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PAMarketing

PAMarketing

This author PAMarketing has created 10 entries.

  • April 20, 2022

Biden Administration Restores More Stringent Environmental Review under NEPA

Regulatory

On April 20, 2022, The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published its final rule to amend three provisions of its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The amendments largely are the same as the changes proposed this past fall, and are intended to restore provisions that were in effect for decades before they were modified in 2020 by the Trump administration.

Pierce Atwood attorneys Lisa Gilbreath, Matt Manahan, Randy Rich, and Georgia Bolduc have been tracking and reporting on changes to the NEPA regulations since early 2020 and have just published an alert on the final rule. Please read the full alert on our firm’s website: Biden Administration Restores More Stringent Environmental Review under NEPA.

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  • September 20, 2021

New York State Revises Solar and Wind Property Tax Calculator

Financing, Tax
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On September 17, 2021, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance came out with a second (revised) preliminary appraisal model for assessing solar and wind energy projects. Its initial preliminary appraisal model was issued on August 2, 2021.  Comments on both proposed property tax assessment models are due on October 1, 2021.

All local taxing jurisdictions in New York will require the use of the tax assessment model to assess renewable energy projects.  Publication and use of a uniform methodology for assessing renewable projects is one of several recent changes to the New York Real Property Tax Laws (RPTL) that the state recently enacted to promote solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects.

One of those changes was requiring local tax assessors to adopt a uniform income capitalization, or discounted cash flow, valuation approach to assess renewable energy property. An income capitalization approach values the project using the net present value of a project’s future cash flows using

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  • July 08, 2020

NY Appellate Court Enforces 60-Day Deadline for Local Governments to Require PILOT Agreements from Solar Developers

Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Tax
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Decision binding on all local state taxing authorities

The Appellate Division of the New York courts has affirmed that a local governmental taxing authority must notify a solar project developer within 60 days from when the developer first notifies the authority of its plans to construct a solar facility that the authority intends to require the developer to enter into a Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT Agreement, or the taxing authority foregoes its right to require a PILOT Agreement from the project developer. Matter of Laertes Solar, LLC v Assessor of the Town of Harford (2020 NY Slip Op 02302).

Most cities, counties, school districts, and other local government authorities in New York have authority to tax real property.  Local governments often use their taxing power to assess solar energy facilities being developed in their jurisdictions as “improvements” to the property.

As part of New York’s concerted effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the

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  • June 11, 2020

PHMSA Issues Gas Pipeline Regulatory Reform Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Natural Gas Pipelines
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On June 9, 2020, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) to revise the Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations (“Regulations”) to reduce regulatory burdens associated with construction, operation, and maintenance of gas pipeline systems. The NOPR is in response to a series of executive orders (E.O. 13771, 13777, and 13783) calling on agencies to reduce or eliminate regulatory burdens. According to PHMSA, the value of the annualized cost savings associated with the proposed amendments is approximately $129 million (at a discount rate of 7 percent). The key reforms, which ease certain monitoring requirements, streamline reporting obligations, and reduce the burden on distribution pipelines associated with the Distribution Integrity Management Program (“DIMP”), are summarized below.

DIMP Requirements

PHMSA has proposed two revisions to DIMP requirements to ease the regulatory burden on gas distribution operators. The NOPR would provide operators of farm taps originating from regulated source pipelines the flexibility to choose between inspecting pressure regulators pursuant

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  • June 10, 2020

First Circuit Vacates Air Permit Due to Inadequate BACT Analysis

Natural Gas Pipelines
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On June 3, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit vacated an air permit issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the construction of a new compressor station proposed by Algonquin Gas Transmission as part of its Atlantic Bridge natural gas pipeline project and remanded the matter to the agency for further analysis.  Town of Weymouth v. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, et al., No. 19-1794 (Jun. 3, 2020).  In reviewing the agency’s decision, the First Circuit concluded that the DEP’s Best Available Control Technology (BACT) analysis was inadequate because the Agency failed to undertake its own independent analysis of the cost-effectiveness of the various options of controlling air emissions and instead relied on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) analysis.  The court also decided several other environmental arguments raised by the Town of Weymouth and other petitioners in favor of the DEP, including environmental justice and noise concerns, among other issues, which are addressed in a

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  • November 28, 2018

Massachusetts SMART Solar Program Opens

Renewable Energy, Solar Power
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On November 26, 2018 the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) Program opened for applications.

SMART is a new renewable incentive program established to support development of 1600 MW of new solar projects in Massachusetts. The program provides renewable energy project owners with a tariff based incentive that is paid directly by the utility company to the project owner, plus additional location- and customer-based incentives.

To qualify for the program you must file an application with the State Solar Program Administrator. Eligible projects will need to be interconnected to one of the three investor owned utility companies in Massachusetts: Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil. Each utility has established capacity blocks that decline in incentives with each block. The blocks are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The initial application period opened on November 26 and will continue through November 30, 2018. All applications received before midnight November 30, 2018 will be

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  • June 26, 2018

IRS Issues Investment Tax Credit Guidance for Solar Projects

Development Incentives, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Tax Credits
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On Friday, June 22, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance clarifying when construction commences for purposes of qualifying for the investment tax credit (“ITC”) for solar photovoltaic facilities. The ITC is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal income tax due by the taxpayer equal to a specified percentage of the eligible basis (generally the cost) of an energy project originally placed in service by the taxpayer.  The percentage of the ITC depends on when construction begins on the eligible project, and hence the guidance received by the IRS is critical.

As a result of the PATH Act, the ITC percentage for solar facilities, which traditionally has been 30 percent of the eligible basis, phases out as follows:

  • 30% for projects that begin construction by the end of 2019
  • 26% for projects that begin construction in 2020
  • 22% for projects that begin construction in 2021
  • 10% for projects that begin construction in 2022 or after

The

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  • April 25, 2018

FERC Commissioners Testify on Energy Infrastructure, Resiliency, State-Federal Tensions

FERC, Regulatory
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On April 17, 2018, the five Commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) testified before the House Energy Subcommittee in a hearing titled “Oversight of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and FY2019 Budget.”  Chairman Kevin McIntyre, along with Commissioners Cheryl LaFleur, Neil Chatterjee, Robert Powelson and Richard Glick discussed a number of topics ranging from cyber security and grid resiliency to baseload resources, removing barriers to entry for energy storage, review of the pipeline approval process, as well as potential modifications to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (“PURPA”) and the Federal Power Act (“FPA”).

Key topics and takeaways included:

  • Tension between state energy policies and wholesale electricity markets.  Chairman McIntyre commented that finding a balance between state energy policies and FERC’s jurisdiction over the wholesale markets is one of the trickiest areas the Commission faces.  He explained that states have the authority to prefer certain energy resources, and FERC has the obligation to ensure that electricity generated by these resources is
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  • March 14, 2018

FERC Approves CASPR, ISO-NE’s New Forward Capacity Auction

Clean Energy, FERC
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On March 9, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), in a split decision, approved ISO-New England Inc.’s (ISO-NE) proposed tariff revisions to accommodate entry of additional clean energy resources into the Forward Capacity Market (FCM).[1]  ISO-NE’s Competitive Auctions with Sponsored Policy Resources (CASPR) revises the Forward Capacity Auction (FCA) rules to include a secondary auction to “facilitate the transfer of capacity supply obligations (CSOs) from existing capacity resources, which commit to permanently exit ISO-NE’s wholesale markets” to new, state-incentivized clean energy resources known as “Sponsored Policy Resources.”

Existing resources that shed their CSO in the substitution auction will retain a one-time “severance payment” for the difference between the clearing prices in the primary and substitution auctions.  With the exception of approved tariff changes regarding FCM settlements, CASPR takes effect immediately, to coincide with the start of the year-long auction administration cycle for FCA 13.

FERC’s order is an important one, as it approves tariff revisions that reconcile

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