In this issue of Infrastructure we celebrate the life of our dear colleague, Eason Balch, who died peacefully a few weeks ago at the age of 98. His passing, and the deaths in recent years of our colleagues Judge Cudahy and Sam Porter, mark the passing of an era. All served their country during WW II. Eason and Judge Cudahy (who attended the U.S. Military Academy in West Point during the final years of WW II) served in the U.S. Army and Sam in the Navy. All were officers and natural born leaders. In his remembrance of Eason, Stan Blanton wonderfully captures the unique character of a lion of the public utility bar and in doing so reminds us of the qualities of a good man and a life well lived. As Stan describes him, Eason possessed a “joy of working.” Eason’s joy of working, however, was not a thing in itself, but rather it was borne of his deep love of people, colleagues, and family, and, like many veterans of WW II, the ambition to make things right and better. We will miss him. Our condolences to the Balch family and to all his colleagues with the law firm that bears his name, Balch & Bingham.
April 01, 2018 Column
Editor’s Column
By Casey Wren
We have two substantive articles of note in this issue. Latif Nurani provides our readers with a timely overview of the regulatory framework that Congress created in 2005 to ensure that owners, operators, and users of the nation’s bulk power system take appropriate measures to protect the grid from cyber threats. Today, as Latif notes, hundreds of electric utilities around the country are complying with cybersecurity standards. Latif explains the robust system that FERC and NERC have in place to verify compliance with the standards, including significant financial penalties for failure to comply. In our other article, Cathy McCarthy discusses the regulatory approvals that federal law requires for electric public utility merger and acquisition transactions. In addition to the due diligence and regulatory process required for FERC authorization of a merger or acquisition pursuant to the Federal Power Act of 1935, Cathy helpfully explains another often required and sometimes overlooked federal approval, Federal Communications Commission consent pursuant to the Communications Act of 1934. Also, at a high level, she discusses FERC, FCC, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission due diligence issues that could be considered in a public utility transaction. I’m sure our readers will find these two articles interesting and helpful.