Page 1149 – RTO Insider

January 26, 2020

PJM Members Resist TO Critical Infrastructure Filing

By Christen Smith

PJM members endorsed a resolution Thursday that objects to a Tariff attachment pending before FERC that would create a new confidential process to mitigate critical infrastructure on NERC’s CIP-014-2 list.

The unusual step came less than a week after a group of transmission owners submitted the proposal to the commission following several tense conversations dating back to August that left other sectors wary of its vague details.

LS Power, author of the resolution, argues that incumbent TOs don’t get exclusive rights to handling critical infrastructure on the list. Because the projects could carry significant regional implications, the company believes PJM should plan their mitigation — a point other stakeholders echoed during the Members Committee meeting on Thursday. (See PJM TO Filing Stirs Up Transparency Concerns.)

PJM Critical Infrastructure Filing — The Members Committee on Jan. 23 debates a resolution from LS Power opposing a Tariff filing that would mitigate critical infrastructure projects.

“We feel strongly that PJM should have stepped up and taken this issue under its wing as a reliability issue,” said Carl Johnson of the PJM Public Power Coalition. “It would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

The resolution alleges that the filing also conflicts with the Operating Agreement because mitigating these critical assets — which count as a subset of supplemental projects — must involve an open and transparent discussion with stakeholders. But doing so, the TOs contend, poses the dilemma that the highly secretive location of these facilities could be revealed. (See “Critical Infrastructure Resolution,” PJM MRC/MC Briefs: Dec. 5, 2019.)

The TOs also point out that NERC’s confidentiality standards — and their rights under PJM’s Attachment M-4 process — support their intention to file the mitigation plan at FERC without consent from other sectors.

In an effort to quell rising concerns, TOs collected questions from other stakeholders and hosted a webinar in November to answer some of them publicly. The two-hour meeting, however, left many issues unresolved. Seemingly frustrated by the unfolding process, the Planning Committee endorsed an issue charge in December to consider whether PJM must develop governing document language to deal with the mitigation of existing and future critical infrastructure on the list. (See “Critical Infrastructure Mitigation,” PJM PC/TEAC Briefs: Dec. 12, 2019.)

Top-secret Cost

PJM has refused to take sides in the debate, despite protests from stakeholders that mitigating the facilities presents risks to reliability that the RTO should handle. It’s a decision staff now question, Vice President of Planning Ken Seiler said. (See PJM Remains Neutral in CIP-014 Debate.)

“I agree, we could have done things differently,” he said, noting that a rough estimate of the cost to remove these assets from the list would total much less than $1 billion.

When stakeholders pressed for a more accurate cost estimate — key information many said may make them more comfortable with the Tariff filing — Seiler declined.

“We’ve looked at what the potential solutions would be and most of them are fairly simple,” he said. “Line rerouting, substation reconfiguration, very minor things that would keep the cost at a reduced rate for everybody … we are nowhere near into the billions of dollars on this.”

Sharon Segner, vice president of LS Power, said that although Seiler’s feedback was “encouraging,” there’s nothing in the Tariff proposal that caps costs.

“What would encourage my company even more would be for PJM to be in charge of these top-secret projects,” she said. “If PJM were to be in charge, then this language would go in the OA and not the Tariff. If it’s in the Tariff, at the end of the day, the TOs are in charge. There’s nothing in this language that provides cost containment. There’s a finite number of projects, but there is no restriction on cost.”

PJM Board of Managers member Susan Riley — who last month encouraged TOs and PJM to tally a cost for projects on the list — pushed back against sentiments that the RTO should have greater authority over the process.

“We’ve agreed to have an oversight role,” she said. “TOs have ultimate authority. I know the costs have been moving around, but they are moving down. We are reasonably confident that it won’t be more than $1 billion and won’t be more than 20 projects. We are committed in a very public way. Whether or not there wasn’t enough discussion, that’s up to you. I think there was.”

The MC endorsed the resolution in a sector-weighted vote of 3.83 to 1.17. Segner said LS Power intends to submit the resolution as part of its protest against the TO proposal. Comments on the filing are due within 21 days, Segner said, hence the timing of the vote.

January 26, 2020

FERC Stalls PJM Fast-start Compliance Filing

By Christen Smith

FERC said Thursday it will hold PJM’s fast-start pricing compliance filing in abeyance until July 31 in order to give the RTO enough time to resolve pricing and dispatch misalignment issues currently under review by stakeholders (ER19-2722).

In April, the commission ordered PJM and NYISO to revise their tariffs to allow fast-start resources to set clearing prices, saying their current rules are not just and reasonable. (See FERC Orders Fast-start Rules for NYISO, PJM.) PJM submitted a compliance filing in July that the Independent Market Monitor, state commissions and consumer advocates argued didn’t provide clear evidence that it would implement fast-start pricing correctly.

Specifically, the groups said that PJM uses different market intervals to calculate prices and dispatch instructions, suggesting that resources’ compensation doesn’t correspond to their dispatch instructions.

PJM Fast-start Filing — PJM control room | *PJM*

As part of its April order, FERC directed PJM to alter its real-time energy market clearing process to consider fast-start resources “in a way that is consistent with minimizing production costs.” The process requires PJM to first execute a cost-minimizing dispatch run, followed “by a pricing run where integer relaxation for fast-start resources allows them to set price.” The use of integer relaxation is intended to pinpoint a unit’s commitment costs in the pricing run and allow for their recovery through a market process rather than administrative methods.

“However, PJM may not be able to implement these separate dispatch and pricing runs in a way that is just and reasonable without first resolving the pricing and dispatch misalignment problem,” FERC said Thursday. “If fast-start resources dispatched in a given market interval could be compensated with a price from a different market interval, prices may not accurately reflect the marginal cost of serving load.

“Moreover, implementing fast-start pricing as directed … could exacerbate the pricing and dispatch misalignment issue because the lost opportunity cost payments … may be calculated based on inaccurate prices and, therefore, may not correctly compensate opportunity costs.”

FERC said implementing fast-start pricing now could also render lost opportunity cost payments ineffective “because they may not provide correct incentives to follow dispatch.”

PJM’s stakeholder process to fix the issue remains ongoing, with plans to conclude the effort by May.

January 26, 2020

Ravenswood Wins Extension on NYISO CRIS Rights

FERC on Thursday granted Helix Ravenswood a limited waiver of the three-year limit under NYISO’s Tariff to retain its capacity resource interconnection service (CRIS) rights for deactivated generation facilities in New York City (ER20-323).

The commission’s order gives the company until Dec. 31, 2022, to transfer 129 MW of its existing CRIS rights from its deactivated gas turbine facilities to its proposed energy storage resources on the same site.

The state’s Public Service Commission in October approved construction of what will be New York’s largest battery storage facility, the 316-MW Ravenswood facility to be built on the Ravenswood Generating Station property in Long Island City, Queens (19-E-0122). (See “Largest Storage Project in New York,” NYPSC Projects Lower Winter Energy Prices.)

The storage facility will displace some out-of-service peaker units on the property and will provide peak capacity, energy and ancillary services; offset more carbon-intensive peak generation with power stored during the off-peak period; and enhance grid reliability in New York City.

NYISO neither opposed nor supported the waiver request but did suggest alternate paths for Ravenswood to obtain CRIS status. For example, the ISO asserted that the company could request CRIS rights in the 2019 class year study, of which the storage project is already a member.

Ravenswood has already submitted a CRIS request for such an evaluation in the current class year study, according to the ISO.

In the order, the commission rebuffed Ravenswood’s request to extend the requested waiver beyond Dec. 21, 2022, should the replacement project not be completed by that date, ruling that the request was not limited enough in scope.

— Michael Kuser

January 24, 2020

Lawrence Returns to NERC in New Post

Bill Lawrence, who had served as director of the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC) since 2018, has returned to NERC in a new role after an unexplained three-month absence.

Bill Lawrence NERC — Bill Lawrence, NERC | © *ERO Insider*

NERC CEO Jim Robb announced Tuesday that he had appointed Lawrence as vice president of the ERO Enterprise Security Initiative, with a mandate to develop and promote physical- and cybersecurity efforts, including sharing best practices and developing security training. He will provide support for the implementation of priorities recommended by the Reliability Issues Steering Committee (RISC) and report to Mark Lauby, NERC senior vice president and chief engineer.

“It is clear to me that cyber and physical demands on the electric sector continue to challenge the reliability of the North American grid,” Robb said in a press release. “Therefore, I am asking Vice President Bill Lawrence to take the lead in working with the regional entities to engage stakeholders in more meaningful education in this challenging arena.”

Lawrence was quoted as welcoming the new role. “I enjoyed the opportunity to direct the E-ISAC and am proud of the foundation the team has built there,” he said.

Lawrence, formerly chief security officer, was mysteriously absent in October at GridSecCon, E-ISAC’s annual conference. Robb said then that Lawrence was “taking some time off” but expected him to return. He had not returned to work as of early January.

His new post was announced two days before FERC on Thursday ordered NERC to develop performance metrics and improve oversight of the E-ISAC.

Earlier in January, NERC announced the appointment of Manny Cancel, former chief information officer for Consolidated Edison, as senior vice president and chief executive officer of the E-ISAC. (See Former Con Ed Exec to Lead E-ISAC.)

NERC said Friday “there is no relation” between FERC’s criticism and its personnel moves regarding the E-ISAC.

– Rich Heidorn Jr.

January 24, 2020

SOL Project Team Preparing for March Posting

By Holden Mann

ATLANTA — The standards drafting team revising the requirements for determining and communicating system operating limits (SOLs) is making steady progress toward posting the standard for industry comment by March (Project 2015-09: FAC-010, FAC-011, FAC-014).

At the SDT’s meeting Tuesday, team members focused on the proposed logging and communication requirements that form the primary unresolved topic for developing the rule. Former SDT Chair Vic Howell told NERC’s Standards Committee in November that the team had “come up with something” that would balance the desire of NERC Standards Committee Briefs: Nov. 20, 2019.)

SOL Project — Dean LaForest, ISO-NE | © *ERO Insider*

Still at issue are questions about how often utilities should be required to check for SOL exceedances. Several industry representatives at the meeting pointed out that utilities may see small exceedances during regular operations that pose no concern for safety as they can be easily absorbed by expected demand increases. Nevertheless, an overly aggressive monitoring requirement could force providers to devote resources to logging and reporting that could be better spent elsewhere.

Another topic of disagreement is the “connection between determination of SOL exceedances and communication that exists in the standards today.” Chair Dean LaForest, of ISO-NE, who was appointed to replace Howell in December, said the current wording had led to comments from “both within the group and from [industry] participants” that defining the reporting and determination process in the same section could cause unnecessary confusion.

The inclusion of reporting requirements in the SOL determination methodology was part of the proposed compromise in November, but in light of these objections, the team is now considering whether to separate the description of the reporting process into a separate section.

Despite these areas of continued debate, LaForest told ERO Insider he is confident that the momentum of the development process has picked up and the standard will be ready for comment by March, with a final ballot expected by May.

January 24, 2020

Goulding: Diverse Voices Key to NERC’s Success

By Holden Mann

“My favorite two words in the world [are] ‘cognitive blindness,’ which means we don’t know what we don’t know,” says David Goulding, who retired from NERC’s Board of Trustees this month after serving for nearly a decade. (See Former Con Ed Exec to Lead E-ISAC.) “And that has come to hit us many times along the way as NERC has developed.”

Recalling his more than 35 years associated with NERC, Goulding frequently returns to this theme of making the best of limited knowledge. Many of his efforts with the organization have been focused on driving home to stakeholders the importance of understanding their own limitations and accepting advice from others, and he believes this will continue to be one of the industry’s biggest challenges going forward.

Firsthand Experience

Goulding NERC — NERC Trustee David Goulding | © *ERO Insider*

Goulding’s experience with the energy industry goes back to his native England. Although his family had no electricity for the first 10 years of his life, growing up next to a coal mine and near a generating station gave Goulding a keen understanding of the importance of energy to everyday life. After graduating from the University of Bradford, he joined the U.K.’s Central Electricity Generating Board, where he worked in transmission and generation construction, operations and maintenance for several years. This hands-on role gave him a unique perspective among many of his peers.

“Where I come from is a little different from most people you find in senior positions in this industry today,” Goulding says. “I come from the coalface, if you like — almost literally, since five generations in my family did work at the coalface.”

“At the coalface” is a British idiom, similar in meaning to “on the front line” or “in the trenches,” with the “coalface” being the part of the mine from which the coal is actually dug.

“So I look at everything from that perspective … and think to myself, ‘How does that work at the coalface? What do the people have to do in the generating stations … and the control rooms, in order to maintain reliability?’”

Continuing his climb in the industry, Goulding came to Canada in 1977 to take a role with Ontario Hydro. Through that position he first began attending meetings of NERC, which at the time was still struggling to define its role relative to federal authorities and industry operators. In those days, the board was entirely composed of industry stakeholders, and the organization was “an instrument of the regions,” as Goulding recalls, with little outside input into its standards and limited enforcement ability.

Stronger Role, Growing Threats

Expanding the authority of the board was a major interest of Goulding’s early involvement with NERC. Over the years, he and others pushed to revamp the regional coordinators’ delegation agreements with the national body to give NERC a greater role in information sharing and the ability to penalize noncompliance. A panel on which Goulding served in the 1990s led to key changes, including a requirement for nine independent board members to balance the 37 industry stakeholders and provide a much needed outside perspective.

“We really didn’t see some of the challenges that were coming down the line. We didn’t see that [the] industry itself was going to get fragmented, with some companies going bankrupt [and] some companies taking over others,” he says. “Our big challenge back then was to recognize that things … were going to change.”

Change continues to be a major theme for the industry. Since joining the NERC board in 2009, Goulding’s biggest concern has been the growing threat from cyberwarfare, which in recent years has seen sophisticated attacks emerge from state actors including Russia and Iran. (See Report: Oil, Gas Hackers Expanding to Grid.) He believes the threat will only grow as malicious actors find new ways around utilities’ defenses.

“It’s almost impossible to stay ahead of the threats. You’re almost chasing these people, because they come up with something different every day,” Goulding says. “Just at one station, they [may] get thousands of attacks in a month. Not in a year — a month. Trying to stay ahead of that in this business is a real challenge.”

Open Minds Essential

The cyber threat will remain a primary focus for NERC’s new Canadian trustee, but new challenges are bound to emerge that may be difficult to imagine today. No matter the background of his eventual replacement, Goulding says an ability to absorb the advice of others will be essential in responding to a changing landscape.

“[One] thing I’d say is very important … is: listen. Listen to the stakeholders; listen to the other board members,” Goulding says. “This is the most collegiate board I’ve ever worked on. … Everybody’s dedicated, [and] every new member coming along would be foolish if they didn’t take the opportunity to learn from those other board members.”

January 24, 2020

CPUC President Vows to be ‘Damn Nimble’

By Hudson Sangree

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer told lawmakers Wednesday the commission would move quickly in its efforts to deal with catastrophic wildfires, intentional blackouts and the bankruptcy of the state’s largest utility.

CPUC President Marybel Batjer | *California State Assembly*

Batjer — an expert on organizational reform, not utilities — said she was trying to get the commission to expeditiously address the crises prior to the state’s 2020 fire season, which starts this summer. (See Newsom Names New CPUC President.)

“Regulators are not known to be nimble. We’re going to be as damn nimble as I can make us for this fire season on many of the things we’re working on,” Batjer told the State Assembly’s Utilities and Energy Committee. Curtailing the power safety power shutoffs that left 2.4 million residents in the dark last October is a top priority, she said.

The committee’s annual CPUC oversight hearing contrasted with last year’s, when then-President Michael Picker said the commission wasn’t the best public entity to address the “enormity” of the state’s wildfire crisis. The commission was set up to deliberate ratemaking, not to handle emergencies, he said.

“I don’t think this is where you’re going to get a sense of urgency,” Picker told the committee. That didn’t go over well with some lawmakers, who got testy with Picker. (See Lawmakers Grill CPUC President on PG&E, Fires.)

Batjer, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed last year when Picker retired, took a different approach under fire. She said the commission has a new Wildfire Safety Division with added staff and is pushing the state’s investor-owned utilities to address safety concerns in their 2020 wildfire mitigation plans, which are required by state law.

Committee Chairman Christopher Holden (D) told Batjer the shutoffs by Pacific Gas and Electric and its failures to communicate with customers had “shattered public confidence” in the utility and state regulators. PG&E’s websites and call centers collapsed under tremendous volume, requiring the CPUC and other state agencies to intervene.

Batjer agreed. “It is critical to uncover what went wrong,” she told the committee. The CPUC wants PG&E and other utilities to take a more geographically “surgical” approach to the intentional blackouts and to balance preventing fires with keeping power flowing.

The commission is working with the utilities to get them to more effectively communicate with the public, emergency responders and local officials, she said. (See California Officials Hammer PG&E over Power Shutoffs.)

PG&E employed the shutoffs broadly in the Sierra Nevada foothills and the state’s coastal areas, trying to prevent wildfires in dry, windy conditions like those that fueled the massive, deadly fires in Northern California wine country in October 2017 and the Camp Fire, which killed 86 people and destroyed more than 14,000 homes in the town of Paradise in November 2018.

Capacity Shortfalls

Holden also criticized the CPUC for failing to anticipate the state’s capacity shortfalls projected to start in 2021. The anticipated shortages “seemed to catch the CPUC by surprise,” he said. (See CAISO, CPUC Warn of ‘Reliability Emergency.’)

It was well known, he said, that coal and natural gas plants were retiring and that solar resources, which begin to go offline during evening peak demand, aren’t yet able to compensate.

California PUC — The California Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee held its annual CPUC review Jan. 22. | *California State Assembly*

“It’s difficult to understand why the CPUC did not appreciate the gravity of the shortfall sooner and take action to mitigate its impact,” the chairman said.

Batjer noted that the commission has required all load-serving entities in California to procure a total of 3,300 MW of new resources on a pro rata basis and recommended some older gas plants remain online through 2023.

The commission is working with CAISO and the California Energy Commission to revise its modeling as the grid is changing, with more wind and solar energy and less electricity to import from other Western states, she said.

“As the system tightens throughout the West due to the retirement of coal- and gas-fired resources, planning assumptions regarding available import of energy and the capacity devoted to California will be tested and will likely need to be continually revised,” she said.

Batjer’s measured, polite responses seemed to mollify Holden and others on the committee, who thanked her for taking on the CPUC presidency, which some described as a thankless task.

Her previous role, as secretary of the Government Operations Agency, was heading a team that came up with ways to reform the Department of Motor Vehicles, notorious for foot-dragging and poor customer service. Her efforts there have been widely praised.

Some lawmakers echoed those sentiments Wednesday.

“I think this was a sterling appointment,” committee Vice Chairman Jim Patterson (R) told Batjer.

January 24, 2020

Feb. Vote Planned on 11th MISO Sector

By Amanda Durish Cook

MISO’s Advisory Committee on Wednesday said it will vote next month on whether to recommend that the RTO’s Board of Directors split up the Environmental and Other Stakeholder Groups sector to afford environmental advocates a singular voice.

The debate about the change originated last June when the Lignite Energy Council (LEC) approached MISO for membership. Not fitting neatly into any one of the RTO’s 10 stakeholder sectors, the LEC was ushered to the Environmental/Other sector.

Some stakeholders have said that MISO should create a catch-all 11th sector titled “Affiliate Members” to broaden the scope of new potential members. Others have countered that members of an additional, miscellaneous sector would run into issues with forming a cohesive voice and settling on MISO member voting issues. Still others maintain that MISO should scrap its requirement that prospective members must designate a sector in order to join the RTO. (See Advisory Committee Considers 11th MISO Sector.)

MISO 11th sector — The MISO Advisory Committee meeting in December | © *RTO Insider*

During a conference call Wednesday, the AC settled on two options. The first would allow LEC to join the Environmental/Other sector on a six-month trial basis, maintaining the status quo. The other would recommend that the board consider creating the Affiliate Members sector.

Under the second option, the standalone Environmental sector would retain its two existing votes, while the Affiliate Member sector would assume no voting rights in either the AC or Planning Advisory Committee. AC and PAC votes are only considered advisory to the board and are not binding for creating RTO policy. The Affiliate Members sector would still be able to vote in stakeholder subcommittees and board member elections and submit comments during the AC’s quarterly hot topic discussions.

‘Inherent Difficulty’

During MISO Board Week in December, Clean Grid Alliance’s Beth Soholt said the Environmental/Other sector was willing to attempt a six-month test period with LEC.

“We’ll find out more once we have an ongoing relationship,” Soholt said at the time. “We don’t think this solves the ongoing problem of what to do if we get more ‘others.’ … We still need to work on the issue longer term. We still don’t know how big the red box is of members that were trying to join but didn’t.”

MISO does not reveal the names of prospective companies and organizations seeking to join and only publicizes membership of those approved by the board.

The origins of MISO’s practice of relegating “Other” members to the Environmental sector are no longer clear. The division of sectors first occurred sometime over 1998-2000, according to longtime stakeholders.

“I think we have a short-term problem here, and we have a long-term problem here,” Soholt said during the call, noting that even if the Environmental/Other sector accepts the LEC into its membership on a temporary basis, the dilemma remains of what to do with other new, hard-to-pin-down members.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to put all other members in a sector that has such a clearly defined view. They have a strong, clearly defined sector that has coalesced around an environmental standpoint,” North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak said on behalf of the Organization of MISO States. Fedorchak also pointed out that MISO’s environmental groups and the LEC have “diametrically opposed views.”

“These aren’t just idle differences in opinion,” she said.

AC Vice Chair Tia Elliott said it could be that the LEC becomes a “persona non grata” in the Environmental/Other sector.

Some members voiced concern about the committee recommending a new standalone sector for seemingly just one entity and suggested an incubation period where it only proposes the Affiliate Member sector once a certain number of similarly situated affiliate members join MISO.

Multiple members asked how MISO would define “affiliates” for the sector. The Sustainable FERC Project’s John Moore said there’s an “inherent difficulty” in defining the catch-all sector.

“We don’t know who’s going to join,” AC Chair Audrey Penner said. “We only know that the Lignite Energy Council has been the most vocal about it. … I only know that it’ll be a home for those that wouldn’t otherwise have a home in MISO.”

January 24, 2020

PG&E Settles with Bondholders; Governor Objects

By Hudson Sangree

Pacific Gas and Electric said Wednesday it had settled with the bondholders whose competing reorganization plan may have been the biggest threat to the utility having its own Chapter 11 reorganization plan adopted by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco.

The ad hoc committee of senior unsecured noteholders will withdraw its reorganization plan in exchange for PG&E agreeing to refinance billions of dollars in debt on terms generally advantageous to the bondholders, as described in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. (See Judge Admits Takeover Plan as PG&E Starts Blackouts.)

“Reaching a resolution with the bondholder group is a positive development to move forward with our plan of reorganization,” PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said in a statement.

Johnson noted PG&E’s prior settlements with fire victims, insurance companies and local governments — “and we’ve now reached an agreement with the bondholder group,” he said. “We remain focused on working with key stakeholders, including elected officials and our state regulator, on how PG&E will look, act and be held accountable as we emerge from Chapter 11.” (See Judge OKs PG&E Deals with Fire Victims, Insurers.)

PG&E Settles — Gov. Gavin Newsom | © *RTO Insider*

Even as PG&E won a major victory, however, California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed an objection to PG&E’s reorganization plan with the bankruptcy court, saying it does too little to ensure safe, reliable and affordable service for Californians. Newsom has repeatedly criticized PG&E in recent months, demanding fundamental changes that its Chapter 11 plan doesn’t yet include.

The company filed for bankruptcy last January as it faced an estimated $30 billion in liability after two years of catastrophic wildfires ignited by its equipment. The blazes sparked by PG&E’s aging transmission lines included the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history, which killed 86 people and burned down the town of Paradise in November 2018.

“PG&E’s historical failures — including decades of mismanagement and inadequate investments in fire safety and fire prevention — require that any plan of reorganization must position the reorganized entity for transformation, include stringent governance and management requirements and enforcement mechanisms, and provide for a capital structure that allows the reorganized entity to undertake critical safety investments,” the governor’s attorneys told the court.

The governor cannot stop federal Judge Dennis Montali from confirming PG&E’s plan, but the California Public Utilities Commission, whose members the governor appoints, must approve any reorganization plan as well. Both the court and CPUC must approve a plan by the end of June if the utility wishes to participate in a $21 billion wildfire insurance fund established under Assembly Bill 1054, a bill Newsom signed in July.

In a Dec. 13 letter to PG&E CEO Bill Johnson, Newsom “made clear that the debtors’ plan, and the restructuring transactions contemplated therein, did not, in his judgment, result in a reorganized utility capable of satisfying the requirements of Assembly Bill 1054,” Newsom’s lawyers told Montali in their filing Wednesday.

Among his demands, Newsom said he wanted more Californians on PG&E’s board of directors. The current board includes out-of-staters such as Johnson, the former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Newsom has repeatedly said, including in his court filing Wednesday, that a state takeover of PG&E remained a possibility if the utility fails to comply with his requirements. (See Newsom Budget Reiterates PG&E Takeover Threat.)

The governor’s attorneys asked Montali to hold off on approving aspects of PG&E’s plan to exit bankruptcy until it meets the requirements of AB 1054, as described by the governor.

The judge postponed a hearing on PG&E’s Chapter 11 plan, originally scheduled for Thursday, until Jan. 29.

January 24, 2020February 19, 2025

McNamee Declines to Seek Reappointment

By Michael Brooks

WASHINGTON — FERC Commissioner Bernard McNamee on Thursday announced he would not seek another term, opening up yet another slot on the commission for the White House and Senate to fill.

Speaking at the commission’s monthly open meeting, McNamee said he would at least complete the remainder of his term, which ends June 30, and serve beyond that date until the Senate confirms a replacement. Legally, if there is no replacement, he is allowed to remain on the commission past the expiration of his term until the end of the current Congress at the end of the year.

FERC Commissioner Bernard McNamee addresses staff in November 2019. | FERC

“I’m not just going to leave on June 30 if there’s no one to replace me … and leave the commission without a quorum,” McNamee told reporters after the meeting.

McNamee lives in a suburb of Richmond, Va., with his wife and 14-year-old son, who will be entering high school next year. But he said he stays in D.C. during the work week, only going home on the weekends because of the commute. “Depending on traffic, it can be either two hours and 15 minutes or it could be five hours,” he said.

“This has been one of the most interesting and rewarding jobs I have ever had,” McNamee said. “And I enjoy the work, the issues, the people; in short, I love this job. But I love my family more.”

He said he has no plans yet on what he will do after he leaves, but “I anticipate I’m still going to be active in addressing important energy issues facing the nation.” He also stressed both during the meeting and to reporters that he will be at the commission for at least five more months. “There’s a lot of work to get done here at the commission between now and the end of my term. I’m going to be fully engaged.”

President Trump nominated McNamee in October 2018, and the Senate confirmed him 50-49 later in December. (See Senate Confirms McNamee to FERC.) He filled a seat left open by Robert Powelson, who departed after only a year to become CEO of the National Association of Water Companies. During his last commission meeting in July 2018, Powelson also cited wanting to spend more time with his family as a reason for his departure. (See FERC Says Farewell to Powelson.)

FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee told reporters he did not “foresee any change in direction” or reprioritization of work as a result of McNamee’s decision. “It’s entirely possible he could stay here until the end of the year,” Chatterjee said. “I can tell you with complete confidence that, barring some unforeseen incident, we will not lose a quorum this year.”

Trump nominated FERC General Counsel James Danly to be a commissioner last year, but he would fill a seat left open by the death of Commissioner Kevin McIntyre and serve a term to expire in 2023. Though his nomination advanced to the floor, the Senate did not act on it before the end of the year, meaning Trump must resubmit it, which he has yet to do.

“Given today’s announcement, the White House may have been waiting for McNamee to make his announcement to clear the way for nominating Danly to a longer term,” ClearView Energy Partners said. McNamee’s successor would serve a term that ends in 2025.

Regardless of the White House’s plans, Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate grinds the body’s work to a halt for now.

“Given the beginning of impeachment proceedings in the Senate, we are not expecting any progress on nominations — should they even be made by the White House over the next several weeks — until that process concludes,” ClearView said.