1-Hour Program

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Overview

Many have asked, what is FERC?  Indeed, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC is one of the smaller and lesser known agencies in the Federal government; however, its decisions reportedly affect five percent of the Nation’s gross national product.  It received some publicity (not good) at the turn of the century during the California energy crisis, although there was plenty of blame to spread around at the time.  It generated headlines in 2013, when it imposed penalties exceeding 650 million dollars on three major financial institutions.  (But, you ask, what do banks have to do with energy?)  It was even integral to a couple Season 2 episodes of “House of Cards,” notwithstanding that its jurisdiction was badly handled by the show’s writers.   

Regardless of its size, FERC has extensive jurisdiction over the operations of energy companies in the United States, and, accordingly, plays a major role in the U.S. economy.  FERC is both an economic regulator, and, since 2005, an enforcement agency.  It is primarily responsible for overseeing the wholesale sales of natural gas and electric energy in interstate commerce, the transmission of natural gas, electric energy, and oil in interstate commerce, and the reliability of the electric grid.  While it focuses on national energy issues, its decisions significantly affect state and local energy policies and even unregulated energy markets.  And it frequently gets into squabbles with other Federal agencies.    

For those new to energy law or to the FERC world, you will have an opportunity to get the basics and more in a presentation by Susan J. Court, who has been a FERC practitioner since 1982.  For 28 years, Ms. Court was a senior executive at FERC, and worked in every area of the agency’s jurisdiction.  She served as Associate General Counsel for Gas and Oil, Deputy Solicitor, Associate General Counsel for General and Administrative Law (and Designated Agency Ethics Official), Chief of Staff, and Director of the Office of Enforcement.  She also worked (on assignment from FERC) at Ireland’s Commission for Energy Regulation.   After leaving FERC, Ms. Court was a partner in the energy practice at Hogan Lovells, and is currently Principal of SJC Energy Consultants, LLC.    

Register and in just one hour learn the answers to these questions: 

  • What is FERC?
  • How does FERC work?
  • Who must pay attention to what FERC does?

Credit Details