By Tom Kleckner

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’ political loss has been SPP’s gain.

When six-term Congressman Mike Ross left Washington for full-time residence in Arkansas in 2013, he quickly found a home at SPP setting up a federal-level governmental affairs organization — only to become the only viable Democratic candidate for governor, an ill-fated run that was swamped by the Republican wave last year.

Ross rejoined SPP last December as a senior vice president of government affairs and public relations, with quick results. He helped set up SPP’s first governmental affairs conference in D.C. in late September, with the RTO hosting 54 member-company representatives from nine states. They were joined by two FERC commissioners and the Environmental Protection Agency’s legal counsel, who listened to six congressman and senators discuss the Clean Power Plan’s political ramifications.

“It’s critical we work with members on educating policymakers,” Ross told RTO Insider. “I was very pleased with the participation. It was an opportunity for us to hear from our members and educate policymakers on the role of SPP and its importance to grid reliability in 14 states.”

SPP Chairman Jim Eckelberger, who was in attendance, called the event “a spectacular success.”

“Between Paul [Suskie, SPP’s general counsel and executive vice president of regulatory policy,] and Mike, we pulled in everyone we needed to hear from, with respect to where we need to go with the Clean Power Plan,” he told the Regional State Committee on Oct. 26.

“Based on the feedback we’ve received, that was our first annual conference,” said SPP CEO Nick Brown, stressing the word “annual.”

“Mike knows senators and congressmen. They responded to his request [to participate],” Brown said. “This is new for our organization. We’re out working with the folks in each of your states we never worked with before. These are new relationships we need to form and have formed.”

Brown told the RSC that Ross will be “collaborating” with and creating networking opportunities for member legislative representatives. What SPP won’t be doing is lobbying or staking out political positions.

“We’re communicating regularly with government affairs folks at our member companies, from the investor-owned utilities to the co-ops to public agencies, from Louisiana to Canada,” Ross said, “and we’ll continue to do that.”