The California Independent System Operator, manager of the electricity flow along California's open-market wholesale power grid, has won a federal Appeals Court victory against the U.S. government.
In a ruling handed down Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cannot dictate a procedure for appointing ISO's Board of Governors that is contrary to state law.
During the height of the energy crisis in 2001, then Gov. Davis and the Legislature stepped in to statutorily reconstitute the ISO Board of Governors, replacing the 26-member stakeholder Board with a five-member board appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
In 2000, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees the interstate transmission grid, proposed an order to replace the state appointed board and restructure it in a manner determined by FERC. The Court of Appeals ruled that FERC has no authority to make or enforce such an order.
"Today's decision is a clear victory for California and endorses the actions made by the governor and the Legislature 3 1/2 years ago," said ISO Board of Governors chairman Michael Kahn. "We will continue to work toward improving our relationship with the FERC and see the decision today as elimination of the one issue that stood between the state and the federal government."