KINGMAN, Ariz. — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing officials who work at her old stomping grounds. Mayes, a former Arizona Corporation Commissioner who worked for years on issues related to water and solar energy, announced Thursday she is suing the current governmental body for a recent ruling.
The decision removed a level of environmental oversight previously assumed was necessary of power companies.
As 12News reported, Arizona power company UniSource Energy Services requested a “disclaimer of jurisdiction” to avoid a regulatory hurdle known as a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility, or CEC. The project involves building four electric generating plants at an existing plant near Kingman. The utility argued the natural gas turbines should not be subject to the same legal scrutiny as larger turbines.
In June the Commission’s four Republicans voted 4-1 to grant the exception.
“The Commission’s ruling misinterprets long-standing laws and creates dangerous loopholes,” Mayes wrote in a post on "X," formerly known as Twitter. “Arizona’s energy projects must remain accountable under the law in order to protect communities and our environment.”
Earlier this year, a lower committee designated to review such applications overwhelmingly opposed the power company’s request. But the commission ultimately overturned that decision, siding with UniSource.
That vote follows a trend. The Commission’s voting record over nearly the past two years shows it has consistently favored the requests of for-profit utilities over the concerns of environmental and consumer groups.
While casting their vote in June, Republican Commissioners said the utility had the “plain language of the law” on their side and therefore they were not subject to the environmental compatibility review process.
“And I don’t believe this decision will give utilities, paraphrasing what I’ve heard, free rein to destroy the environment because there are other checks and balances,” said Commissioner Nick Myers (R) at the time.
Opponents said the decision defied decades of policy and set a dangerous precedent that would allow corporations, not governmental bodies, to make important decisions about where power companies can build.
“It makes zero sense,” said Line Siting Committee Chair Adam Stafford, who voted with 8 of his colleagues to deny the request before the utility appealed to the 5-member Commission.
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