Speaking Energy

On June 28, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., which for 40 years required court deference to reasonable agency interpretations of federal statutes in certain circumstances, even when the reviewing court would read the statute differently. The Court ended “Chevron deference” and held that courts “must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority.” In doing so, the Court upended a longstanding principle of administrative law that is likely to make agency decisions more susceptible to challenge in the courts.

2023 saw two megadeals in the oil & gas industry that have led to calls from environmental interest groups for the FTC to intervene despite a lack of obvious antitrust issues. Whether the FTC will sue to block the deals remains to be seen.

Policies and incentives supporting the energy transition, combined with strong oil & gas cashflows and growing concerns over energy security, have enhanced efforts to modernize the industry and invest in technologies that will accelerate decarbonization.

In Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station v. FERC,¹ decided on July 21, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ended long-running litigation over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or “Commission”) approval of the Weymouth Compressor Station in Norfolk, Massachusetts. The Weymouth Compressor Station is part of the Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, L.L.C. Atlantic Bridge Project, which received a certificate under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) from FERC in 2017 (Docket No. CP16-9).² In Fore River, the court found that the petitioners, local residents, municipalities, and an environmental organization lacked Article III standing to challenge two orders issued by FERC after the certificate issued (1) a December 26, 2018, delegated order granting Algonquin a two-year extension of time to construct the facilities (the “Extension Order”)³ that was subsequently upheld by a full Commission order on February 21, 2020 (the “2020 Rehearing Order”);⁴ and (2) a January 20, 2022, denial of rehearing (the “2022 Rehearing Order”)⁵ of a September 24, 2020, order authorizing Algonquin to place the facilities in service (the “In-Service Extension Order”).⁶ It also dismissed the petitions as moot. 

On Thursday, May 4, 2023, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led by Chair Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY), held a Full Committee Hearing to Conduct Oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). All four sitting FERC Commissioners, including Acting Chairman Willie Phillips, James Danly, Allison Clements and Mark Christie, testified before the Committee, with most of the Committee members present. The reliability of the U.S. power grid, and FERC’s role in designing markets and approving projects that promote reliability, was a primary focus of the hearing. Senators Manchin and Barrasso, who both hail from coal-producing states, elicited testimony from all four Commissioners that the elimination of coal-fired generation would hinder grid reliability.  The Commissioners also agreed with the Senators’ contentions that reliability provided by coal-fired and natural gas-fired generation cannot currently be replaced with renewable generation. Commissioner Phillips also testified that FERC must be resource neutral and agreed with questions from Senator Barrasso that delayed natural gas pipeline projects undermine efforts to integrate wind and solar facilities into the grid. Commissioner Danly explained that the operational characteristics of thermal generation resources support frequency and voltage in a manner that intermittent resources currently do not.  Commissioner Christie, consistent with comments he has made during FERC’s open meetings, testified that retirements of dispatchable resources, not the addition of renewable energy resources, threatened grid reliability. The Senators also sought follow up on FERC’s natural gas pipeline certification policy, which was the subject of a heated oversight hearing in March 2022, and for information on hydropower licensing reform.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company, LP, its first opinion and order on an initial decision in a Natural Gas Act (NGA) section 4 general rate case proceeding in nearly a decade. The last NGA section 4 general rate case to be fully litigated was El Paso Natural Gas Co. in 2013,  a decision that derived rates based on a test period from 2010 and 2011. The natural gas industry has changed significantly since that time. 

We are pleased to share a recording of Akin Gump’s mid-year energy briefing that recently took place, along with the presentation materials.

(Houston) – Akin Gump is pleased to announce it has released its “2020 Energy Year in Review,” which examines the current state of the global energy market and highlights the energy matters with which the firm was involved last year across the following areas:

• Mergers, Acquisitions & Strategic Transactions
• Capital Markets
• Financing
• Project Development
• Financial Restructuring
• Energy Litigation.