Legal complaint challenges Puget Sound Energy’s Energize Eastside plan

CENSE, the Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy, and CSEE, the Citizens for Sane Eastside Energy, today filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accusing Puget Sound Energy’s Energize Eastside project of violating several laws.

Energize Eastside is a $200 million project to replace 18 miles of transmission lines through four Eastside cities – Newcastle, Renton, Bellevue and Redmond.

The complaint asks FERC to order new studies on the need for Energize Eastside.

“After seeking expert technical and legal advice, CENSE and CSEE believe that PSE may not have followed the FERC rules. These rules would favor one of the smarter, less expensive and less damaging alternatives to reliably power Eastside growth,” said Steve O’Donnell, president of CENSE. “We hope that FERC’s intervention will enable all parties to transparently compare viable alternatives to Energize Eastside and help our region become a model for how smart energy growth should be done.”

The group asserts that in seeking to substantiate the need for Energize Eastside, “PSE assumed several impossible scenarios and also used flawed power flow modeling.”

The group also says that Utility Systems Efficiencies, an independent technical consultant hired by the City of Bellevue, repeated the same mistakes. They want the federal agency to follow their own rules that requires system modeling to be performed by ColumbiaGrid, and not solely by the interested individual utility.

“Despite what many people may believe, FERC has determined that utilities do not have a monopoly on the ownership of elements of the Bulk Electric System, which Energize Eastside is part of,” said Richard Lauckhart, CENSE consultant and former vice president of power planning for Puget Sound Power & Light Company. “If, for example, after going through all the procedures above, it is determined that Energize Eastside is the best solution to a reliability problem, then any qualified entity that can build transmission lines would have the opportunity to bid on the project and subsequently build and own those lines. That entity then makes it available for use as a part of the Bulk Electric System and then recovers its cost from those who need it.”

Cense and CSEE maintain that PSE, BPA, Seattle City Light and ColumbiaGrid failed to honor their commitments to FERC to perform Regional Transmission Planning on a single-utility basis in a transparent manner. The complainants ask FERC to stop the project until industry-standard studies on the environmental impact and alternative solutions can be completed by ColumbiaGrid. The complainants welcome any additional relief that FERC deems appropriate to prevent such abuses from recurring in the future.

About the Coalition of Eastside Neighborhoods for Sensible Energy: CENSE is an all-volunteer coalition of citizens concerned about many aspects of the Energize Eastside project. CENSE has engaged an energy solution consultant and legal advisor to propose “right sized” energy solutions for the Eastside.

About Citizens for Sane Eastside Energy: CSEE is a Washington non-profit public forum for citizens on the Eastside who oppose Energize Eastside.