On March 18, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) issued a Policy Statement on Penalty Guidelines (Penalty
Guidelines). Since 2005, FERC has been authorized to assess civil
penalties of up to $1 million per day per violation for many
regulatory violations. The Penalty Guidelines establish a
significant new approach for FERC to use in determining civil
penalties "to be imposed on all organizations for violations
of the statutes, rules, regulations, restrictions, conditions or
orders overseen by [FERC]." (§1A.1.1). The Penalty
Guidelines are modeled after the framework of the United States
Sentencing Guidelines that apply to organizations in federal
criminal cases and became immediately effective upon issuance. The
Penalty Guidelines will be applied to all future violations and to
"any pending investigation where Enforcement staff and the
organization have not yet entered into settlement
negotiations." (P. 62). The Commission's use of the
Penalty
