Supreme Court Declines To Take Up Appeal Of Lower Court Ruling Affirming Order 2003

摘要

Order 2003 cleared a final hurdle Monday as the Supreme Court declined to review a lower court's decision that upheld FERC's jurisdictional authority, cost allocation and standardized agreements for large generator interconnections to the transmission grid.rnMore than a year ago, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by four utilities and six state regulatory agencies that FERC had overstepped its authority (National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, et al. v. FERC, 04-1148). However, the court split 2-1 over a provision in order 2003 that prohibited transmission owners from using eminent domain authority to discriminate against independent power producers (JF, 15 Jan '07, 1) .rnThe majority agreed that the states have authority over eminent domain, but found order 2003 did "nothing more than impose a nondiscriminatory provision on public utilities." Seeing "no grounds for upsetting the commission's judgment," the court said order 2003 applies only to jurisdictional transactions.