FERC effectively ended their 13-month inquiry of the SPP audit of MMU's independence without interviewing Oversight Committee Joshua W. Martin III.

Joe Bowring and David Patton often disagree, but they are 100% in agreement on the need for independence in market monitoring.

Bowring’s allegations at a FERC technical conference in 2007 that PJM attempted to muzzle his internal market monitoring unit shook the RTO to its roots.

The record shows that until the last 18 months, the SPP Market Monitoring Unit generally filed only testimony packaged with RTO filings.

SPP has interfered with the autonomy of its internal MMU, according to two former monitors who say they were fired for voicing their concerns.

The independence concerns raised by former SPP market monitors resulted in part from FERC’s compromises in Order 719.