Venue is also governed by FPA section 317, 16 U.S.C. § 825p, which provides that “[a]ny suit or action to enforce any liability or duty  created by . . . this Act, or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder may be  brought in [the district wherein any act or  transaction constituting the violation occurred] or in the district wherein the defendant is an inhabitant.”

Respondents’ unlawful scheme resulted in
the misdirection and capture of over $10 million in PJM market payments, including
approximately $1,147,087 that would otherwise have flowed to Dominion Virginia Power and inured to the benefit of Dominion and its ratepayers, including ratepayers in this District.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) hereby gives notice
that members of the Commission and/or Commission staff may attend the following
meetings:
North American Electric Reliability Corporation
Member Representatives Committee and Board of Trustees Meetings
Board of Trustees Corporate Governance and Human Resources
Committee, Finance and Audit Committee, Compliance Committee, and
Standards Oversight and Technology Committee Meetings

The Ritz Carlton Toronto
181 Wellington Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 3G7

SEC. 4211. FERC OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.
Section 319 of the Federal Power Act (16  U.S.C. 825q–1) is amended to read as follows:

‘‘SEC. 319. OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within the Commission an Office of Compliance Assistance and Public Participation (referred to in this section as the ‘Office’). The Office shall be headed by a Director.

‘‘(b) DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.--
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office
shall promote improved compliance with Commission rules and orders by—

‘‘(A) making recommendations to the Commission regarding—

‘‘(i) the protection of consumers;

‘‘(ii) market integrity and support for the development of responsible market behavior;

‘‘(iii) the application of Commission rules and orders in a manner that ensures that—

‘‘(I) rates and charges for, or in connection with, the transmission or sale of electric energy subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission shall be just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential; and

‘‘(II) markets for such transmission and sale of electric energy are not impaired and consumers are not damaged; and

‘‘(iv) the impact of existing and proposed Commission rules and orders on small entities, as defined in section 601 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Regulatory Flexibility Act);

‘‘(B) providing entities subject to regulation by the Commission the opportunity to obtain timely guidance for compliance with Com- mission rules and orders; and

‘‘(C) providing information to the Commission and Congress to inform policy with respect to energy issues under the jurisdiction of the Commission.

‘‘(2) REPORTS AND GUIDANCE.—The Director shall, as the Director determines appropriate, issue reports and guidance to the Commission and to entities subject to regulation by the Commission, regarding market practices, proposing improvements in Commission monitoring of market practices, and addressing potential improvements to both industry and Commission practices.

‘‘(3) OUTREACH.—The Director shall promote
improved compliance with Commission rules and orders through outreach, publications, and, where appropriate, direct communication with entities regulated by the Commission.’’.

1. 
   

1. (b) TRANSMISSION OMBUDSPERSON.—
   (1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To enhance and ensure the reliability of the electric grid, there is established within the Council on Environmental Quality the position of Transmission Ombudsperson (referred to in this subsection as the ‘‘Ombudsperson’’), to provide a unified point of contact for—
   

1. (A) resolving interagency or intra-agency issues or delays with respect to electric transmission infrastructure permits; and
   (B) receiving and resolving complaints
   from parties with outstanding or in-process applications relating to electric transmission infrastructure.
   (2) DUTIES.—The Ombudsperson shall—
   (A) establish a process for--
   (i) facilitating the permitting process  for performance of maintenance and upgrades to electric transmission lines on Federal land and non-Federal land, with a special emphasis on facilitating access for immediate maintenance, repair, and vegetation management needs;
   (ii) resolving complaints filed with the
   Ombudsperson with respect to in-process electric transmission infrastructure permits; and
   (iii) issuing recommended resolutions
   to address the complaints filed with the
   Ombudsperson; and
   (B) hear, compile, and share any com-
   plaints filed with Ombudsperson relating to in-process electric transmission infrastructure permits.
   

At a hearing last week in Beckley, one citizen clearly believed the PSC acts more as a rubber stamp for the utilities than an advocate for the people. His notion was not hindered by a PSC staffer who was perceived to be texting or playing with her phone throughout the meeting.

KMI stated that it made a corporate decision not to track merger-related labor costs not due to the lack of process or system, but rather due to the fact that management did not consider the labor-related costs to be incremental costs. Also, KMI asserted that no existing employee costs were shifted to merger activities, since all pipelines continued to receive the same level of service before the
merger and all merger activities were completed as well as employees' regular tasks. KMI stated that more than 300 employees made meaningful contributions to merger activities and received a bonus for their efforts.

Audit staff noted that KMI had the requisite processes, accounting practices, and systems to track the cost of labor for merger activities. However, audit staff found written communication specifically instructing employees not to record any labor costs as a cost related to the merger. By not tracking merger-related labor expenses for more than 300 employees, the KMI jurisdictional entities were unable to accurately record the allocation of labor costs to various USofA accounts based on the time engaged in various classes of work during the period of merger activity.

Audit staff also noted that activities for pursuing, considering, and consummating a corporate merger are nonoperating, so their costs should be recorded in Account 426.5, which includes miscellaneous items that are nonoperating in nature. For accounting purposes, the Commission has consistently stated that costs involving mergers of public utilities are nonoperating and are to be recorded in Account 426.5. By not tracking the cost of employees involved in merger activity, the KMI jurisdictional entities could not distinguish the cost of labor related to the merger from labor costs for pipeline operations. As a result, the KMI jurisdictional entities failed to record such costs consistent with their nature, and the entities were unable to properly allocate labor costs to utility and nonutility operations as required by General Instruction No. 10. This resulted in the KMI jurisdictional entities recording internal labor costs in operating expense accounts that should have been recorded in Account 426.5.
While audit staff believes that the KMI jurisdictional entities should have recorded merger-related labor costs in a nonoperating expense account, KMI stated that the accounting misclassification did not affect customers' rates. Audit staff also did not find that this misclassification affected rates for jurisdictional customers.

Bowring, Gates’ Consultant Spar over PJM Traders’ Obligations on Loopholes

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — To shake or not to shake the Money Tree?

That was the question Independent Market Monitor Joe Bowring posed during his Year in Review presentation at PJM’s Annual Meeting last week, setting off a lively debate with one of the consultants that Richard and Kevin Gates, enlisted in their high profile defense against market manipulation allegations.

“If the rules are imperfect, is it OK to do anything not explicitly prohibited?” Bowring asked.

He quickly provided his own answer. “It is not permissible,” he said, citing what he called the “duty” of market participants to inform RTO officials and federal regulators of such “money trees.”

(2) is consistent with--
(A) transmission needs identified, in a transmission expansion plan or otherwise, by the appropriate Transmission Organization (as defined in the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.]), if any, or approved regional reliability organization;

2.2 The proposed Project must be consistent with transmission needs identified, in a transmission expansion plan or otherwise, by the appropriate Transmission Organization (as defined in the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.) if any, or approved regional
reliability organization

In establishing this criterion, Congress sought to ensure that projects undertaken through Section 1222 are appropriately planned to meet identified transmission needs. The Plains & Eastern Project meets this requirement. On an  interregional basis, numerous planning
initiatives and reports have identified the need for new West-East transmission lines to move
wind power from the central United States to load centers. On a regional basis, SPP and MISO (the two RTOs with which the Project interconnects) have also identified the need for new transmission facilities to accommodate wind generation. Further the Project has been planned and developed in a manner that is consistent with ISO/RTO planning assessments. Namely, in planning and developing the Project, Clean Line performed a series of studies and evaluations that are consistent with how the ISOs and RTOs generally identify needs and solutions for transmission system development. A final measure by which Clean Line meets the statutory requirement is its consistency with reliability standards issued by the approved regional reliability organizations (“RRO”) as envisioned under Section 1222. In light of these multiple areas of consistency, further detailed below, Project meets the criterion for consistency with planning and identified transmission needs.

(j) Required characteristics for a Regional Transmission Organization.
A Regional Transmission Organization must satisfy the following characteristics when it commences operation:
(1) Independence. The Regional Transmission Organization must be independent of any market participant. The Regional Transmission Organization must include, as part of its demonstration of independence, a demonstration that it meets the following:
(i) The Regional Transmission Organization, its employees, and any non-stakeholder directors must not have financial interests in any market participant.
(ii) The Regional Transmission Organization must have a decision making process that is independent of control by any market participant or class of participants.
(iii) The Regional Transmission Organization must have exclusive and independent authority under section 205 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824d), to propose rates, terms and conditions of transmission service provided over the facilities it operates.

Branstad, who appoints the members of the utilities board, warned against "political interference" into the administrative review process by which a pipeline carrying Bakken crude oil and a transmission line transporting wind-generated electricity could be approved.

"It would be mistake to get politics into this," Branstad said. "We should abide by the processes that have been put in place."

An outgoing member of the Iowa Utilities Board has bluntly told Gov. Terry Branstad in a letter that his decision to remove her is improper and being done to placate a powerful energy company.

Sheila Tipton told the governor in the March 18 letter that his move to replace her and demote board chairwoman Elizabeth Jacobs is an inappropriate attempt to influence future decisions to favor utilities and "appease MidAmerican Energy." The company had complained about a ruling requiring the company to use some proceeds from a $280 million wind energy investment to reduce customers' rates.

Because transmission is such a long-term asset, we must be extremely mindful of
how new projects relate to each other to achieve comprehensive energy policy goals. If we continue to approach transmission as a hodgepodge, knee-jerk reaction to serve short-term goals and provide sustainable revenue streams to investor-owned utilities, we risk setting ourselves up for a possible future where a huge investment in  transmission becomes the financial responsibility of a shrinking pool of ratepayers. Technological advances and affordability are making it possible for an increasing number of consumers to produce their own power and feed it into the local distribution grid by making their own smart, fuel-free, power producing investments. Energy efficiency and demand management gains continue to shatter future demand projections, further decreasing the need for billions of dollars of investment in new transmission infrastructure.