California should kill the electrical grid power play
The California Legislature should kill a power play that would hand control of its electrical grid to a new regional board that would manage power for the entire West.
Assemblyman Chris Holden’s plan — AB 813 — is tempting. No doubt about it. The Pasadena Democrat argues the state’s growing solar power market would greatly benefit by expansion to other states. But California has no business entering into what amounts to a high-risk game of regional power politics. Not when the Trump administration, which oversees interstate power transmission through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is sitting at the table.
Western states such as Utah and Wyoming have coal-mining operations. Trump would like nothing better than to work with those states and use the Federal Energy Regulation Commission to undermine Gov. Jerry Brown’s clean-energy policies. And as the proposal stands, California would have no guarantees that the regional operator could be prevented from forcing unwanted fossil fuels on the state.
Most Californians have probably never heard of the California Independent System Operator. It’s a nonprofit corporation governed by five board members who are appointed by the governor and serve three-year terms. The board’s mandate is to look out for California’s best interests on electrical issues, including reliable performance and clean-energy goals.
Holden is asking the Legislature to hand over that authority to a regional governing board without knowing how it would be structured. Section 359 of the bill says that a western states’ committee would be established with three representatives of each state to “provide guidance to the Independent System Operator on all matters of interest to more than one state.”
No one knows who would be on the governing board itself. But it seems fairly obvious that there would be times when California’s energy strategy would run counter to that of states such as Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, for example. California has the most progressive, aggressive clean-energy policies in the nation.
The outcome of a Minnesota court case should give the Legislature pause. In 2007, Minnesota passed a law banning electricity imports from power plants that increase greenhouse gases. But the state of North Dakota sued, and federal judges ruled in 2016 that Minnesota did not have the authority to dictate how its power is created. That authority belonged to the regional Midwest Independent System Operator, which opposed the ban.
Another significant fear is that California ratepayers would wind up footing the bill for infrastructure needs in other states that do not have our substantial resources. Given the rural nature of many western states, that could wind up costing a substantial amount of money.
In the long run, it may make sense for California to move to a regional operating system. But the Legislature should reject Holden’s proposed legislation until it has greater knowledge of how it would be governed and a clearer commitment to the clean-energy goals Californians treasure.