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Initially, FERC commissioners approved the SPP plan in October 2022, a decision that faced challenges in both the D.C. and Eighth Circuits by multiple utilities and stakeholders. However, in July 2023, FERC reversed its decision, prompting lawsuits from Sunflower and Midwest Energy, which have since been consolidated. Numerous entities have stepped in to either support or oppose FERC’s actions.

Stakeholders Push Back Against FERC’s Reversal

Joining Sunflower and Midwest Energy in opposition to FERC's "Grid Plan Backtrack" are SPP itself, the Kansas Corporation Commission, and Basin Electric Power Cooperative. In a Thursday reply brief, they emphasized that SPP had revised its plan twice to satisfy FERC’s concerns, and that the agency now cannot reject the plan for the same reasons it initially dismissed. "FERC's reversal has left SPP and its stakeholders subject to a seemingly endless game of regulatory 'bring me a rock,'" the intervenors argued. "FERC's actions are unsupported by the record and contrary to FERC's own precedents."

Legal Perspectives on FERC's Actions

Helgi C. Walker, Midwest Energy’s lead counsel from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, maintained that FERC’s original decision to approve the SPP plan was the correct one, and that the agency has failed to provide a sufficient justification for its sudden reversal. "In FERC's response brief, the agency's litigators just parroted the flawed arguments in the commission's orders, but they offer nothing to excuse or explain the commission's unlawful regulatory bait-and-switch," Walker said in a statement Friday. "We look forward to the court's review." Meanwhile, a FERC spokesperson said that the agency does not comment on ongoing court matters.

FERC Grid Plan Backtrack : Legal Teams Representing Each Party

Sunflower is represented by Erin E. Murphy and Nicholas A. Aquart of Clement & Murphy PLLC. Midwest Energy has a team from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, including Helgi C. Walker, William R. Hollaway, Jeffrey Liu, and Reed Sawyers. SPP is represented by Matthew J. Binette, Ruth M. Porter, and Sigifredo Perez of Wright & Talisman PC. Representing the Kansas Corporation Commission in-house are Brian G. Fedotin and Carly Rose Masenthin, while Basin Electric is represented by Jesse Halpern and Rebecca L. Shelton of Thompson Coburn LLP. FERC’s legal team includes general counsel Matthew R. Christiansen, solicitor Robert H. Solomon, and senior attorney Carol J. Banta.