Guest View: Energy law in jeopardy
Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. —
When Missouri voters passed Proposition C with 66% of the vote in November 2008, it was the end of a long and hard struggle to bring green jobs and a clean energy future to Missouri. The law requires AmerenUE, Kansas City Power & Light, and Empire Electric Company to ramp up their use of clean energy from biomass, wind, solar, and other renewables, up to 15 percent of their energy mix by the year 2021.
As required by law, the Public Service Commission, which regulates all investor-owned utilities, heard input from hundreds of stakeholders on how rules should be crafted to instruct utilities on how to comply with the law. On June 2,2010, they voted 3 to 2 to approve a set of rules deemed to be strong for creating renewable energy development in Missouri.
Now, 19 months after the voters approved Prop C, a final step in the process is putting the important rules in jeopardy of being weakened, rejected, or delayed indefinitely. A group of 10 legislators called the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) will announce this week either their approval or rejection of the rules.
According to their website, JCAR approves over 1,800 rules a year, and occasionally convenes a hearing if parties contest a rule based on it being outside the statutory authority that created it. Utilities requested the hearing that happened last Thursday, where much of the testimony heard was regarding whether JCAR even has the authority to hear the rule at all. Since JCAR was created as a check and balance on laws created by the legislature, but this law was passed by Missouri voters, JCAR’s authority to hear the rule at all is questionable.
In 1994, JCAR disapproved a rule created by the Department of Natural Resources. Their authority to stop the rule from going into place was questioned in the 1997 Supreme Court ruling of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment v. JCAR. The Court ruled that while JCAR does have the authority to hold hearings and make recommendations, they do not have the authority to suspend rules or prevent them from being published or enforced.
Normally JCAR takes no action and rules go automatically into effect. If they take no action by July 2, Missouri’s new renewable energy law will go into effect. If they object to the rules, however, it is possible their objection could delay publication of the rules.
“We’ve been down this road before,” says Kat Logan Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. “We expect some utilities to oppose these rules no matter what, and hope that JCAR honors the 19-month process the Public Service Commission went through to create the effective rules in front of JCAR today.”
At stake are questions of whether, since the law applies to “power sold to Missouri consumers”, such power should actually have to come from within Missouri, how to interpret a provision limiting any cost increases associated with the law to 1% or less, and a requirement for utilities to purchase 10 years of solar credits from their customers who connect a solar system to the grid.
“The PSC’s rules favor strong development of clean energy in Missouri as the rules are written today,” says PJ Wilson, Director of Renew Missouri. “Developers of wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energy are waiting impatiently for this rulemaking process to finish so that they can hire workers and construct projects in Missouri. I hope this process is not delayed or weakened by JCAR.”
If JCAR indicates their disapproval of the rule, the Public Service Commission will have a chance to implement their suggestions for change, or insist the rules stay as-is. In that case, it is not clear whether the rule would be published, as indicated by the Courts, or if it would be delayed indefinitely until JCAR and the PSC agree.
Renew Missouri is a project of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, a 501c(3) non-profit organization.
As required by law, the Public Service Commission, which regulates all investor-owned utilities, heard input from hundreds of stakeholders on how rules should be crafted to instruct utilities on how to comply with the law. On June 2,2010, they voted 3 to 2 to approve a set of rules deemed to be strong for creating renewable energy development in Missouri.
Now, 19 months after the voters approved Prop C, a final step in the process is putting the important rules in jeopardy of being weakened, rejected, or delayed indefinitely. A group of 10 legislators called the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) will announce this week either their approval or rejection of the rules.
According to their website, JCAR approves over 1,800 rules a year, and occasionally convenes a hearing if parties contest a rule based on it being outside the statutory authority that created it. Utilities requested the hearing that happened last Thursday, where much of the testimony heard was regarding whether JCAR even has the authority to hear the rule at all. Since JCAR was created as a check and balance on laws created by the legislature, but this law was passed by Missouri voters, JCAR’s authority to hear the rule at all is questionable.
In 1994, JCAR disapproved a rule created by the Department of Natural Resources. Their authority to stop the rule from going into place was questioned in the 1997 Supreme Court ruling of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment v. JCAR. The Court ruled that while JCAR does have the authority to hold hearings and make recommendations, they do not have the authority to suspend rules or prevent them from being published or enforced.
Normally JCAR takes no action and rules go automatically into effect. If they take no action by July 2, Missouri’s new renewable energy law will go into effect. If they object to the rules, however, it is possible their objection could delay publication of the rules.
“We’ve been down this road before,” says Kat Logan Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. “We expect some utilities to oppose these rules no matter what, and hope that JCAR honors the 19-month process the Public Service Commission went through to create the effective rules in front of JCAR today.”
At stake are questions of whether, since the law applies to “power sold to Missouri consumers”, such power should actually have to come from within Missouri, how to interpret a provision limiting any cost increases associated with the law to 1% or less, and a requirement for utilities to purchase 10 years of solar credits from their customers who connect a solar system to the grid.
“The PSC’s rules favor strong development of clean energy in Missouri as the rules are written today,” says PJ Wilson, Director of Renew Missouri. “Developers of wind, solar, biomass, and other renewable energy are waiting impatiently for this rulemaking process to finish so that they can hire workers and construct projects in Missouri. I hope this process is not delayed or weakened by JCAR.”
If JCAR indicates their disapproval of the rule, the Public Service Commission will have a chance to implement their suggestions for change, or insist the rules stay as-is. In that case, it is not clear whether the rule would be published, as indicated by the Courts, or if it would be delayed indefinitely until JCAR and the PSC agree.
Renew Missouri is a project of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, a 501c(3) non-profit organization.
