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Inflation Reduction Act
FERC Fines Columbia Gas $350,000 for Violating Auction Rules
On July 30, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a stipulation and consent agreement between the FERC Office of Enforcement and Columbia Gas Transmission LLC (Columbia Gas) for violations of Section 4 of Columbia Gas's tariff governing auctions...
Proposed IRS Regulations Target Management Fee Waiver Arrangements
On July 22, 2015, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) regarding disguised payments for services under Section 707(a)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The Proposed...
FTC Narrows Scope of HSR Reporting Exemption for Certain Acquisitions
On July 20, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released revisions to its interpretation of the rule, 16 C.F.R. §802.5, that exempts certain acquisitions of "investment rental property assets" from reportability under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. The HSR Act requires...
Decision on Fate of BLM's Hydraulic Fracturing Rule Expected September 2015
The Bureau of Land Management's ("BLM's") Hydraulic Fracturing Rule has been stayed until at least September 2015. BLM finalized the rule on March 20, 2015 for application on federal and Indian lands, three years after its initial proposal. However, on...
FTC Narrows Scope of HSR Reporting Exemption for Certain Acquisitions
On July 20, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released revisions to its interpretation of the rule, 16 C.F.R. §802.5, that exempts certain acquisitions of “investment rental property assets” from reportability under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act. The HSR Act requires...
CFTC v. Kraft Foods: What is Market Manipulation?
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is engaged in its first court battle interpreting its new anti-manipulation authority under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) as amended by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank): CFTC...
Department of Labor Releases Proposed Rule to Update White Collar Exemptions to the FLSA's Overtime Requirement
On June 30, 2015, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a Proposed Rule to update the regulations governing overtime requirements for executive, administrative, and professional employees (white collar employees). Under the Proposed Rule, the required salary level for white collar...
SEC Proposes Rules Relating to Clawbacks of Incentive-Based Compensation
On July 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules that would require stock exchanges to adopt listing standards relating to the clawback of incentive-based compensation for certain executive officers where the compensation was based on financial performance for...
Monthly Futures Exchange Issuance Report: June 2015
This report summarizes material notices from CME Group and ICE Futures, with a particular focus on energy. It is not intended to be a comprehensive review of each and every notice issued by these Exchanges. June Highlight CME Group has...
IRS Releases New Proposed Issue Price Regulations
On June 23, 2015, the IRS released new proposed Treasury Regulations (the “2015 Proposed Regulations”) concerning the definition of “issue price” for purposes of arbitrage investment restrictions on tax-exempt bonds. The 2015 Proposed Regulations withdraw the portion of proposed Treasury...
Scope of Trial De Novo Debated in Barclays Electricity Manipulation Case
After almost eight years since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commenced its investigation against Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays) and four of its traders, Scott Connelly, Daniel Brin, Karen Levine and Ryan Smith, for allegedly manipulating the California electricity markets...
FERC Issues Two Oil Pipeline Audits
On June 17, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Division of Audits and Accounting, Office of Enforcement (DAA), issued two audit reports involving oil pipelines, the Colonial Pipeline Company Docket No. FA14-4 and Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Docket No...
EPA's "Next Generation" Enforcement Hitting Region 6 Facilities Now
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s RCRA compliance sweep though Region 6 in the first half of 2015 captured a series of violators sharing the common problem of underreporting their hazardous waste volumes. Particularly noteworthy is the prevalence of companies working...
FERC Accepts PJM Capacity Performance Proposal
On June 9, 2015, FERC issued an order accepting PJM's proposal to modify its forward capacity market, the Reliability Pricing Model ("RPM"), to establish a new capacity product, the Capacity Performance Resource. PJM's proposal is designed to tighten the performance...
EPA Updates Its Audit Policy with "eDisclosure"
On June 10, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hosted a webinar describing a plan to modernize the implementation of its April 11, 2000 Audit Policy. The plan – called eDisclosure – attempts to provide a streamlined, web-based approach for...