Friday, March 16, 2012

Mississippi Supreme Court revokes Kemper approval

The Mississippi Supreme Court threw out the Public Service Commission approval for the Kemper plant:


IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2011-CA-00350-SCT
SIERRA CLUB
v.
MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
AND MISSISSIPPI POWER COMPANY, INC.
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 02/28/2011
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. JAMES B. PERSONS
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: HARRISON COUNTY CHANCERY COURT
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ROBERT B. WIYGUL
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY: JUSTIN L. MATHENY
L. CHRISTOPHER LOMAX
HAROLD EDWARD PIZZETTA, III
SHAWN STEPHEN SHURDEN
LEO ERNEST MANUEL
BEN HARRY STONE
TIM A. FORD
WILLIAM L. SMITH
RICKY J. COX
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - STATE BOARDS AND AGENCIES
DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND REMANDED - 03/15/2012
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
BEFORE DICKINSON, P.J., RANDOLPH AND PIERCE, JJ.
DICKINSON, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:

¶1. The Mississippi Power Company (“MPC”) applied to the Mississippi Public Service
Commission (“Commission”) for permission to proceed with construction of a new power
generation facility that would employ a new technology not in operation anywhere else in the United States, and to begin assessing the cost of construction (capped at $2.88 billion) Miss. Code Ann. § 77-3-59 (Rev. 2009). to its current customers. The Sierra Club opposed the project before the Commission, but the Commission entered an order in favor of MPC. The Chancery Court of Harrison County affirmed, and the Sierra Club appealed.

¶2. When the Commission grants authority for such projects, Mississippi law requires it to make findings supporting its decision; and, according to the statute, the Commission’s findings must be “supported by substantial evidence presented” which “shall be in sufficient detail to enable [this] court on appeal to determine the controverted questions presented, and the basis of the commission's conclusion.”1 We find the Commission’s approval of the project fails to satisfy this requirement, so we reverse the chancery court’s judgment and the Commission’s order and remand to the Commission for further proceedings.
¶3. REVERSED AND REMANDED. WALLER, C.J., CARLSON, P.J., RANDOLPH, LAMAR, KITCHENS,
CHANDLER, PIERCE AND KING, JJ., CONCUR.


$2.4 billion plant. Big deal. Back to the drawing board. What is really interesting is how the market has changed since this plant was approved. The plant was supposed to produce gas from low-grade coal. Now thanks to fracking and other variables, the price of natural gas has dropped to a very low price, thus the question must be asked if this plant is still feasible. Stay tuned.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

MS has a small population. We have sufficient power for ourselves. So tell me again why WE should pay for a plant so the energy can be sold to others AND there's NOTHING in it for us?

Weren't we already duped on that one with Grand Gulf?

I'm not opposed to this technology or nuclear technology, but those who assume the risks and have to look at the plants or oil derricks ought to get a better deal out of it than we are getting.

That OUGHT to be what the Public Service Commission does for us...look out for OUR interests and negotiate a good DEAL for us!

Anonymous said...

Not to mention all the people who lost their homes under threat of eminent domain.

Anderson said...

Hey, when you don't trouble with detailed findings, you don't have to worry your pretty head about "financial feasibility" and the like.

I've seen Rule 54(b) dismissals that were longer than this opinion. Yow.

roughneck said...

There are a lot of people that will be put to work for this plant. If you shut it down now, you will have NOTHING. Cheap affordable energy for the MS Power company customers and industry is what is on the line. The residential users are nothing compared to industry.

If you can coax a company to build because of cheap power, is that not a good thing?

or, shut it down and let nature reclaim it in 20 years.

Anonymous said...

Good point Roughneck, what's the unemployment in Kemper Co? Still at 14%?

Anonymous said...

The Kemper plant will not provide "cheap power."

The alternative to the plant was a natural gas-fired plant. They said lignite coal prices, which could be fixed, would be better than the high, volatile costs of natural gas.

Good strategy in 2006, when they started planning this thing, but not now. A thing called fracking has happened. Now natural gas is $2.25 per mmBtu as opposed to $9.

According to a Public Service Commission filing, natural gas will have to reach $12 to $14 per mmBtu for the plant to even be BREAK EVEN for customers.

The EIA and every other outfit predicting gas says it won't reach above $5 until 2030 or so.


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