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April 11, 2026

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FERC Denies Motion of Kittell Estate in GreenHat Case

FERC on Wednesday denied a motion from the estate of one of the owners of GreenHat Energy for the commission to drop its enforcement action after it emerged last fall that Office of Enforcement lawyers violated regulations related to the electricity market manipulation case (IN18-9).

Lawyers for the estate of Andrew Kittell, one of three owners of GreenHat, made a filing in October, arguing that a series of emails between Enforcement’s Division of Investigations (DOI) lawyers Thomas Olson and Steven Tabackman were “not only unlawful, but deceptive.”

FERC released the emails after Olson, who is part of the litigation staff in the GreenHat proceeding, disclosed them to Enforcement management. (See Estate of GreenHat’s Kittell Lobbies FERC to End Enforcement Action.)

In November, FERC said it determined that GreenHat and its owners violated the Federal Power Act by “engaging in a manipulative scheme” in PJM’s financial transmission rights market, issuing a total of $242 million in fines for the company’s 890 million-MWh default in 2018. The commission assessed civil penalties of $179 million on the company and $25 million each on owners John Bartholomew and Kevin Ziegenhorn. It also directed GreenHat, Bartholomew, Ziegenhorn and Kittell’s estate to disgorge more than $13 million in unjust profits, plus applicable interest. (See FERC Levies $242M in Fines on GreenHat, Owners.)

GreenHat acquired the largest FTR portfolio in PJM between 2015 and 2018, but defaulted on the portfolio in June 2018, leaving PJM stakeholders to cover more than $179 million in the market. When the company defaulted, FERC said, GreenHat had only $559,447 in collateral on deposit with PJM. (See Doubling Down — with Other People’s Money.)

<img src="//www.rtoinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/140620231686782829.jpeg" data-first-key="caption" data-second-key="credit" data-caption="

GreenHat’s significant growth in exposure and MTA loss

” data-credit=”PJM” style=”display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center;” alt=”GreenHats-significant-growth-in-exposure-and-MTA-loss-PJM-Content-2-1″>GreenHat’s significant growth in exposure and MTA loss | PJM

 

FERC said in Wednesday’s order that it was “troubled by the exchange of emails between decisional staff and litigation staff,” but the email exchange did not rise to the level of having to dismiss the case.

“The commission reviewed the prior allegations regarding the investigative process in this case and found such allegations to be without merit,” FERC said in its order. “With regard to the October 2021 notice, we need not decide here whether the Tabackman-Olson email exchange identified in the notice violated the commission’s regulations because we conclude that the conduct at issue here would not warrant the extraordinary remedy of dismissal.”

Email Exchange

In the email exchange disclosed in October, Olson notified the commission that he received emails through his personal Gmail accounts on Sept. 17 and 18 from Tabackman, who was serving as decisional staff in the GreenHat case. The two were discussing a pair of U.S. Supreme Court case decisions that Tabackman believed could strengthen FERC’s case.

Tabackman urged Olson not to reveal where he received the information on the cases, saying, “You never heard that here.”

Olson questioned Tabackman on whether the latter sent information on 1940’s U.S. v. Summerlin and 2006’s Marshall v. Marshall with the GreenHat case in mind, “or something else?”

Tabackman responded, “Yes — you should be familiar with them — though you should not mention how you came upon them.”

After receiving another email from Tabackman on Sept. 18 that referenced Tabackman’s work with the decisional team, Olson realized the emails “constituted a violation of the commission’s separation-of-functions regulation.”

The regulation prohibits any employee assigned to work on an enforcement proceeding or assisting in a trial “to participate or advise as to the findings, conclusion or decision, except as a witness or counsel in public proceedings.”

FERC removed Tabackman as a counsel of record in its federal court case.

In its motion, lawyers for the estate of Kittell, who killed himself by jumping off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in California on Jan. 6, 2021, argued that the commission should drop all enforcement action against the estate, ban Tabackman and Olson from any future involvement in the investigation and “order other offices within the commission to investigate what happened.”

FERC said in its order on Wednesday that the email exchange “addressed procedural matters that might arise under California probate law in the state probate proceeding on the Kittell estate.” The commission said the procedural matters discussed in the emails were not an issue before FERC, but it decided to refer the matter to the OIG for an investigation.

The commission said the OIG “declined to take further action and deferred to the commission to proceed as appropriate” after finishing its investigation. “FERC said the commission’s Designated Agency Ethics official and staff conducted an internal administrative inquiry into any other communications regarding the Kittell matter and found no other violations.

FERC said it expects its staff to “conduct themselves in accordance with the highest ethical standards and is committed to ensuring that the subjects of investigations receive due process, both in perception and reality.”

“Because the commission ‘is charged with safeguarding the integrity of our nation’s interstate energy markets,’ it is obligated to take necessary and appropriate action when it finds violations of the statutory and regulatory prohibitions on manipulation of those markets,” FERC said in its order. “Moreover, numerous courts have recognized that administrative agencies are charged by Congress to enforce laws on behalf of the American people and thus dismissal of an agency enforcement action may run counter to the public interest. Accordingly, absent extreme circumstances such as a violation of Constitutional due process, courts generally will not set aside agency decisions based upon a violation of procedural rules.”

The commission determined that there was “no evidence” that the Kittell estate was harmed by the email exchange between Tabackman and Olson.

“To the degree that there was any harm from the email exchange, OE staff appropriately remedied that harm by immediately disclosing that exchange, thereby providing respondents with an opportunity to respond, and, as discussed, the commission both referred the matter to the OIG and tasked the commission’s designated ethics official to conduct an inquiry to assess whether additional prohibited communications occurred to confirm our decisions in this case were reasoned and unbiased,” FERC said in its order. “Accordingly, we find that dismissing the action would serve no purpose other than to deprive the public of justice in the underlying matter.”

Danly Dissent

FERC Commissioner James Danly issued a dissent in the order. Danly previously had harsh words for PJM in the case, saying the RTO was partially to blame for the result of the default and had a “share of the blame that must rightly be assigned to PJM.”

In his dissent issued Wednesday, Danly said the ethics of prosecutors “must be above suspicion,” and for the commission to do “anything less than fully consider and respond to these claims damages our credibility.”

“Under these circumstances, the movant and the public deserve an answer,” Danly said in his dissent. “And while I acknowledge that enforcement and the commission have taken some action to redress enforcement’s misconduct, our enforcement program would be better served by issuing a commission order with a clear-eyed and unflinching response to the misconduct alleged in both the Oct. 5, 2021, motion and the respondents’ answer to the order to show cause.”

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Conn., ISO-NE not Seeing Eye to Eye on Winter Reliability Worries

A mild start to winter in New England has done little to ease the chill between the region’s grid operator and Connecticut’s energy regulator.

An exchange of letters between the two, published by the RTO this week, shows a continuation of a familiar back-and-forth that has intensified coming into this winter.

Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, wrote to ISO-NE President Gordon van Welie on Dec. 17, following a push by the RTO to communicate with the press and public about the potentially precarious state of the region’s grid this winter. (See ISO-NE: New England Could Face Load Shed in Cold Snaps.)

“I am deeply concerned that the ISO appears, at least in its public statements, to be more concerned about our fuel security risks this winter, yet the ISO has done less than in previous years in terms of using the available tools to ensure the region has the fuel supplies we need,” Dykes wrote. She asked the RTO to answer eight questions, including about generators’ LNG arrangements and why it has not reinstituted its winter fuel-buying program for this year.

Van Welie responded on Dec. 23, making clear that the RTO feels it has done all that it can and that state and regional policy changes are needed to find a long-term solution. He laid out what ISO-NE has done in recent years to mitigate winter fuel security concerns, many of the steps revolving around communication, situational awareness and data sharing.

He noted that the fuel-buying plan (Winter Reliability Programs) was only a temporary measure and also that it “subsidized the carbon-intensive, oil-fired generators that the region is trying to wean itself from.” ISO-NE has no plans to reinstate them unless FERC directs it otherwise, van Welie wrote.

He instead pointed back to state and regional policymaking as the best long-term solution.

“We are concerned that the energy adequacy problem may get worse over time until policymakers and stakeholders in New England can successfully engineer a clean energy replacement for the current balancing energy source, which is largely natural gas,” he wrote. “This is unlikely to occur without policy support, since the available technologies to provide a reliable long-duration balancing energy source are currently expensive.”

In an interview, Dykes said she appreciated the response, which focused on the RTO’s recent history of winter fuel security actions, but that it did not fully answer her specific questions regarding LNG supply and the prospect of resuming past winter reliability programs for the current and impending winters.

“They’re the grid operator,” she said. The RTO is “institutionally responsible” for assessing risks and being aware of what solutions are necessary. “Our inquiry was intended to drill into the ISO’s plans or lack thereof for addressing the risk this winter that they have been raising alarm about.”

“It’s not acceptable to have a region facing the possibility of catastrophic outages should the temperature stay low for multiple days,” Dykes said. “This is New England.”

So far, temperatures averaging 5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal have resulted in lower demand and temporarily eased worries about the grid. The latest 21-day forecast shows only short periods of low temperatures, ISO-NE COO Vamsi Chadalavada told the NEPOOL Participants Committee in a presentation Thursday.

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Report: NY Road Transport Emissions Up 12% Since 1990

New York’s first climate law-compliant greenhouse gas emissions report has found the state’s overall emissions are down from 1990 levels, but transportation stood out in the analysis as the top sector needing improvement.

Emissions increases in a group of sectors reveal the state has “enormous challenges” ahead in its work to reduce emissions 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement.

The Dec. 30 report, which covers 1990-2019, found that statewide GHG emissions decreased 6% for the period and 17% from 2005 to 2019. Road transportation emissions, however, increased 12% for the 30-year period and represented 17% of statewide total emissions in 2019.

While the report said the increase for road transport was substantial for the 30-year period, the biggest jump happened between 1990 and 2005. In that time, emissions grew from 56 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMT CO2e) to 69.8 MMT CO2e, then they dropped over the next 12 years to 62.8 MMT CO2e and stayed flat through 2019.

The state’s buildings sector, while having higher total emissions than the transportation sector, had an overall decline from 1990 to 2019 from 87 to 72.6 MMT CO2e. Of the residential, commercial and industrial subsectors, however, residential building emissions showed the only overall increase for the period. The subsector emissions increased from 39 to 46 MMT CO2e in the first 15 years after 1990, then they settled at 40.7 MMT CO2e in 2019 following some minor annual fluctuations caused by weather patterns.

Overall for the buildings sector, emissions increased 40% from natural gas and decreased 54% from other fuels, which include wood, distillates and coal.

The most significant sectoral emissions reduction between 1990 and 2019, at 65%, occurred in fuel for electricity caused by the transition away from the combustion of coal and petroleum fuels to natural gas, according to the report.

Coal emissions for electricity dropped from 25 to 0.46 MMT CO2e for the period, while natural gas emissions increased from 12.6 to 20.7 MMT CO2e.

Other Trends

In the agriculture sector, livestock management had the highest emissions, increasing 44% from 1990 to 2019. While animal feeding practices produced the highest emissions for livestock activities, manure management specifically saw the biggest emissions increase for the period. That trend, the report said, is because of policy changes regarding manure storage that protect water quality.

Activities in the forestry and land-use sectors removed 32.7 MMT CO2e in 1990 and 29.1 MMT CO2e in 2019. New York’s forest lands were the single largest emissions sink, but they sequestered 2.2 MMT less CO2 in 2019 than in 2005 because of forest land conversion, the report said.

Tracking of specific greenhouse gases showed that CO2 emissions declined by 39 MMT, or 15%, from 1990 to 2019, but hydrofluorocarbon emissions increased from near zero to 20 MMT CO2e for the period. That increase, the report said, is attributed to uptake in the residential and commercial buildings and industrial sectors as a refrigerant following the phase down of chlorofluorocarbon use.

The New York Climate Action Council, in its recently adopted draft scoping plan, recommended the state consider advancing a transition away from high global warming-potential (GWP) HFCs to low or ultra-low GWP HFCs or natural refrigerants.

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NJ Ramps up Wind Sector Support

New Jersey is doubling down on its efforts to create a new offshore wind sector, with $350 million set aside to award corporate tax credits to companies that make major investments in the sector and another $265 million allocated to help fund the creation of the New Jersey Wind Port.

The $265 million, which Gov. Phil Murphy and the legislature allocated in November from a fund created to pay down state bond debt, brings the total committed to the wind port to about $500 million. The funding commitments for the wind port, which is located on the Delaware River in Lower Alloways Creek, are now more than 25% higher than the project cost estimates of $300 million to $400 million released when Murphy first announced the project in June 2020.

In a separate move, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) in December started accepting applications for a program, the Offshore Wind Tax Credit Program, that the agency expects will typically offer tax credits equal to 40 to 60% of a company’s qualified capital investments in a “major, land-based offshore wind industry project.” To be eligible, a business must invest $50 million or more in the project, or invest $17.5 million in the project if the company is a tenant in a space that the owner invested $50 million or more.

New Jersey is increasing its commitment to the wind sector as other states on the East Coast — among them Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Maryland — are making their own investments to create an in-state offshore market that also could attract supply chain business from out-of-state projects.

“To me, the story is New Jersey is putting our money where our mouth is,” said Brian Sabina, chief economic growth officer for NJEDA, which oversees much of the expenditures on the wind port. “We are crystal clear that we believe New Jersey is, and will continue to be, one of, if not the, hub for offshore supply chain developments in the offshore wind industry in the U.S.”

New Jersey’s latest round of offshore wind funding follows a commitment of $200 million to the wind port put in the state budget by Murphy and the legislature in June and a $13 million commitment to the project by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU). In addition, the governor and legislature awarded $44 million to the state Department of Transportation for a dredge project that will deepen the channel connecting the port and the main channel of the Delaware River.

Sabina said that the state is “not done” with allocating money to the project and suggested that one source of future funds could be the federal government, including the Build Back Better bill. However, that bill stalled in mid-December.

“This is not a one-year, one-time investment,” Sabina said of New Jersey’s commitments. “This is to start getting ahead on making the down payments on the infrastructure we need to drive our economy and our [economic] climate in the right direction.”

Proven Demand

New Jersey has set a target date of 2024 to complete the port, which broke ground Sept. 9. The port, and the effort to shape it as a hub that will serve the regional wind industry supply chain, are key parts of Murphy’s goal to create a state offshore wind sector that will generate 23% of the state’s energy by 2050. The state aims to create wind projects totaling 7,500 MW by 2035. (See NJ Breaks Ground On Offshore Wind Hub.)

The plans outlined on the wind port website, which calls it the first purpose-built wind port on the East Coast, include a 30-acre marshalling area for component assembly and staging; a dedicated overland heavy-haul transportation corridor; and a heavy-lift wharf with a dedicated delivery berth and an installation berth that can accommodate jack-up vessels. Nacelle manufacturers MHI Vestas and General Electric have committed to creating nacelle plants at the port, and the developers of the three offshore wind projects approved by New Jersey so far have also agreed to use the port. German manufacturer EEW Group is building a monopile factor in the nearby Port of Paulsboro. (See New Jersey Shoots for Key East Coast Wind Role.)

The BPU in 2019 approved the 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 1 project, developed by Danish developer Ørsted, and on June 30 approved Ørsted’s 1,100-MW Ocean Wind 2 and the 1,510-MW Atlantic Shores project, a joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US. The BPU is planning to hold three more solicitations over the next five years.

Sabina said the number of companies interested in putting money into New Jersey’s offshore wind industry and wind port shows the state’s commitment is well placed. He cited the fact that 16 companies submitted nonbinding offers to become tenants at the wind port, including Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Vestas-American Wind Technology and Beacon Wind. (See NJ Wind Port Draws Offshore Heavy Hitters.)

“Demand for this infrastructure is there,” Sabina said. “And that’s giving us the confidence to say, ‘Let’s start making sure that we’re ahead of the game in terms of the next phase of design and construction.’”

Jockeying for Out-of-state Investors

Sabina said the tax credit program grew out of the awareness that a vigorous competition between states and countries is underway for investment dollars in the offshore wind sector. New Jersey needed a way to attract “major Tier 1 suppliers and other major large, maybe Tier 2, manufacturing facilities to come and anchor their supply chains here in our state,” he said.

“We know that those same companies are considering investing in other states. We know those same companies are considering investing in other regions,” he said. “We needed a tool to help make sure that when we talk with those companies — Siemens, EEW, Vestas, GE — we had a tool to help them partner and help them de-risk their investments in our state.”

Applicants can apply for a tax credit that is equal to up to 100% of the investment, and the recipient can use the credit to reduce taxes or sell it to someone else seeking to do the same. To be eligible for a credit, companies must be in a business that is located in the state and is “related” to the offshore wind industry. The company, along with meeting the capital investment requirements, also must create jobs, starting at 100 jobs in the first year and rising to 300 jobs by the fifth year.

To get a credit equal to 100% of the project investment, the developer must show that New Jersey will receive an amount in sales, payroll, property and other taxes that is equal to 110% of the total capital investment. NJEDA officials say that their modeling shows most applicants will be eligible for credits equal to 40 to 60% of their capital investment.

“That’s really what this tool is about,” Sabina said. “If you’re going to do a large major manufacturing facility or other large offshore wind project, we want to have a tool to co-invest with you so that you can anchor your supply chain in our state, in our region.”

A similar effort to create an in-state industry has spurred efforts in Virginia, which announced in October that Siemens will establish a new plant for offshore wind blades at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. That announcement followed two months after Dominion Energy said it would create a staging and assembly facility on 72 acres at the terminal.

In Maryland, developers of two offshore wind projects awarded by the Public Service Commission said they would use port facilities at Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point outside Baltimore and in Ocean City for marshalling, operations and maintenance. Sparrows Point is also the site of a planned monopile plant.

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New York to Invest $500M in OSW Infrastructure

New York will invest $500 million in offshore wind manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure and electrify 2 million homes by 2030, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday in her 2022 State of the State address.

The state entered 2022 having approved the largest transmission projects in New York in 50 years, with its first OSW project, South Fork, ready to put steel in the water and with officials having approved a plan for reaching emission limits set by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). (See New York Set to Start Building Big in 2022.)

“With this investment, New York will lead the nation on offshore wind production, creating green jobs for New Yorkers and powering our clean energy future,” Hochul said.

New York will invest up to $500 million in the ports, manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure needed to advance its OSW industry, with state agencies and its Green Bank leveraging private capital to deliver more than $2 billion in economic activity while creating more than 2,000 green jobs.

Hochul also said that the New York Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will launch its next OSW procurement this year, resulting in at least 2 GW of new projects. NYSERDA will pick up the pace on OSW transmission planning and conduct a study to identify strategic OSW cable corridors and key points of interconnection to the grid.

Anbaric Development Partners lauded the governor’s recognition of the need for a planned transmission system to deliver offshore wind power.

“Studies have continuously demonstrated that transmission planned to accommodate and integrate significant amounts of offshore wind is a much more cost-effective, environmentally sound and electrically reliable approach to integrating clean electricity,” Janice Fuller, Anbaric president for the mid-Atlantic region, said in a statement.

New York also will work to electrify 2 million homes or make them electrification-ready by 2030, and new legislation will seek to ensure that all new building construction reaches zero-emissions by 2027, Hochul said.

Building emissions cause more than one third of New York’s climate pollution, and the new plan will help more than 800,000 low-to-moderate income households secure clean energy upgrades.

“Gov. Hochul’s announcement of $500 million in investments for offshore wind, on the eve of the state’s third solicitation and the upcoming NY Bight Lease sale, is a win for New York communities, workers, businesses and our climate,” Allison Considine, senior campaign representative for Sierra Club, said in a statement. “This significant investment, when paired with commitments to double battery storage to 6 GW by 2030, planning to phase out dirty peaker plants and achieve 2 million all-electric homes by 2030, demonstrates that New York will continue to lead the nation in transitioning from fossil fuels to zero-emission electricity.”

The state-level move on building emissions follows action last month by the New York City Council, which voted to ban the use of natural gas for heating or hot water in new construction or renovations beginning in 2024. (See NYC to Ban Natural Gas in New Buildings Beginning 2024.)

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Santee Cooper Joins SEEM

South Carolina state-owned electric and water utility South Carolina Public Service Authority (Santee Cooper) has agreed to join the Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM), the company said Thursday.

The move adds Santee Cooper to the list of “founding members” of SEEM, which comprises nearly 20 utilities across 11 states including Southern Co., Dominion Energy South Carolina, LG&E and KU, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Duke Energy. SEEM’s members said last month they plan to launch the market in the third quarter this year. (See FERC Rejects SEEM Opponents’ Rehearing Requests.)

Santee Cooper’s embrace of SEEM shows the support the concept has gained in the energy industry since its supporters submitted the proposed agreement to FERC last February. Proponents say the planned expansion of bilateral trading across the Southeast will reduce trading friction through the introduction of automation, eliminating transmission rate pancaking and allowing 15-minute energy transactions, while also promoting the integration of renewable resources.

In a press release, Santee Cooper Deputy CEO Charlie Duckworth said the utility is “excited by the opportunities SEEM will offer our customers, including better capability for integrating renewables and savings from lower fuel costs and improved efficiencies.”

The SEEM agreement took effect in October after FERC — which at the time had just four commissioners after the departure of Neil Chatterjee — split 2-2 over whether to approve the measure. Because it had been more than 60 days since supporters’ response to FERC’s last deficiency letter, the measure automatically became enforceable under Section 205 of the Federal Power Act. (See SEEM to Move Ahead, Minus FERC Approval.)

Since then the commission has approved revisions to four of the participating utilities’ tariffs implementing the special transmission service used to deliver the market’s energy transactions. (See FERC Accepts Key Tariff Revisions to SEEM.) Members have also submitted further changes to the commission that would implement a series of “transparency enhancements” to the market. (See SEEM Members Embrace Market Changes.)

Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s largest power provider and the ultimate source of electricity for 2 million people across the state. The utility’s fate has been up in the air in recent years after losing billions in 2017 on a failed project to expand a nuclear power plant, which led the state to put it up for sale in 2019. Florida-based NextEra Energy put in the highest bid but withdrew its offer last April when it became clear that South Carolina lawmakers lacked the votes to approve the sale because of concerns that it would lead to layoffs and higher electric rates.

Instead of selling the utility, lawmakers voted through a package of measures that included removing nine of the 10 members of the utility’s board of directors and restricting severance pay for any terminated executives. The changes also gave state regulators more power over Santee Cooper by allowing them to review its future generation plans and power forecasts and to require public hearings and government oversight ahead of future rate increases.

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NEPOOL PC Approves Tariff Changes for Aggregated DERs

BOSTON — The NEPOOL Participants Committee on Thursday approved ISO-NE’s proposed tariff changes aimed at allowing distributed energy resource aggregations (DERA) to participate in the RTO’s markets. 

The changes, intended to comply with FERC Order 2222, would create two new market participation models for DERAs and tweak five existing ones. 

The proposal sets a minimum size of 100 kW for DERAs in all of the models and includes an opt-in provision which prohibits aggregation bids from distribution companies below 4 million MWh in annual sales unless the relevant retail regulatory authority signs off.

Participation models for DERAs (NEPOOL) Content.jpgISO-NE’s Order 2222 compliance filing would create two new market participation models for DERAs and tweak five existing ones.  | NEPOOL

It creates a four-stage registration process to allow a distribution utility to confirm the necessary capabilities to participate in a DERA. Other changes would amend Forward Capacity Market rules to allow DERAs to take part. 

The changes to the FCM would go into effect in the fourth quarter of 2022, and the others not until 2026. 

Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), which argued that the proposal fails to remove significant barriers to market participation for DERAs, submitted seven amendments while it was under consideration in the Markets Committee. But those were voted down and the group declined to bring the amendments to a vote again for this week’s PC meeting. (See Stakeholders Approve ISO-NE Order 2222 Compliance Plan)

AEE declined to comment on whether it will  advocate for changes once the proposal is under consideration by FERC. 

ISO-NE has until Feb. 2 to file the proposal. 

Billing, FCM Settlement Changes

The PC also voted Thursday on several other items, including changes to the way ISO-NE handles requests for billing adjustments. The requests will now have to be submitted via the AskISO system, instead of by email, because cybersecurity measures have “in some cases hampered receipt” of the requests, according to the RTO. 

The PC also approved a change to convert certain credits and charges associated with the FCM from a monthly settlement to a daily settlement. The proposal will reduce financial assurance for load serving entities and accelerate payments to resource providers, the RTO said. 

Consent agenda

The committee also approved: 

  • changes to Planning Procedure 10 (Planning Procedure to Support the Forward Capacity Market), including conforming changes for ER21-640, related to qualification of non-commercial resources in annual reconfiguration auctions, and ER19-343, related to the modeling of peaking generation in reliability reviews;
  • changes to Operating Procedure 16K (Transmission System Data – Submission of Short Circuit Data), part of a biennial review with minor updates to process flow diagram; and
  • changes to Operating Procedure 3 (Transmission Outage Scheduling), part of biennial review with minor edits and grammatical revisions.
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Youngkin Taps Trump’s Former EPA Chief to Head Virginia DNR

Andrew Wheeler, the former coal industry lobbyist who led EPA under former President Donald Trump, is now slated to head Virginia’s Department of Natural Resources.

Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) nominated Wheeler to the post Wednesday, setting off a storm of criticism from Virginia Democrats and environmental advocates.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) tweeted that “Wheeler is one of the worst people the governor-elect could have chosen for the job.”

“Putting an anti-environment ideologue in this important position would be a far cry from the kind of consensus-based, pragmatic leadership the governor-elect promised,” Beyer said in an attached statement.

“This nomination is extremely disappointing,” seconded Sarah Francisco, director of the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Virginia office. “As a former head of EPA in the Trump administration and former coal industry lobbyist, Mr. Wheeler has a record of weakening fundamental safeguards for clean water and healthy air and opposing common-sense efforts to tackle climate change.”

Youngkin’s announcement of the nomination praised Wheeler’s “extensive experience and passion” and his dedication “to advancing sound environmental policies.”

Gov-elect Glenn Youngkin (Youngkin for Governor) FI.jpgGov.-elect Glenn Youngkin | Youngkin for Governor

Wheeler shares “my vision in finding new ways to innovate and use our natural resources to provide Virginia with a stable, dependable and growing power supply that will meet Virginia’s power demands without passing the costs on to the consumer,” Youngkin said.

Following his victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in November, Youngkin named Wheeler as part of his transition team, specifically as part of the Natural and Historic Resources group.

Under Virginia’s constitution, both houses of the General Assembly must confirm Wheeler and other potential cabinet members. While Wheeler may face little opposition in the Republican-led House of Delegates, he could hit a wall in the Senate, where Democrats still hold a 21-19 advantage.

Citing Wheeler’s “well established record from his time in the Trump administration,” Harry Godfrey, executive director of Virginia Advanced Energy Economy, said “it is vital that the Senate consider that record and determine whether it aligns with the policy direction that the General Assembly has established in recent years,” such as the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA).

Sen. Scott Surovell (D) told the Virginia Mercury that while Senate Democrats have not discussed the nomination, “I think a lot of our members are going to have very serious concerns.”

Surovell also cautioned that “any Republican member who’s in any kind of competitive suburban seat would really need to think twice about voting for someone like [Wheeler] given where Virginia’s been leading on environmental policy.”

Wheeler’s nomination could be the first test of the Senate’s ability to push back on Youngkin’s efforts to slow the state’s progress toward the VCEA’s goal of a 100% clean energy supply by 2050. For example, the governor-elect has vowed to take Virginia out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) via an executive order. The initiative is a multistate carbon market aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions across 11 New England and Mid-Atlantic states.

A General Assembly vote approved the state’s membership in RGGI; any move by Youngkin to rescind that approval by executive order could also spark opposition. Similarly, the Senate is seen as a firewall to forestall any attempt to repeal the VCEA.

Wheeler’s Record

Wheeler’s environmental record goes back to his work as chief counsel for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), an outspoken climate change denier, from 1995 to 1997. He also worked a lobbyist for the coal industry from 2009 to 2017 at the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels (now Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath).

In 2018, when he was the EPA’s acting administrator, Wheeler drew criticism for discounting the findings of the National Climate Assessment, begun during the Obama administration, claiming the report “pushed” a worst-case scenario. During his confirmation hearings to be the official administrator in 2019, he skirted repeated questions from Democratic senators on his views on climate change.

When pressed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Wheeler called climate change “a global issue that must be addressed globally,” but not “the greatest crisis. … I consider it a huge issue that has to be addressed globally.” (See Dems Press Wheeler on Climate at Confirmation Hearing.)

Once confirmed, Wheeler weakened or rolled back a number of former President Barack Obama’s key environmental initiatives, such as the Clean Power Plan, aimed at reducing carbon emissions from power plants, and regulations requiring coal plants to clean up coal ash ponds. Working with the Department of Transportation, Wheeler’s EPA in 2020 also froze fuel efficiency standards to a fleet average of 32 mpg by 2026.

Current EPA Administrator Michael Regan recently issued new rules, resetting the target for 40 mpg by 2026. (See EPA Rules Will Slash Emissions, Rev up EV Market by 2026.)

‘Not the Right Fit for Virginia’

The Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club called on Youngkin to withdraw the nomination.

The “reckless” nomination “is proof that Youngkin is willing to sell out our communities and our clean air and water for corporate profits,” said Kate West, chapter head. “In lieu of withdrawal, Democrats must use their [Senate] majority to prevent one of the most dangerous appointments in our state’s history.”

Del. Dan Helmer (D) tweeted that Wheeler’s record at EPA is “disqualifying,” vowing to “fight this nomination tooth and nail.”

“Anyone with [Wheeler’s] record is simply not the right fit for Virginia,” said Kim Jemaine, Virginia director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund. “During his extensive career as a henchman for the coal industry and the Trump administration, Wheeler has made it clear that he is willing to risk the health and safety of Virginians in order to serve the interests of bad actors. We should take this record at face value.”

Youngkin’s nomination of Michael Rolband to head the Department of Environmental Quality, on the other hand, went without comment. Rolband appears to have a long history as an advocate for wetlands preservation and restoration. He founded Wetlands Studies and Solutions, an environmental and cultural resources analysis firm, as well as the Resources Protection Group, a wetlands conservation nonprofit.

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Dixie Fire Finding Inopportune for PG&E

The finding by state investigators this week that a Pacific Gas and Electric line sparked last year’s immense Dixie Fire arrived at an awkward time for the beleaguered utility, which is hoping to be released from five years of federal probation later this month.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Tuesday its investigation had found that a tree falling onto a PG&E distribution line ignited the nearly 1-million-acre wildfire, the second largest in state history, which destroyed more than 1,300 structures and killed one person.  

“The Dixie Fire investigative report has been forwarded to the Butte County District Attorney’s Office” for possible criminal prosecution, Cal Fire said in a news release.

The finding was not a surprise. PG&E said soon after the fire began in mid-July that its line may have sparked the fire that burned for more than three months across the northern Sierra Nevada. (See PG&E Expects $1B in Costs from Dixie Fire.)

“As we shared in our public statement in Chico in July after the start of the Dixie Fire, a large tree struck one of our normally operating lines,” PG&E said Tuesday. “This tree was one of more than 8 million trees within strike distance to PG&E lines.”

Cal Fire rendered its conclusion one day after federal Judge William Alsup said in a hearing that he would consider extending PG&E’s probation beyond its current end date of Jan. 25 if federal prosecutors ask him to. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to decide this week whether to file such a request, and Alsup scheduled a hearing on the matter for Monday.

Cal Fire’s findings regarding the Dixie Fire could weigh into a decision by the judge, who has been one of PG&E’s harshest critics.

In November, Alsup found that PG&E had likely violated its probation for felonies related to the 2010 San Bruno gas explosion by starting the 2019 Kincade Fire and the 2020 Zogg Fire. Cal Fire determined a tree that fell on a PG&E line started the Zogg Fire. The cause of the Kincade Fire remains under investigation. (See PG&E Likely Violated Probation, Judge Finds.)

County prosecutors have filed charges against PG&E in both cases, while the utility has denied it was criminally liable for either fire.

Also in November, the independent monitor appointed by the court to oversee PG&E during its probation said the utility needs to make substantial improvements in its efforts to prevent wildfires through vegetation management and grid hardening.

“Multiple years of horrific wildfires” started by PG&E equipment showed “its progress regarding wildfire mitigation obviously has been inadequate, and we doubt anyone would seriously dispute that, given the ongoing and profound safety issues in that area of operations,” the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which the court appointed monitor, wrote in its report to Alsup.  

Fires started by PG&E equipment that failed or was struck by trees included the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 84 people.

“Including the Camp Fire fatalities, over 110 people have died as a result of wildfires where CAL FIRE has determined PG&E equipment was involved since the San Bruno incident,” the monitor wrote.

Its reviews of PG&E safety practices showed the utility had missed thousands of dangerous trees near its lines and failed to detect worn or broken equipment. PG&E still has a vast backlog of problems to fix from a 2019 inspection of 685,000 distribution poles, 50,000 transmission structures and 200 substations in high-fire threat districts, the monitor noted.

“There are over 500,000 tags from 2019 to present that remain unresolved to date,” it said.

The monitor also expressed skepticism about PG&E’s plans to bury 10,000 acres of power lines in fire-prone areas. CEO Patti Poppe announced the effort in July during the same media event in which she discussed the utility’s possible role in starting the Dixie Fire. (See PG&E Proposes Undergrounding 10K Miles of Distribution.)

“The Monitor team applauds PG&E’s commitment to undergrounding to mitigate wildfire risk but notes that some serious questions and issues remain regarding PG&E’s implementation of the undergrounding initiative,” it said.

The utility did not give a timeframe for the work but has plans to underground just 66 miles of lines in 2021 and a total of 327 miles over the next three years, the monitor said.

Even if greatly increases its efforts over a 20-year period, “there is substantial skepticism among PG&E field personnel that PG&E can feasibly underground more than 500 miles per year using current technology and hardening methodologies,” the monitor said.

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FERC Accepts ISO-NE Request to Terminate Killingly CSO

FERC on Monday accepted ISO-NE’s request to yank the capacity supply obligation for the Killingly Energy Center in eastern Connecticut, dealing another near-fatal blow to the contentious 650-MW natural gas plant under development (ER22-355).

The RTO has said that Killingly, which secured a CSO for the 2022/2023 capacity period, has failed to meet developmental milestones and is on track to not be in commercial operation by the required date of June 1, 2024, two years after the start of that period. Developers have up to two years to find other resources to meet their CSO obligations if they themselves cannot.

Developer NTE Energy disagreed with ISO-NE’s claims about delays on the project, saying they were out of its control because of factors including legal challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic. The company claimed in November that financing is “imminent” and challenged what it called “an incorrect assumption” by the RTO that led to a “premature” decision. (See ISO-NE Seeks to Terminate CSO for Conn. Power Plant.)

But in an order issued Monday, FERC sided with ISO-NE, saying it was “persuaded by the evidence” presented that Killingly will not achieve critical milestones by 2024. After consulting with NTE, which it did in several meetings over two months, the RTO has the right to terminate the CSO, FERC said.

As a result of FERC’s ruling, the company will lose its CSO, forfeit financial assurance associated with the terminated megawatts and no longer be eligible for the next Forward Capacity Auction in early February.

NTE, Opponents React

NTE says it’s not giving up on the project.

“We are very disappointed and do not agree with FERC’s decision,” the company’s managing director, Tim Eves, said in a statement. “The Killingly Energy Center is important for grid reliability, and we will continue to work to be the bridge for the region’s carbon-free future.”

But the plant’s future is cloudy. The company itself has said in filings that FERC’s approval of ISO-NE decision would cause it “irreparable” damage and lose it hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.

Environmental groups in Connecticut, which have opposed Killingly and sued over the project in a case that was ultimately decided by the state Supreme Court, celebrated this week at the latest dimming of the project’s future prospects.

“It was the outcome we hoped for, and we’re happy,” said Samantha Dynowski, director of the Connecticut chapter of the Sierra Club.

She said the plant ever being built appears “very unlikely” without a CSO.

“In the face of [ISO-NE] not wanting them and Gov. [Ned] Lamont saying he doesn’t want the plant … they’d really just be forcing themselves on a market that doesn’t want them here,” Dynowski said.

The order has broader implications for ISO-NE, and the events leading to it should spur action by the RTO, said Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association.

“Moving forward, more needs to be done to ensure that new facilities only offer into the market when they are ready to come in on time,” Dolan said in an email to RTO Insider. “Market reforms should include proposals like escalating penalties for delays. This will help make continued improvements to provide reliability value for New England consumers and competitive revenue opportunities to those facilities providing the reliability services.”