FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2024
Contact:
Justin Brant, SWEEP | jbrant@swenergy.org
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[PHOENIX, AZ] – On Tuesday afternoon, Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) utility regulators voted 4-1 to reverse the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee’s previous decision on UNS Electric Inc’s gas expansion project in Mohave County. This verdict allows the construction of new gas power plants in Arizona to be approved without explicitly reviewing environmental impacts and customer costs.
Today’s decision grants UNS a legal exception, known as a disclaimer of jurisdiction, for their Black Mountain Generating Station, 200 megawatt (MW) expansion project, despite decades of legal precedent requiring review and approval by the Committee for new natural gas generators with an aggregate capacity exceeding 100 MW.
“The Committee meticulously examined two days’ worth of compelling factual and legal evidence, including testimony from only one engineer that unequivocally demonstrated that the expansion project must be subject to review. It’s profoundly disheartening that the Commission has disrupted this carefully deliberated decision,” said Chanele Reyes of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, the attorney who represented the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) in the proceedings.
“Today’s appalling decision by the Commission to reverse the Committee’s ruling gives UNS carte blanche to evade almost all environmental scrutiny and consumer protections. This leaves Arizonans with few protections when a utility proposes huge new investments and sets a dangerous precedent,” said Justin Brant, SWEEP’s Utility Program Director.
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The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) is a public interest organization promoting greater energy efficiency, clean transportation, and beneficial electrification in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. swenergy.org
The post Arizona Corporation Commission approves Black Mountain gas expansion project, reverses committee regulatory review decision first appeared on Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.