Dive Brief:
- The Arizona Corporation Commission on Tuesday voted 4-1 to allow UNS Electric to expand its Black Mountain Generating Station by 200 MW without obtaining a certificate of environmental compatibility, ruling that because each of the individual planned units are under 100 MW the commission “does not have mandatory jurisdiction.”
- State law requires a CEC for power plant additions of 100 MW or more, while UNSE plans to add four gas-fired units each with a nameplate capacity of 50 MW. The ACC’s decision overturned an order by the Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee that exerted jurisdiction over the proposed expansion.
- Line Siting Committee Chair Adam Stafford called the outcome “absurd.” State legislators “certainly did not intend for people situated next to a plant that has multiple smaller units to have less opportunity to engage in the process than people who are next to a plant that has one unit that is 100 MW,” he said at Tuesday’s open meeting.
Dive Insight:
The ACC’s decision has angered environmental and customer advocates who say it overturns years of precedent and sets the stage for more gas-fired resources to be developed without proper oversight.
The decision “enables utilities to avoid environmental compliance and continue to write their own rules that often go against the best interests of ratepayers, and the planet,” Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr said in a statement. “UNSE proposed a loophole that would allow it and other utilities to avoid certificate of environmental compatibility requirements and the ACC stamped it with its seal of approval.”
“This is a disappointing decision that overturns decades of commission practice to essentially exempt most gas plants from common-sense environmental review,” Emily Doerfler, an attorney with Western Resource Advocates, said.
The Arizona Legislature passed the line siting statutes in 1971.
UNSE had requested the line siting committee issue a “disclaimer of jurisdiction” for the project but in May the committee rejected the application and noted that in the past it had required CECs where the total capacities of the generating stations were greater than 100 MW, but each individual gas unit had a nameplate rating below 100 MW.
But the statute “is not ambiguous, it could not be more clear,” Meghan Grabel, an attorney with Osborn Maledon representing UNSE, told the commissioners at Tuesday’s meeting. Unlike some other states that expressly aggregate plant ratings at a single plant site, the Arizona Legislature directed the ACC and line siting committee to focus on individual generating units, she said.
“The statute defines ‘plant’ using no fewer that four words that are synonymous with the word ‘individual’ to determine whether the capacity threshold for a CEC is met,” Grabel said.
Commissioner Anna Tovar dissented from the ACC’s decision, saying she believed the line siting committee’s decision should stand, noting the 9-2 “overwhelming” vote. “I myself will respect that process,” she said, adding that the line siting committee rules should be revised.
Commissioner Lea Márquez Peterson voted to reverse the line siting committee’s order, calling the CEC process “comprehensive.”
“The debate I heard today was focused on policy implications and not the legal interpretation of the statute,” she said. “The ACC does not have authority to change such policies.”
The ACC issued a statement Wednesday noting that “to be clear, in this decision, the commission is not exempting UNS Electric, Inc., or any other utility, from environmental review.”
The utility is still required to obtain permits from state and local agencies, including the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the commission noted. And UNSE “is still required to obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility from the commission for interconnection with related transmission lines,” it said.
“That process will provide residents and other local stakeholders with opportunities to provide input,” Joseph Barrios, senior media relations and regulatory communications specialist with Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services, said in an email.
The expansion project “also would trigger several environmental reviews and permitting actions that involve public participation,” Barrios said. “Revision of our air quality permit requires public notice and comment before construction.” And if the project requires a new well or pond, additional permits would be required.
