PacifiCorp 2023 General Rate Case (A.22-05-006) |
|
The CPUC will hold remote public forums to provide an opportunity for customers of PacifiCorp to offer their perspective and input to the CPUC about the company’s rate proposals. Farm Bureau filed a protest in the case over the proposed 27.9% increase in revenue requirement for agricultural customers. The protest can be read here and Farm Bureau is currently engaged in discovery and preparation of Direct Testimony in the proceeding.
You can also make your voice heard in this proceeding, and read the comments of others, on the CPUC online Docket Card comment section at apps.cpuc.ca.gov/c/A2205006.
WHEN: November 7, 2022, 1 p.m. AND 6 p.m.
WHERE: Remote access via webcast or phone for all public forums, as follows:
-
Live video broadcast with English or Spanish captions via webcast: www.adminmonitor.com/ca/cpuc
- Participants who choose to participate via webcast only will have audio and video capabilities but will not be able to make verbal comments. If you would like to make a comment during the meeting, the phone-in information is below.
- For captions, after clicking on the name of the workshop, click the green button below the video for captions. Then select captions by clicking on the white icon next to the word “live” at the bottom of the video.
- The forums will also be recorded and archived for future viewing.
- Phone: 800-857-1917, passcode: 1767567#
- Participants will have audio in English and will be able to make comments. (To make a comment, after entering the passcode, when prompted press *1, unmute your phone, and record your name.)
Related Documents
|
|
PG&E Application for Approval to Sell Portions of its Non-Nuclear Generation Assets
(A. 22-09-018)
|
|
On October 3, 2022, PG&E filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission to “to allow PG&E to transfer substantially all of its non-nuclear generation assets to Pacific Generation, a new PG&E subsidiary, which will facilitate a sale of up to 49.9% of the equity interests in Pacific Generation to one or more third party investors. PG&E claims the sale represents the best path for PG&E to raise equity capital while balancing a variety of objectives, including (1) meeting PG&E’s near term capital needs to improve the safety and reliability of its system and to help achieve California’s decarbonization and electrification goals, (2) supporting the overall deleveraging plans of PG&E and PG&E Corporation consistent with the decision approving PG&E’s Plan of Reorganization, Decision 20-05-053, (3) avoiding the dilutive effect of an issuance of PG&E Corporation common stock and its associated negative impact on the Fire Victim Trust, and (4) retaining the economic and operational benefits of PG&E’s generation assets for customers while continuing to provide safe, reliable, and affordable service.
Farm Bureau has begun to review the application and will file a protest in the proceeding to gain party status and ensure that if a sale does take place, the proceeds will be closely monitored and benefit ratepayers.
|
|
California Water Agencies Propose to Conserve Additional Water in the Colorado River Basin |
|
|
|
Amid dangerously low reservoir levels on the Colorado River and ongoing severe drought, California water agencies proposed to conserve up to an additional 400,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead each year, otherwise for use by California’s communities and farms. The potential commitments are premised upon use of funding opportunities created by the recently-passed federal Inflation Reduction Act, which makes available up to $4 billion for water management and conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin among other drought-impacted regions, as well as federal commitment to contribute to stabilization efforts for the Salton Sea.
|
|
CalSavers: Here Now for Some Employers, Coming Soon for the Rest |
|
California law requires certain employers that don’t offer a qualified retirement plan to their employees to register for CalSavers, a program that lets each employee contribute to their own Individual Retirement Account.
For now, this requirement covers employers with five or more employees.
Starting Jan. 1, 2023, employers of four or fewer employees—that’s most county Farm Bureaus in California—can voluntarily register for CalSavers.
And by Dec. 31, 2025, those small employers must either offer a qualified retirement plan to employees or register for CalSavers.
|
|
Waters of the U.S. Rule and Litigation Updates |
|
The final “WOTUS” Rule is currently at the Office of Management and Budget; EPA anticipates the rule will be finalized before the end of the year.
The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments in Sackett v. EPA on October 3, 2022, where significant questions were focused on how lands were considered adjacent to waters of the U.S. In Sackett, the U.S. Supreme Court will be deciding the proper test for determining whether wetlands are “waters of the U.S.” The state farm bureau brief focused on the impact of “waters of the U.S.” definitions on agriculture, as well as the existing state regulations regulating waters. The court will likely issue a decision early next year, after EPA finalizes its WOTUS Rule.
|
|
|
CA Supreme Court Denies Petition in
“Bees are Fish” Case
|
|
|
|
On September 21, 2022, the CA Supreme Court denied the review of the agricultural coalition’s petition, which includes CAFB, to overturn the appellate court decision that found certain bumblebees could be protected under the state endangered species law. The appellate ruling is now precedent for trial courts. The four species of bumble bees at issue in the case will likely again become CESA-listing candidate species in short order. The coalition of agricultural parties participating in the litigation will be considering next steps for addressing the outcome.
|
|
U.S. Supreme Court Hears
Prop. 12 Oral Arguments
|
|
On October 11, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 12, an animal housing law which establishes specific minimum requirements for confinement of laying hens, breeding pigs and veal calves. Proposition 12 as approved by California voters in November 2018. In November 2021, the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take their case, arguing that California’s Proposition 12 would ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet the state’s “arbitrary” production standards.
|
|
|
Decision to list Western Joshua Tree Delayed |
|
On October 12, 2022, the CA Fish and Game Commission voted to delay voting on if the Western Joshua Tree should be a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act until February 2023. In the meantime, the Western Joshua Tree remains protected as a candidate species, and tribal governments may provide additional input. CAFB previously joined a coalition which filed a lawsuit challenging the CA Fish and Game Commission’s process to consider the Western Joshua tree as a potentially threatened species. The lawsuit, which was ultimately unsuccessful, did not challenge the merits of whether the western Joshua tree should ultimately be protected under the California Endangered Species Act, and instead asserted the petition for consideration did not meet the California Endangered Species Act’s basic, foundational requirements required for protection.
|
|
California Farm Bureau Federation v. State Water Resources Control Board (Sacramento Superior Court) |
|
CAFB staff prepared and submitted recent scoping comments on a notice of preparation (“NOP”) for an eventual project-level substitute environmental document to consider alternatives for actual implementation of the Board’s already adopted standards. Of greatest significance here, according to the Board’s initial NOP, alternatives currently slated for consideration do not include any alternative involving the full due process associated with a traditional water right proceeding, as originally suggested in the Board’s underlying program document. Instead, the Board’s currently proposed program of implementation focuses entirely on implementation by means of a less legally protective Board regulation or federal Clean Water Act 401 water quality certification in connection with pending FERC relicensing processes on the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers. This step of a possible non-emergency regulation or possible hybrid 401 certification approach as the mechanism to effectuate a massive, permanent reallocation of existing water rights, without the benefit of a normal water rights proceeding, would be unprecedented and is, therefore, a matter of far-reaching interest and concern.
Finally, the Board recently held a workshop to take public input on a set of revised biological goals for “adaptive implementation” of the 30- to 50-percent standard, and also recently finalized its selection of a proposed Stanislaus, Merced, Tuolumne (“STM”) stakeholder implementation group. In addition to the affected water districts on the Lower San Joaquin and its tributaries and in SF Bay Area, the STM group includes fisheries agency and environmental NGO reps as part of the body that will advise the Board in reservoir operations and adaptive implementation. In light of the potential far reaching implications of all of these related processes, CAFB legal will continue to follow all of these matters closely and to engage, as necessary and appropriate.
|
|
Legal Services Division | (916) 561-5665 | Contact us
|
|
Karen Norene Mills
Director
Kari Fisher
Senior Counsel
|
|
Carl Borden
Senior Counsel
Kevin Johnston
Associate Counsel
Jules Tran
Paralegal/Secretary
|
|
Christian Scheuring
Senior Counsel
Justin Fredrickson
Environmental &
Water Policy Analyst
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
