing to spend time and resources…
Mar 22
2012
2012
NU/NStar & FERC Order 1000: Our Shared Energy Future
A few weeks ago I attended a conference in Washington, DC that brought together environmental groups from all over the country. In speaking with my colleagues, I was reminded of how this country is a patchwork quilt: each of us brought a unique set of challenges, a strong independent sense of identity, and solutions to…