Federal energy regulators were sued this week over their decision to fast-track interconnection review programs of the Southwest Power Pool and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator.
Separate lawsuits were filed by public interest groups against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The suits were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The three groups that filed them were Clean Wisconsin, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club. They sued sued over FERC’s MISO decision and the Sierra Club sued over the SPP decision, reported Utility Dive.
The lawsuits contend the fast-track processes approved for the grids will wrongly increase residential ratepayer costs and also give an unfair advantage compared to projects in the grid operators’ standard interconnection queues.
Utility Dive quoted Greg Wannier, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club who said in a statement, “The result will be higher monthly bills for tens of millions of people by locking in new gas-burning power plants ahead of cheaper, shovel-ready clean energy projects.”
He further claimed FERC’s approval of the line-cutting proposals will add to the disruption that has prevented hundreds of gigawatts of clean energy from coming online.
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