Commissioner James Danly Statement
June 16, 2022
Project No. 3777-011
I concur with today’s order[1] issuing the Town of Rollinsford a subsequent license to continue to operate and maintain the Rollinsford Project. I write separately to make two points.
First, I write to point out that the Commission finds certain recommendations filed by the Departments of Commerce and the Interior under section 10(j) of the Federal Power Act (FPA) to be “outside the scope” of that section and reclassifies them as having been filed under FPA section 10(a).[2] As I have previously stated,[3] I have misgivings about this practice.
Second, I write separately to express my concern about Article 202, which reserves authority for the Commission to impose financial assurance mechanisms without any limiting principle.[4] As I have previously stated,[5] 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 to discuss financial assurance mechanisms.[6] 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] Town of Rollinsford, 179 FERC ¶ 61,203 (2022).
[2] Id. PP 110-17.
[3] See, e.g., Cornell Univ., 176 FERC ¶ 61,186 (2021) (Danly, Comm’r, concurring in part and dissenting in part at P 2).
[4] See Town of Rollinsford, 179 FERC ¶ 61,203 at P 148 & Ordering Para. G (listing additional license articles, including Article 202 which provides “The Commission reserves the right 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.”) (emphasis added).
[5] 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).
[6] See Transcript of the Technical Conference on Financial Assurance Measures for Hydroelectric Projects, Docket No. RM21-9-000 (Apr. 26, 2022).