Articles by Michael Brooks

By Michael Brooks President Trump’s Council on Environmental Quality last week proposed easing environmental regulations on infrastructure projects, calling for tighter deadlines and more formal agency cooperation in the federal government’s project reviews. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, published Friday in the Federal Register, is intended to speed up the...

By Michael Brooks For years, it seemed like the most exciting thing to happen at a FERC open meeting was a creative interruption by environmental activists protesting the commission’s approvals of natural gas infrastructure. But while that certainly continued in 2019, center stage is occupied by the "Glick-McNamee Show": the...

By Michael Brooks FERC on Thursday denied requests for rehearing and clarification of its acceptance of a settlement between PJM and its transmission owners over the cost allocation of major legacy transmission projects, the latest development in a nearly 13-year dispute that has reached the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of...

By Michael Brooks FERC on Thursday backtracked on several Tariff provisions it directed PJM to include in its implementation of a new cost allocation method for transmission projects that address stability issues (EL15-95-005, ER19-1501). The commission granted rehearing of its Feb. 28 order accepting PJM’s stability deviation method for the...

WASHINGTON — This year’s gridCONNEXT — GridWise Alliance and Clean Edge’s third annual conference focusing on visions of the grid of the future — delivered the usual goods last week when it came to discussions of the advanced technologies and policies necessary to modernize how the U.S. produces and consumes...

By Michael Brooks WASHINGTON — Last week was a busy one for the Solar Energy Industries Association. The trade association held its annual policy summit at the Washington Plaza Hotel on Wednesday, on the eve of both the International Trade Commission’s midterm review of the Trump administration’s tariffs on imported...

By Michael Brooks The U.S. Senate on Monday voted 70-15 to confirm Dan Brouillette as secretary of energy. Brouillette spent most of the day as acting secretary, after Rick Perry resigned on Sunday. Prior to that he had served as deputy secretary since August 2017, when the Senate confirmed him...

By Michael Brooks WASHINGTON — FERC’s Office of Enforcement opened 12 new investigations and negotiated two settlement agreements worth $14.4 million in civil penalties and disgorgements in fiscal year 2019, according to its latest annual report released last week. The number of investigations represented a 50% drop from last year,...

By Michael Brooks The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday voted to advance to the full Senate the nominations of James Danly as a FERC commissioner and Dan Brouillette as secretary of energy. Danly passed the committee 12-8. Except for ranking member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), all Democrats —...

By Michael Brooks WASHINGTON — Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette appeared well on his way to taking over for his outgoing boss after facing little substantive questioning at his confirmation hearing Thursday and little, if any, opposition from Democrats. Much of the hearing was taken up by members of the...