Regulation

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On April 19, 2013, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to link the California cap and trade program to Québec’s cap and trade system. CARB approved changes to the California cap and trade regulation on Friday to allow for the linkage, which is effective January 1, 2014. In practical terms, the linkage opens a new market for greenhouse gas allowances and offsets for California’s regulated entities and offset generators. As Québec’s cap and trade participants enter the California market, regulated entities in California could face tighter competition in bidding for allowances at CARB’s quarterly auctions. 

CARB is also planning for additional amendments to the California cap and trade regulation this year. Many of the potential changes were teed up for consideration in CARB Resolutions 12-33, 12-51, and 11-32. Topics up for potential amendment include:

  • Refining the definition of resource shuffling and clarifying how CARB will deal with the problem. CARB will base proposed amendments to resource shuffling provisions on the recommended actions presented by staff in October 2012. 
  • Providing transition assistance to electrical generating facilities with legacy power purchase agreements that do not provide for recovery of the cost of compliance with the cap and trade program. 
  • Exemption for steam and waste heat emissions from combined heat and power. 
  • Exemption for emissions from waste-to-energy facilities during the first compliance period (2013-2014).

Continue Reading California Links to Québec’s Cap and Trade System

There has been a new development in the effort by Ralls Corporation, a company owned by two Chinese nationals, to challenge President Obama’s September 2012 order requiring it to divest its interests in four wind projects in Oregon and to remove any equipment and infrastructure it had placed on the sites of the proposed projects. …

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) recently issued its 2012 Annual Report to Congress. My colleague CJ Voss has summarized some of the report’s key findings.

CFIUS is charged with reviewing acquisitions of U.S. businesses for national security implications. As we reported last fall, President Obama blocked Chinese-owned Ralls Corporation’s acquisition of wind…

Congress yesterday passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (the Act), which averted the so-called “fiscal cliff.” The President is expected to sign the Act shortly.

The Act includes a number of energy-related tax provisions, including a one-year extension and modification of the production tax credit under Section 45 of the Internal Revenue Code (the PTC) for certain renewable energy facilities. The energy-related provisions in the Act include:

  • PTC Extensions and Modifications – The PTC is extended and modified for certain types of facilities. These extensions and modifications include:
    • In the case of wind, geothermal, landfill gas, trash, marine, and hydrokinetic facilities and certain closed-loop biomass, open-loop biomass, and qualified hydropower facilities, the PTC will apply if construction begins before January 1, 2014 (rather than if the facilities are placed in service before January 1, 2014). The Act does not specify what it means to begin construction for this purpose, although there are analogous authorities that have been adopted for other purposes that may be applied. Note, however, that a facility to which this extension applies may qualify for the PTC even if it is not placed in service before January 1, 2014.

       

    • The PTC for municipal solid waste facilities is modified to exclude from the definition of municipal solid waste certain paper that is commonly recycled and that has been segregated from other solid waste.

       

    • The election to claim the investment tax credit rather than the PTC for certain facilities is extended to apply to certain facilities with respect to which construction begins prior to January 1, 2014.

       

    • The PTC for Indian coal production facilities is extended for one year, to apply to sales of qualified production during the eight-year period (rather than the previous seven-year period) beginning on January 1, 2006.
       

Continue Reading Fiscal Cliff Bill Includes PTC Extension and Other Energy-Related Provisions

From my partner Michael O’Connell:

Occasionally, we receive inquires regarding federal policies relating to actual, potential or alleged impacts of projects on bald and golden eagles and other migratory birds.

On October 12, 2012, Attorney General Holder issued a policy regarding Possession or Use of the Feathers or Other Parts of Federally Protected Birds…

California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”) announced today that it plans to issue an Energy Storage Request for Information (“RFI”) to obtain information on utility-scale, dispatchable, and operationally flexible storage resources through a solicitation of interest from technology providers, owners, and developers of energy storage resources.  PG&E said that it plans to issue the…

A law alert from our colleague Cherise Oram:

On August 24, 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively, the "Services") issued a proposed rule that would modify when and how the Services analyze economic impacts in critical habitat designations under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"). Critical habitat designation is intended to provide special protection of essential habitat for species listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA. The ESA prohibits federal agencies from taking actions that are likely to destroy or adversely modify that critical habitat. Critical habitat designations are often controversial because they may discourage or impair private activities on private lands by requiring federal permits or otherwise devaluing the lands located within a designation.Continue Reading Proposed Changes to Critical Habitat Designations Would Gut Purpose of Economic Analysis