I dissent from the majority’s rejection of MISO’s Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) filing. I fully understand and appreciate the majority’s concerns about a perceived lack of detailed information regarding any apparent limit on the number of projects that could be entered in the ERAS process and whether the proposed revisions are adequately tailored to ensure that resources capable of addressing identified resource adequacy or reliability needs are eligible for the ERAS process. I do not disagree with the majority on much of their critique as to MISO’s failure to include in its filing additional information that would have obviously been helpful to achieve approval.
I am willing, however, to extend to both the states and MISO a trust that they would implement the ERAS proposal in a manner that would promote the construction of badly needed generation capacity that serves resource adequacy and reliability. One thing we know with no need for further proof: This country, including MISO, is heading for a reliability crisis caused by early retirements of dispatchable resources coupled with the failure to construct sufficient equivalent capacity, all while demand rises at an unprecedented pace largely driven by data center growth.[1] MISO’s ERAS proposal offers one near-term method quickly to advance generation that the states believe is essential to serve their respective consumers, and I would have approved it. I am willing to give both MISO and the states the benefit of the doubt under section 205 of the Federal Power Act as to these additional details, particularly given that the states in MISO themselves are broadly supportive of this ERAS filing.[2]
More generally, I have long insisted that the states are not just another set of “stakeholders” in RTOs, but sovereign entities with the inherent police power under our constitutional structure to regulate the utilities in their states.[3] As such, it is the states, first and foremost – even in RTOs with capacity markets – that have the primary responsibility and authority for ensuring resource adequacy within their respective borders.[4] I do not believe the Commission should block the states in an RTO (or non-RTO for that matter) from designating priority generation resources that the states deem essential and from advancing these resources in queues, especially considering the resource adequacy challenges the country faces today.[5] So in this case, approval of the ERAS proposal is also consistent with that core constitutional and regulatory principle.
I do, however, urge MISO to revise and re-file its ERAS application to address the concerns the majority has identified and next time, submit a filing that is better explained and better supported. MISO’s ERAS proposal is a very important tool for resource adequacy and reliability.
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
______________________________
Mark C. Christie
Chairman
[1] See, e.g., Commission Staff, Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment 31 (May 15, 2025) (“The electricity demand trend shows a clear upward trajectory, reversing a period of flat demand that lasted from around 2008 to early 2021. This shift is driven by a combination of industrial recovery, electrification, and new demand from data centers and manufacturing. Currently, the size and speed with which data centers and crypto mining facilities can be constructed and connect to the grid presents unique challenges for demand forecasting and planning. This increase in demand is currently challenging utilities to accelerate infrastructure upgrades and energy resource deployment and to reconsider scheduled resource retirements to maintain grid reliability.” (footnotes omitted)), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-releases-2025-summer-assessment; id. at 35 (“According to [the U.S. Energy Information Administration], electricity generators plan to potentially retire 14.4 GW of nameplate capacity in 2025, a 92% increase in retirements compared with 2024.”); id. at 45-46 (“[T]he retirement of 1,575 MW of natural gas- and coal-fired generation since last summer, combined with a reduction in Net Firm Capacity Transfers due to some capacity outside the MISO market opting out of the MISO Planning Resource Auction, is contributing to less flexible generation in MISO. . . . MISO’s most recent energy assessment forecasts a prolonged loss-of-load risk in August. . . . MISO is projected to have very tight resource conditions during periods of high demand or low resource output, or to meet extreme weather conditions if they should arise.” (footnote omitted)).
[2] E.g., Organization of MISO States, Inc. Comments at 1-3, 8-9.
[3] E.g., Bldg. for the Future Through Elec. Reg’l Transmission Plan. & Cost Allocation & Generator Interconnection, Order No. 1920, 187 FERC ¶ 61,068 (Christie, Comm’r, dissenting at P 69), order on reh’g, Order No. 1920‑A, 189 FERC ¶ 61,126 (2024), Order No. 1920-B, 191 FERC ¶ 61,026 (2025) (citation omitted), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/e-1-commissioner-christie-dissent-transmission-planning-and-cost-allocation-rule; see also Valley Link Transmission Md., LLC, 191 FERC ¶ 61,113 (2025) (Christie, Chairman, dissenting in part and concurring in part at P 8), https://cms.ferc.gov/news-events/news/chairman-christies-dissent-part-and-concurrence-part-valley-link-incentives-award; PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., 185 FERC ¶ 61,107 (2023) (Christie, Comm’r, concurring at P 7), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/commissioner-christies-concurrence-pjm-transmission-projects-cost-allocation-er23.
[4] E.g., Midcontinent Indep. Sys. Operator, Inc., 186 FERC ¶ 61,054 (2024) (Christie, Comm’r, concurring in part and dissenting in part at P 12) (citation omitted), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/commissioner-christies-concurrence-part-and-dissent-part-concerning-miso-gip; Midcontinent Indep. Sys. Operator, Inc., 183 FERC ¶ 61,112 (2023) (Christie, Comm’r, concurring at P 2) (citation omitted), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/commissioner-christies-concurrence-miso-minimum-capacity-obligation-rehearing; Midcontinent Indep. Sys. Operator, Inc., 180 FERC ¶ 61,141 (2022) (Christie, Comm’r, concurring at P 3), https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/commissioner-christies-concurrence-miso-resource-adequacy-construct-proceedings.
[5] See supra P 2.