Joint Dissent - Commissioner Richard Glick and Commissioner Allison Clements
January 19, 2021
Docket No. P-2486-088
Order: H-8
We dissent on today’s order because we disagree with the Commission’s underlying decision to grant a 15-year license extension to Wisconsin Electric Power Company (Wisconsin Electric) for its Pine Project No. 2486 (Pine Project).[1] That extension effectively overrides a comprehensive settlement between Wisconsin Electric and numerous federal and state resource agencies and non-governmental organizations—many of which protested this extension request. We do not believe that Wisconsin Electric has shown that the license extension is in the public interest and would, therefore, grant rehearing to restore the 2025 license expiration date.
On February 10, 1997, Wisconsin Electric reached a comprehensive settlement agreement to protect and improve resource management in the Upper Menominee River Basin with numerous parties, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Michigan Hydro Relicensing Coalition, and the River Alliance of Wisconsin. One of the key provisions in the Wilderness Shores Settlement Agreement (WSSA) provides “Wisconsin Electric agrees to remove the Pine Project upon the end of the current license term period provided that the Resource Agencies continue to support removal.”[2] Further, the WSSA directs Wisconsin Electric to initiate consultation in 2020 to affirm or modify the agreement to surrender the Pine Project in 2025.[3]
Nevertheless, in this proceeding, Wisconsin Electric has sought to extend the license of the Pine Project by 15 years, effectively delaying its commitments under the WSSA. Unsurprisingly, numerous federal and state resource agencies objected to the license extension on the grounds that it permitted Wisconsin Electric to execute an end run around the WSSA. We agree. In granting Wisconsin Electric’s request, the Commission allowed Wisconsin Electric to wiggle out from under its decades-old commitments—negotiated in good faith amongst the parties—regarding the Upper Menominee River Basin.
Because Wisconsin Electric has not shown that a 15-year license extension for the Pine Project is consistent with the public interest, we would grant rehearing and reinstate the 2025 license expiration date.