FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 25, 2024

Contact:
Josh Valentine, Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) | jvalentine@swenergy.org

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[PHOENIX, AZ] – Yesterday, the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee voted 9-2 to deny UNS Electric Inc request to exempt new natural gas power plants from review and oversight by the Committee. UNS, a subsidiary of Tucson Electric Power, has proposed to add 200 megawatts (MW) in new natural gas generation to the existing Black Mountain Generating Station in Mohave County. In an unprecedented move, UNS argued that the Committee should not apply existing Arizona law which requires the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee to issue a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) for all new thermal electric, nuclear, or hydroelectric generating power plants over 100 MW. Instead, UNS argued that the project should be considered four separate 50 MW power plants, rather than one 200 MW power plant, and as such the Committee should disclaim its jurisdiction, leaving UNS free to build without seeking a CEC. Such a ruling would have created a loophole in which utilities could build or expand gas-fired power plants well over the 100 MW threshold for state review by building a series of numerous smaller generating units. This would serve to place decision-making in the hands of electric utilities and avoid regulators.

Among the considerations the Committee must consider when issuing a CEC is the cost of new generation resources to ratepayers, which would be avoided by UNS’s proposal. In a surprising move, staff at the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state agency responsible for providing oversight of utility spending on behalf of ratepayers, sided with UNS in its novel interpretation of the Line Siting statutes.

The Transmission Line Siting Committee rejected UNS’s legal interpretation and required them to file a full application with the Committee before it can build the new power plant at Black Mountain Generating Station.

The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) was one of a coalition of environmental and consumer organizations that fought the UNS proposal in front of the Transmission Line Siting Committee.

“We applaud the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee for upholding the law of Arizona and putting Arizonans and the environment ahead of corporate profits,” said Laura Wickham, SWEEP’s Senior Arizona Associate. “The Committee made the correct decision to uphold Arizona law and require review before a utility can unilaterally decide to build a large new natural gas power plant.”

“The purpose of regulatory oversight is to safeguard the wellbeing of our state, including its environment and its consumers, while allowing for necessary energy development. The novel interpretation of the statutes proposed by UNS would have put Arizona on a dangerous path had they been accepted,” said Chanele Reyes of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, the attorney who represented SWEEP in the proceedings.

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The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) is a public interest organization promoting greater energy efficiency and clean transportation in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. swenergy.org

The Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest is a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to a just, prosperous, and environmentally secure future for Arizona. The Center uses the legal system to protect the rights of all citizens and to hold the government and corporations accountable when they violate the law. aclpi.org