Wait, a federal agency crafting policy far outside it's mandate and in fact abrogating the law? My God that's impossible! Dems love law; after all they use the word 'justice' in nearly every sentence.
James Freeman wrote earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal about this very problem. He noted that "Biden effort to finalize new federal regulations quickly to make them harder to repeal in the early days of a possible second Trump presidency. Now Wayne Crews writes at Forbes that the pace of bureaucracy-building in Washington has lately been surging: As of Monday, May 13, there have been 1,148 rules and regulations finalized among the 41,830 pages published to date in the 2024 Federal Register. Page tallies of over 800 per day have suddenly become routine. Last week’s 4,225 pages represented nearly double 2024’s weekly pace so far. At any given moment several thousand rules and regulations populate the production process."
This is a powerful piece, Travis. I was a national energy lobbyist starting in 2002.
The last three years have witnessed FERC becoming as political as any of the regulator agencies. We need to spank them in public, like you have done here.
Thanks for writing about this, but I don't understand - Mark Christie, as commissioner, which I would have thought makes him the head of this agency, sounds dead set against this new rule, but has no power to stop it? Deep, deep state?
So, just getting around to reading this, but perhaps the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron deference will be applicable here and a suit can be brought to prevent order 1920 from being implemented as written.
I saw somewhere an estimate that electric rates were up (over what area is unspecified) 30% since 2019. This is not unexpected as inflation has hit utilities as well as everyone else (in materials and labor) and approved ROE's are likely higher because of higher interest rates (if I remember the formulas correctly . . . .). In any event, this won't hit my old neck of the woods because the Pacific Northwest declined to form or join an RTO. It has the Bonneville Power Administration (that controls the vast % of the transmission in the region) - who needs an RTO? I do feel for the other RTO's, however, and want to note that, sooner or later, someone is going to wake up to cost of service/rate spread/ and rate design. The expectation that all new costs will be peanut-buttered across all rates may well be unfounded. We'll see. BTW - perhaps you or someone knows whatever happened the the FERC order on the grand market redesign (from the late 1990's, I think)? Did it ever get published? Or?
why is everyone so hell-bent on regulating us back to the Dark Ages? Is it only because regulations don't leave as much of a mess as would a nuclear conflagration?
Travis what are the chances this will get challenged in court and by legislative action in the house? Despite some partiezan rock throwing there has been some pretty hard push back on both sides of the isle in the house on these draconian far left policies coming out if the white house.
It seems incredibly likely that the thorniest parts of the rule will be litigated. Some news stories have hinted at Christie's public comments and dissent forming the basis of those petitions for review. Based on the timing of the final rule, the Congressional Review Act could be used but that effort would likely be vetoed by Biden, right?
won't the recent Supreme Court decision on Chevron deference now be able to be imposed here and the rule called into question? especially since exhumer said, we didn't legislate it.
Yes, the recent SCOTUS decisions have churned the waters quite a bit. Personally, I agree that agencies should not be given deference, especially when it comes to interpreting the bounds of their own authority.
I suspect this will generate a lawsuit and probably head back to the Supreme Court but certainly there is no surprise that Willie Phillips was out defending himself immediately before anyone questioned it
Wait, a federal agency crafting policy far outside it's mandate and in fact abrogating the law? My God that's impossible! Dems love law; after all they use the word 'justice' in nearly every sentence.
Well said sir! This is ax example of why I am proud to support Cato.
Great work, Travis. FERC Order 1920 appears to be following that great American tradition: socialize the costs and privatize the profits...
That's precisely the formula, unfortunately
James Freeman wrote earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal about this very problem. He noted that "Biden effort to finalize new federal regulations quickly to make them harder to repeal in the early days of a possible second Trump presidency. Now Wayne Crews writes at Forbes that the pace of bureaucracy-building in Washington has lately been surging: As of Monday, May 13, there have been 1,148 rules and regulations finalized among the 41,830 pages published to date in the 2024 Federal Register. Page tallies of over 800 per day have suddenly become routine. Last week’s 4,225 pages represented nearly double 2024’s weekly pace so far. At any given moment several thousand rules and regulations populate the production process."
This is a powerful piece, Travis. I was a national energy lobbyist starting in 2002.
The last three years have witnessed FERC becoming as political as any of the regulator agencies. We need to spank them in public, like you have done here.
all of which was eloquently foretold in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Thanks for writing about this, but I don't understand - Mark Christie, as commissioner, which I would have thought makes him the head of this agency, sounds dead set against this new rule, but has no power to stop it? Deep, deep state?
The Chairman is the head of the agency. Commissioner Christie is just one vote among the present three, and he was outvoted 2-1 on this rule.
Thanks for explaining. So...2 unelected people are making decisions like this!!?? I knew it was bad, but yikes!
Only 3? Isn’t FERC supposed to have 5 commissioners?
Yes. There's more detail regarding the personnel saga in this piece: https://travisfisher.substack.com/p/lets-fix-the-quorum-quandary-at-ferc
So, just getting around to reading this, but perhaps the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron deference will be applicable here and a suit can be brought to prevent order 1920 from being implemented as written.
I saw somewhere an estimate that electric rates were up (over what area is unspecified) 30% since 2019. This is not unexpected as inflation has hit utilities as well as everyone else (in materials and labor) and approved ROE's are likely higher because of higher interest rates (if I remember the formulas correctly . . . .). In any event, this won't hit my old neck of the woods because the Pacific Northwest declined to form or join an RTO. It has the Bonneville Power Administration (that controls the vast % of the transmission in the region) - who needs an RTO? I do feel for the other RTO's, however, and want to note that, sooner or later, someone is going to wake up to cost of service/rate spread/ and rate design. The expectation that all new costs will be peanut-buttered across all rates may well be unfounded. We'll see. BTW - perhaps you or someone knows whatever happened the the FERC order on the grand market redesign (from the late 1990's, I think)? Did it ever get published? Or?
why is everyone so hell-bent on regulating us back to the Dark Ages? Is it only because regulations don't leave as much of a mess as would a nuclear conflagration?
It's looks like PJm and MISO are trying ti get ahead of it.
https://insidelines.pjm.com/two-major-grid-operators-embark-on-joint-planning-endeavor-to-enhance-reliability/
Travis what are the chances this will get challenged in court and by legislative action in the house? Despite some partiezan rock throwing there has been some pretty hard push back on both sides of the isle in the house on these draconian far left policies coming out if the white house.
It seems incredibly likely that the thorniest parts of the rule will be litigated. Some news stories have hinted at Christie's public comments and dissent forming the basis of those petitions for review. Based on the timing of the final rule, the Congressional Review Act could be used but that effort would likely be vetoed by Biden, right?
won't the recent Supreme Court decision on Chevron deference now be able to be imposed here and the rule called into question? especially since exhumer said, we didn't legislate it.
Yes, the recent SCOTUS decisions have churned the waters quite a bit. Personally, I agree that agencies should not be given deference, especially when it comes to interpreting the bounds of their own authority.
The FERC Chairman actually issued a statement on Chevron and Order 1920: https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/chairman-willie-phillips-statement-concerning-order-no-1920
I suspect this will generate a lawsuit and probably head back to the Supreme Court but certainly there is no surprise that Willie Phillips was out defending himself immediately before anyone questioned it
The veto is likely