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Mark Perlis is a seasoned energy and environmental attorney with a broad-based federal regulatory and litigation practice encompassing all aspects of the electric utility industry. He regularly represents clients in adjudicatory and rulemaking proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and state public utility commissions, and in stakeholder proceedings conducted by ISOs and RTOs across the country. Mr. Perlis represents independent power producers, power marketers, traditional electric utilities, and renewables developers. Mr. Perlis specializes in regulatory issues associated with the design of and participation in organized electric markets, including energy and capacity markets, generation interconnection, and transmission service.
Mr. Perlis has led representations of numerous clients faced with non-public, FERC enforcement investigations and has negotiated favorable settlements with the FERC Office of Enforcement. He also regularly advises companies on compliance policies and procedures and conducts compliance program audits and reviews. In addition, he counsels clients across the industry on Department of Energy efficiency regulations, energy trading compliance, project development, commercial agreements, and contract disputes.
Mr. Perlis also advises clients in the electricity industry and in the biofuels and biotechnology industries on matters pertaining to federal and state responses to climate change. He advises clients on U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan and potential state implementation plans. He also advises producers of conventional ethanol and advanced biofuels on federal and state regulatory issues, including the federal Renewable Fuels Standard program, California’s Low-Carbon Fuels Standard, and emerging markets for Renewable Identification Numbers and Low-Carbon Fuel credits. Mr. Perlis has also advised clients on trading emission allowances and credits, including for sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, as well as on renewable energy credit trading.
- FERC counsel to Calpine Corporation in connection with energy and capacity market structures, interconnection, financing, development, and operation of electric generating facilities in California.
- Advised NaturEner USA on its 189 MW wind energy project located in Rim Rock, Montana, in connection with obtaining FERC approval of a first-of-its-kind tax equity investment by a California electric utility, the sale of renewable energy credits and power to separate off takers, and procurement of interim and permanent transmission arrangements for the project.
- Represented trade association in successfully challenging the California Independent System Operator’s backstop capacity market mechanism at FERC and negotiating multiparty settlement.
- Led representation of Duke Energy during the California energy crisis, including litigation of the FERC EL00-95 Refund Proceeding, multiple federal and state enforcement investigations, and negotiation of a global settlement.
- Represented solar developer in successfully opposing a utility’s petition at FERC to terminate its mandatory purchase obligation under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act.
Memberships and Affiliations
- Electricity Regulation Committee, Vice Chair (2007)
- Energy Bar Association, Member (1992-present)
- Environmental Markets Association, Board of Directors, and Vice President (1998-2001); Member (1997-present)
- American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Special Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Vice Chair (1999-2000)
Previous Experience
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of the Tax Legislative Counsel, Attorney Advisor (1983-1987)
Energy Regulation And Legislation To Watch In 2021
January 3, 2021, Law360
Mark Perlis is quoted in Law360 regarding the implementation of FERC's small-scale clean energy rule. Mr. Perlis says putting together implementation plans will be a delicate dance between parties including DER providers, utilities, state regulators, and regional grid operators. “Then the rule itself gives the states certain levers, and it will be interesting to ...
November 7, 2020, POWER Magazine
October 8, 2020, Inside Energy & Environment
Recently, the three sitting Commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) convened thirty industry experts at a virtual Technical Conference on state adoption of carbon pricing and its implementation in organized, wholesale electricity markets managed by regional transmission organizations (RTOs) or independent system operators (ISOs). Public ...
July 23, 2020, Inside Energy & Environment
The FERC recently issued a final rule (Order No. 872) revising its regulations implementing the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), which encourages the development of certain renewable and cogeneration facilities. PURPA, and FERC’s rules implementing it, establish benefits to those facilities by obligating electric utilities to purchase ...
2019, American Bar Association
Our cross-disciplinary Internet of Things initiative contributed to the ABA's first book on IoT, The Internet of Things: Legal Issues, Policy, & Practical Strategies. Laura Kim and Jennifer Johnson authored the chapter “U.S. Regulatory Framework for IoT,” with contributions from Sarah Wilson (product safety); Wade Ackerman, Elizabeth Guo, Christopher Hanson, ...
April 2019, Energy Law Report
March 2019, Pratt's Energy Law Report
February 1, 2019, Inside Energy & Environment
With potential liabilities in excess of $30 billion stemming from a series of deadly wildfires that ignited across Northern California in 2017 and 2018, Pacific Gas and Electric Company and its holding company PG&E Corp. (PG&E) filed for Chapter 11 relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday....… Continue ...
December 20, 2018, Inside Energy & Environment
Carbon pricing is seen by many as an effective means of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity generation. California and several Eastern states have enacted “cap and trade” emission allowance programs, which have forced generators in those states to pay a price for their CO2 emissions. With the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan not...… ...
March 17, 2017, Inside Energy & Environment
A recent New York Times article reported on an early-stage, solar energy microgrid being formed in Brooklyn, called the Brooklyn Microgrid, that relies on blockchain technology, the innovative database technology used by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin that promises to transform industries as diverse as financial services, health care, retail, and manufacturing. ...
February 7, 2017, Covington Alert
While the general direction of the Trump Administration to “scrap the Clean Power Plan” and promote more fossil fuel production is reflected in the “America First Energy Plan” released by the White House on inauguration day, the first two weeks of the Administration have revealed little new information on specific policies the Administration intends to pursue ...
January 17, 2017, Inside Energy & Environment
The Trump Administration will take office intent on reversing many Obama Administration policies. Although the Trump Administration’s publicly released 100-day plan does not announce a new energy policy, campaign promises and priorities of the Republican-controlled Congress suggest a number of early initiatives that will impact the power sector. Moreover, the ...
May 19, 2016, Natural Gas Intel
Mark Perlis spoke at the EnergyRisk Summit 2016 USA and is quoted in this Natural Gas Intel article regarding the decreasing number of companies voluntarily providing information for price indexes in the turbulent natural gas market. According to Perlis, “If you're going to voluntarily report, you have to report accurately and in totality. That's the essence of ...
January 28, 2016, Inside Energy & Environment
In FERC v. EPSA, issued on January 25, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in a 6-2 decision, that FERC has jurisdiction under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to regulate demand response transactions in wholesale electricity markets administered by independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs). The Court also upheld, as reasoned ...
July 30, 2015, Inside Energy & Environment
In August, EPA is expected to finalize and to modify its ambitious Clean Power Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. Here is a Watch List of key areas for possible changes and clarification that EPA might make, after considering voluminous public comments on the Proposed Regulations, which were issued in June...… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Decisions Raise Questions about Future Judicial Scrutiny of EPA’s Clean Power Plan
July 6, 2015, Inside Energy & Environment
Two of the Supreme Court’s major, end-of-term decisions turn on the deference the Court gives to agency determinations of the meaning of ambiguous clauses in complex regulatory statutes, applying the familiar Chevron framework. The Court’s less deferential applications of Chevron raise important questions about the deference courts might be expected to give to ...
June 10, 2015, Inside Energy & Environment
Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to review challenges of EPA’s authority to adopt comprehensive regulations of carbon emissions from exiting power plants. A coal company, joined by 12 States, had asked the Court of Appeals to prohibit EPA from finalizing its Clean Power Plan on multiple...… Continue Reading
The Climate and Energy Policy Basis for EPA's First-Ever CO2 Emission Standards for Power Plants
April 2014, Electricity Journal
September 2010, Energy Law360, Environmental Law36
Outlook for Domestic and International Carbon Regulation and Renewable Energy Legislation
11/9/2009, Infocast Renewable Energy Finance Summit: Finance for a Post-Stimulus World
U.S. Climate Change Litigation - Impacts on Biotechnology Industry
7/22/2009, BIO 2009 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing
July/August 2009, Electric Light & Power
Enforcement Policy - The Practitioners' View
November 2007, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Reconciling Electricity Deregulation and Clean Air
August 1998, Corporate Counsel Magazine
- Chambers Global, Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation) (2014-2019; 2021)
- Chambers USA, Energy: Electricity (Regulatory & Litigation) (2006-2020)
- Best Lawyers in America, Energy Law (2006-2020)
- Legal 500 US, Energy - Renewable/Alternative (2016)
- Legal 500 US, Energy - Regulatory (2016)
- Legal 500 US, Environment - Litigation (2016)
- Washington DC Super Lawyers, Energy & Natural Resources (2008-2020)