Commissioner James Danly Statement
December 1, 2021
Docket No. ER21-1841-001
I concur in today’s order[1] because it does not change the outcome of the prior Waiver Order.[2] I agree with our clarifications of the Waiver Order that only “prospective deadlines” were waived[3] and that the time for Lookout Solar Park I, LLC (Lookout Solar) was extended “to either make the applicable financial security payments or withdraw from the queue.”[4] The order properly rejects arguments by the Southwest Power Pool, Inc. that the Waiver Order, in which we granted a prospective waiver, authorized retroactive ratemaking in violation of the filed rate doctrine.[5] I also agree that Lookout Solar Park I, LLC need not post financial security, under the circumstances present here.[6] I nevertheless write separately to express my continuing concern regarding the innumerable waiver requests the Commission grants and to reiterate that the Commission must be sparing in its liberality.[7]
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] Lookout Solar Park I, LLC, 177 FERC ¶ 61,127 (2021) (Lookout Solar).
[2] Lookout Solar Park I, LLC, 176 FERC ¶ 61,100 (2021) (Waiver Order).
[3] Lookout Solar, 177 FERC ¶ 61,127 at P 19.
[4] Id. P 26.
[5] See id. PP 16-24.
[6] See id. PP 16, 25-26.
[7] Waiver Order, 176 FERC ¶ 61,100 (Danly, Comm’r, concurring at PP 2-3).