Seventh Circuit Upholds Illinois ZEC Program For Struggling Nuclear Units

On September 13, 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed the trial court's dismissal of claims that the zero-emission credit (ZEC) program enacted by the Illinois legislature in 2016 violated the U.S. Constitution's dormant Commerce Clause and was preempted by the Federal Power Act. The Court took the unusual step of requesting an amicus brief from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC and the Department of Justice jointly filed a brief in response, arguing that the Illinois' program neither interferes with interstate auctions nor is otherwise preempted by federal law. Once FERC weighed in on the side of Illinois, a result in favor of the State was a likely conclusion.

Similar to the framework used for or "RECs," Illinois' ZEC program directs state regulators, based on defined criteria, to select certain nuclear plants to generate ZECs and then requires utilities to purchase those ZECs for a predetermined purchase price. The state-developed ZEC price is derived from the social cost of carbon, but is adjusted based on an index tied to wholesale power prices. The Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), the national trade association comprised of many of the large, non-nuclear competitive power producers in the U.S., brought suit. The lower court dismissed those claims and the appeal ensued.

The crux of EPSA's preemption argument rested on the premise that: (1) by propping up uneconomic nuclear units with ZECs, the state's program impermissibly altered the total supply within the wholesale market, thus decreasing the amount ultimately paid to all generators in the annual capacity auction; and (2) that because the ZEC payments are made in connection with energy sales in the wholesale markets, over which FERC has exclusive jurisdiction, states may not interfere with that regulation. The court, however, rejected EPSA's preemption argument, concluding instead that, "a state policy that affects price only by increasing the quantity of power available for sale is not preempted by federal law." In reaching this result, the court distinguished the Illinois law from the state program rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing. In upholding the ZEC program, the Seventh Circuit joined the Second Circuit in Klee, along with the Third Circuit's pre-Hughes decision in Solomon, to rule that federal law does not preempt state policies that provide incentives to new or existing capacity.

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