There have been some significant changes in #administrativelaw over the past week that have implications for #transmission planning. This post is a round up of a few key resources to help readers get in the know quickly and walk away with key points. Quick background: The Chevron Doctrine in a nutshell: courts grant deference to an agency's reasonable interpretation regarding ambiguities in statutes that the agency administers. The doctrine gets its name from the 1984 case: Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. This case was overturned on June 28, 2024 by the US Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In a related but different administrative law development, the Court also said in an opinion issued on July 1, 2024 that plaintiffs can sue over regulations that affect them six years after being affected rather than six years from the regulations being issued. This decision in Corner Post v. the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System therefore takes what was a fixed window and makes it a moving target much farther out into the future. While six years may have been a wait for some additional certainty regarding the durability of regulations, it did provide a bookend. What are the implications? First up, I'm linking to a Utility Dive article by Ethan Howland, and I'll feature that in the image link: https://lnkd.in/ejNmHBdu. This does a nice job of wrapping up some quick takes and key implications. It also quotes a few of my K&L Gates partners: Varu Chilakamarri, formerly of the U.S. Department of Justice, and David Fine - both extremely talented litigators who have seen the evolution of Chevron over the years. As Varu notes: Chevron has been cited over 18,000 times since its inception in the mid-80s, "making it the most cited administrative law case in history." This article is helpful in pulling together recent developments in the courts and at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Commissioner Christie, who issued a strong dissent against #FERC's recent Order No. 1920, notes that 1920 builds on Order No. 1000, which was upheld under Chevron. Note, the Sup. Ct. states that prior decisions that rely on Chevron are not overturned but remain intact under the doctrine of stare decisis - Latin for "let the decision stand" and the basis for building law one on top of the next in the US legal system. Side note for non-lawyers: this is why all the case cites in a brief to a court. Counter to Commissioner Christie, Chairman Willie Phillips issued his own statement of the impact of the Loper Bright decision: https://lnkd.in/exHspZN3 K&L Gates partners Varu Chilakamarri, Mark Ruge, David R. Fine, Tre A. Holloway, and Falco Muscante II provide the concise overview of the Loper Bright decision here: https://lnkd.in/ejahRQvA #energy
Jason Holmers
3mo
Great insights! Thanks for sharing these updates.
Renewables and Energy System Decarbonization
3moDoes this mean interregional and interstate transmission could trend toward being driven by agreements between two or more states rather than in response to federal regulations?