The Missouri Court of Appeals yesterday threw out attempts by utilities and industry groups to overturn the state’s renewable energy standard (RES).
A three-judge panel of the court dismissed lawsuits brought against the RES and affirmed the Missouri Public Service Commission’s (PSC) rules that were finalized in July 2010. Implementation of the RES stalled after the Missouri Industrial Electric Consumers, the Missouri Energy Development Association, Ameren and Empire District Electric brought litigation against the program.
Western District judge Victor Howard, who wrote the court’s opinion, said the RES should be upheld because the plaintiffs did not present “weighty reasons” to show that the regulations “bear no reasonable relationship to the legislative objective.” Howard was joined in the decision by judges Alok Ahuja and Cynthia Martin.
Opponents argued that the RES was unlawful because it included geographic restrictions that required covered entities to purchase renewable electricity and renewable energy certificates (RECs) from in-state projects. Those restrictions would violate the US Constitution’s interstate commerce clause and cause the program’s overall costs to exceed a 1pc average rate increase limit that was included in another part of the statute, according to industry.
But the PSC removed the geographic restrictions after the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules refused to finalize the RES if those provisions were included. Howard said this action rendered the plaintiffs’ argument moot.
Howard also wrote that the PSC’s use of a 10-year averaging period that compares the cumulative cost of renewables against a 100pc fossil fuel-fired generation portfolio was “reasonable,” nullifying an industry complaint against the method used to calculate the RES effect on the average retail price of electricity. This part of the decision overturned a lower court ruling that found the methodology to be unlawful.
Missouri’s 15pc by 2021 RPS law was established in 2008 by a ballot initiative known as Proposition C. Renew Missouri, a clean energy advocacy group, attempted to get another initiative on this year’s ballot that would have increased the RES to 25pc by 2025, reinstated the PSC’s original geographic restrictions and included a 2pc solar carve-out. But the group was unable to obtain enough signatures to support the measure.
Industry petitioners can file seeking a rehearing before all judges in the appellate court, or request that the case be transferred to the Missouri Supreme Court within 15 days.
