August 29, 2024
PHOENIX – Western Resource Advocates filed a complaint today with the Maricopa County Superior Court requesting it overturn a decision by the Arizona Corporation Commission allowing UniSource Electric to build a 200-megawatt methane gas plant expansion without obtaining a certificate of environmental compatibility.
The Commission decision, which overturned a 9-2 ruling by the state’s Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee requiring the certificate, creates a troubling new precedent for electric utilities seeking to build new generation facilities and removes an oversight process in place in Arizona since 1971.
The requirement that utilities obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility is an important part of Arizona’s regulatory process. The Commission’s decision to gut this requirement disregarded decades of precedent, is unsupported by evidence and contrary to Arizona law.
The Line Siting Committee’s certificate of environmental compatibility process enables communities, including those already disadvantaged and burdened by existing energy projects, to have a voice in the construction of new facilities.
In March, UniSource filed a request with the Line Siting Committee asking for a legal determination that its proposed 200 MW Black Mountain Expansion Project near Kingman in Mohave County does not require a certificate of environmental compatibility. Under Arizona statute, certificates of environmental compatibility are required for new facilities that are 100 MW or larger. Unisource argued that its project – which includes four new 50 MW gas turbines that operate together as a 200 MW facility – is four different new plants, each of which is below the threshold for a certificate of environmental compatibility.
This same argument was rejected by the Corporation Commission in 2007 and has been repeatedly rejected in the granting of certificates of environmental compatibility to similar projects since 1971. In keeping with this extensive precedent, UniSource’s extreme legal argument was soundly rejected on May 2 by the Line Siting Committee with a 9-2 vote. However, with a 4-1 vote June 11, the Commission overturned the Line Siting Committee’s decision.
By eliminating this certification review, electric utilities can now build large methane gas facilities in any local neighborhood without engaging with the public, local governments, or assessing environmental compatibility through this important process.
Arizona’s line siting process balances the development of major energy facilities with the needs of communities that will be affected by them. Utility profits should not be put before people. No community should be ignored, disregarded or disempowered by the actions of the Arizona Corporation Commission.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Requirements for certificates of environmental compatibility are not the only precedents the Commission wants to discard. The agency is now engaging in the legally required rulemaking to scrap the state’s Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) Rules. These rules require electric utilities to generate 15% of their energy from renewable sources by 2025 and report on their progress.
The Commission has also set its sights on eliminating Arizona’s energy efficiency and demand side management rules, which were adopted in 2010. These rules require utilities to meet cumulative annual targets for electricity savings equivalent to at least 22% through 2020.
To read more about the importance of energy regulation in Arizona and how the Arizona Corporation Commission is actively working to reduce its authority over utilities, click here for WRA’s latest blog post, “Energy Regulation in Arizona Has Never Been More Important.”
Media Contact:
James Quirk, 908-902-3177, james.quirk@westernresources.org
