Improperly

New backstop transmission siting authority given to FERC in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) will not be a “silver bullet” and, if improperly applied, that authority could become “one of the biggest roadblocks that we have to construction” of power lines, Jose Delgado, CEO of American Transmission Co. (ATC), said last Wednesday.

A D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling last July, which heldFERC improperly denied Iroquois Gas Transmission the recovery oflegal costs associated with investigations into the illegalconstruction activities of the pipeline, leaves the Commission withonly one course of action on remand, Iroquois said last week. Thatis to uphold the presiding FERC judge’s initial finding that -violations aside – the pipeline’s legal costs were prudentlyincurred and, therefore, recoverable.