This post was co-authored by Stoel Rives summer associate Ryan Laws. On April 12, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published notice in the Federal Register of a final rule (89 Fed. Reg. 26070) that amends regulations regarding the issuance of enhancement of survival and incidental take permits under the Endangered Species Act. The new rule clarifies the activities and species that the Service may cover under those two permits, and it simplifies the requirements for the enhancement of survival permits. The Service purports that these changes will simplify the process for ..read more

This post was co-authored by Stoel Rives summer associate Connor McRobert. On May 1, 2024, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published notice in the Federal Register of a final rule amending its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The final rule, known as the Phase II revisions to NEPA, comes nearly a year after CEQ issued its proposed rule and is mostly consistent with the proposed rule. Notably, the final rule emphasizes that NEPA contains action-forcing procedural requirements to implement the letter and spirit of the Act. This sh ..read more

On May 13, 2024, at a special transmission reform meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) issued Order No. 1920 “Building for the Future Through Electric Regional Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation” (Final Rule).[1]  The Final Rule builds upon Order No. 888, Order No. 890, and Order No. 1000, which developed the requirements for regional transmission planning and cost allocation processes today. The reforms adopted in Order No. 1920 require transmission providers in each transmission planning region to participate in a regional long-term transmission ..read more

Background The California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) recently issued Interconnection Process Enhancements (IPE) final proposal[1] provides heightened requirements to complete an interconnection request and relies on scoring criteria to determine which projects advance to the interconnection study process. Due to the proposed 150% cap on specific interconnection zones, not all interconnection requests in each queue will be able to advance to the interconnection study phase. The scoring criteria are intended to prioritize the most viable projects and meet the 150% cap. The scoring cri ..read more

The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) oversees the siting of large-scale energy facilities like wind and solar power projects, which often include an associated Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). BESS is a critical tool in the decarbonization toolbox, offering backup power when it’s needed and addressing intermittency and other grid limitation problems. Though many approved hybrid solar and wind projects to date have included BESS, the permitting landscape for standalone BESS projects in Oregon has been disparate, largely county-specific and dependent on local land use codes. And ..read more

Summary On March 29, 2024, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) released the Track 2 final proposal for its Interconnection Process Enhancements (IPE) initiative. The proposed changes in the IPE proposal aim to address the “unprecedented and unsustainable interconnection request volumes” in the CAISO.  CAISO proposes to adopt a zonal approach that prioritizes project interconnection in areas with existing or planned transmission capacity, to cap the number of projects permitted to proceed into the study process at 150% of the available and planned transmission capacity in sp ..read more

The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC or the Council), which oversees the siting of large-scale energy facilities including wind and solar power projects, voted late last month to initiate rulemaking to clarify aspects of its contested case procedures.  A contested case hearing is a culminating step in the EFSC site certification process, a public, contested case hearing administered by a hearings officer.  The hearing generally resembles an administrative trial—evidence is presented, rebutted through cross-examination, and participating parties, including typically the pro ..read more

Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) published notice in the Federal Register of a final rule amending its regulations authorizing permits for eagle incidental take and eagle nest take.  The final rule comes roughly a year and four months after the Service issued its proposed rule (discussed here) and includes most of the changes from the proposed rule.  Most notably, the Service has authorized general permits for certain activities where standard conditions can be met. In addition to the new general permit framework, the Service has adopted a number of other changes ..read more

At its January 26, 2024 meeting, the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) approved an ambitious rulemaking schedule for 2024 that will include consideration of changes to a wide range of EFSC rules.  Detailed information regarding EFSC’s rulemaking projects can be found on EFSC’s website.  Notable 2024 rulemaking projects will include potential changes to EFSC’s contested case and site certificate amendment rules, EFSC’s financial assurance and organizational expertise standards, and (on behalf of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)) changes to noise rules as ..read more

On November 16, the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) voted to adopt a decision resolving the remaining issues in the Net Energy Metering (NEM) proceeding.  The decision, issued on November 22 as D.23-11-068, applies the net billing tariff concept adopted in D.22-12-56 to virtual net metering customers (VNEM) and aggregated NEM customers (NEMA), which groups generally include multi-family residences, agricultural customers, and other larger facilities such as schools.  The Commission adopted these successor tariffs to recalibrate a perceived cost shift from NEM cust ..read more