California Department of Water Resources v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

341 F.3d 906
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided August 27, 2003·No. No. 01-71405·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

OPINION

SCHROEDER, Chief Judge.

The California Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) is a state agency charged with managing California’s water supply. As a by-product of its operation of dams and reservoirs, it generates electricity that is subject to federal regulation. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) is a federal agency charged with regulating interstate energy markets, and as a by-product of that regulation, finds itself involved in regulating California’s water supply. The intersection of the agencies’ respective authority is the source of this dispute. DWR challenges a FERC order that granted authority to control DWR’s power outages to the California Independent System Operator (“the ISO”), the public corporation that operates California’s energy grid.

Specifically, DWR petitions for review under Section 313(b) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. § 8251 (b), of a FERC order denying reconsideration of an earlier FERC order granting the ISO control over the planned power outages of DWR’s generation units. DWR contended before FERC that the ISO’s enhanced authority would interfere with DWR’s primary responsibility to store and deliver water. In the orders under review, FERC did not address DWR’s position and failed to explain the rationale behind giving the ISO the authority to control DWR’s power outages. We vacate those portions of the orders that grant the ISO authority to control DWR’s power outages. We remand to FERC to address DWR’s concerns.

BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The petitioner in this case, DWR, is a state agency responsible for the control and management of much of California’s water supply. DWR operates the State Water Project, a storage and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, pumping plants, and hydroelectric and geothermal power plants. DWR operates the water system so that its electricity consumption and generation are complementary, consuming electricity to pump water during off-peak hours to allow water delivery and electricity generation during periods of peak electricity demand. DWR consumes much of the electricity it generates. It sells its surplus electricity on the ISO’s wholesale markets to the extent that its water-management responsibilities permit.

The ISO, an intervenor in this case, is a nonprofit public benefit corporation responsible for the operation of California’s energy grid and wholesale energy markets. Those markets are governed by the ISO Tariff, which requires that all genera[909] tors enter into Participating Generator Agreements (“PGAs”) that bind generators to the terms of the Tariff. DWR operates six hydroelectric generation units and one geothermal unit under PGAs with the ISO.

The two orders at issue in this petition for review arise from a FERC proceeding initiated on August 23, 2000, to address problems in the California wholesale energy market. See San Diego Gas & Elec. Co. v. Sellers of Energy & Ancillary Servs., et al., 92 FERC ¶ 61,172 (Aug. 23, 2000). In the relevant portion of the first order on review, 95 FERC ¶ 61,115 (April 26, 2001), FERC ordered the ISO to amend its Tariff to require participating generators, including DWR, to submit to enhanced ISO control over planned outages of generation units. Id. at 61,355. Under the prior Tariff, the ISO’s control over planned outages was limited to a subset of generators and to cases of actual or imminent system emergency. In contrast, the amended Tariff requires every generator to submit, for ISO approval, a schedule proposing all planned outages for the upcoming year. The April 26 order also directed the ISO to implement a mechanism requiring participating generators to sell all of their available electricity into California’s real-time energy markets, an obligation known as the “must-offer” requirement. Id. at 61,355-56. While FERC subjected all generators to ISO outage control, FERC gave DWR an exemption from the must-offer requirement on the ground that it would unduly interfere with DWR’s primary water-management responsibilities. Id. at 61,357. DWR contends that FERC should have granted it a similar exemption from the outage control requirement.

DWR presented this contention to FERC when it petitioned FERC for rehearing of the April 26 order. The rehearing petition challenged the ISO’s enhanced authority to control DWR’s planned outages. In the second order on review, 95 FERC ¶ 61,418 (June 19, 2001), FERC denied DWR’s request for rehearing and reaffirmed that DWR’s hydroelectric units would be subject to ISO outage control. Id. at 62,550-51. The June 19 order did not alter DWR’s exemption from the must-offer requirements. Id. at 62,551.

As required for review under Section 313(b) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. § 825í(b), DWR filed a petition for review in this court within sixty days of FERC’s June 19, 2001, denial of its request for rehearing.

FINALITY OF THE ORDERS FOR PURPOSES OF REVIEW

FERC orders are judicially reviewable pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 825i(b), but we have held that such review is limited to final orders to ensure there will be no interference with the administrative process. The Steamboaters v. FERC, 759 F.2d 1382, 1387-88 (9th Cir.1985). FERC contends the June 19 order is not sufficiently final to enable us to review the issue of outage control because DWR has since petitioned for rehearing on other, unrelated issues, which were addressed for the first time in that order.

In assessing administrative finality for purposes of judicial review, we look to whether the order amounts to a definitive statement of the agency’s position, whether the order has a direct and immediate effect on the day-to-day operations of the party seeking review, and whether immediate compliance is expected. See Mt. Adams Veneer Co. v. United States, 896 F.2d 339, 343 (9th Cir.1990) (citing FTC v. Standard Oil Co., 449 U.S. 232, 239-40, 101 S.Ct. 488, 66 L.Ed.2d 416 (1980)). The June 19 order meets these standards of finality with respect to outage control because it disposed of all issues then pending [910] before FERC on that subject. We therefore have jurisdiction to review the orders in question.

DISCUSSION

Our review of a FERC decision is limited to whether the decision was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, unsupported by substantial evidence, or not in accordance with the law. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); The Steamboaters, 759 F.2d at 1388. As long as the record reflects that the decision was “based on a consideration of relevant factors and there was no clear error of judgment” the decision was not arbitrary or capricious. See Ariz. Cattle Growers’ Ass’n v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife, 273 F.3d 1229, 1236 (9th Cir.2001).

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California Department of Water Resources v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 341 F.3d 906 (9th Cir. 2003).

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