Commissioner James Danly Statement
June 17, 2022
Project No. 3063-023
I concur with today’s order[1] sustaining the result of the license order for the Central Falls Hydroelectric Project operated and maintained by the Blackstone Hydro Associates.
I write separately to express my concern about sustaining License Article 202, which reserves authority for the Commission to impose financial assurance mechanisms without any limiting principle.[2] Although I believe it unlikely that a court would find Article 202 impermissible under the Federal Power Act, as I have previously stated,[3] this reservation may have the unfortunate effect of reinforcing uncertainty and limiting licensees’ access to the very financing we should seek to encourage. I very much appreciate those who participated in Commission staff’s technical workshop[4] to discuss financial assurance mechanisms and have filed comments in the docket. It is imperative that the Commission take a hard look at our financial assurance requirements and deliberately determine what, if any, changes or improvements should be adopted.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] Blackstone Hydro Assocs., 179 FERC ¶ 61,193 (2022).
[2] See Blackstone Hydro Assocs., 178 FERC ¶ 62,131, at P 88 (2022) (“To confirm the importance of licensees maintaining sufficient financial reserves, Article 202 reserves the Commission’s authority to require future measures to ensure that the licensee maintains sufficient financial reserves to carry out the terms of the license and Commission orders pertaining thereto.”).
[3] See, e.g., Pub. Util. Dist. No. 1 of Pend Oreille Cnty., 177 FERC ¶ 61,183 (2021) (Danly, Comm’r, concurring at PP 1-3).
[4] See Transcript of the Technical Conference on Financial Assurance Measures for Hydroelectric Projects, Docket No. RM21-9-000 (Apr. 26, 2022).