{"document":{"slug":"filing-20260803-5202","title":"Motion to Rescind Show Cause Order as applied to Western Area Power Administration","issued":"2026-08-03","accession":"20260803-5202","docket":"EL26-71-000","group":"CAISO filings","filer":"Western Area Power Administration","kind":"motion","file":"sources/originals/20260803-5202_01.pdf","url":"https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filelist?accession_Number=20260803-5202","sha256":"f21b5c1f96518f3b591f85e63b82f41a3a7fe281e1356e5210090d7185c0b0a6","pages":6,"tokens":1124,"emptyPages":[]},"pages":[{"page":1,"startToken":0,"endToken":166,"text":"- 1 - \nUNITED STATES OF AMERICA \nBEFORE THE \nFEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION \n \n \nCalifornia Independent System Operator \nCorporation \nCitizen S-Line Transmission LLC  \nCitizens Sunrise Transmission LLC  \nCitizens Sycamore-Penasquitos \nTransmission LLC  \nCity of Anaheim, California  \nCity of Azusa, California  \nCity of Banning, California  \nCity of Colton, California  \nCity of Pasadena, California  \nCity of Riverside, California \nDCR Transmission, L.L.C.  \nDesertLink, LLC  \nGridLiance West LLC  \nHorizon West Transmission, LLC \nLS Power Grid California, LLC  \nMorongo Transmission LLC  \nPacific Gas and Electric Company  \nSan Diego Gas & Electric Company  \nSouthern California Edison Company  \nStartrans IO, L.L.C.  \nSunZia Transmission, LLC  \nTrans Bay Cable LLC  \nValley Electric Association, Inc.  \nViridon Path 15, LLC  \nWestern Area Power Administration \nDocket No. EL26-71-000 \n \n \nMOTION TO RESCIND SHOW CAUSE ORDER  \nON BEHALF OF THE WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION \n \n \nPursuant to Rule 212 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure,1 the Western \nArea Power Administration (WAPA) hereby submit this motion to rescind the show cause order \n \n1 18 C.F.R. § 385.212 (2026)."},{"page":2,"startToken":166,"endToken":450,"text":"- 2 - \nissued by the Commission in the above-referenced proceeding on June 18, 2026,2 as directed to \nWAPA in its capacity as a Participating Transmission Owner (“TO”) in the California \nIndependent System Operator Corporation (“CAISO”).  \nI. \nWAPA BACKGROUND \nWAPA is a power marketing administration of the U.S. Department of Energy.  WAPA \nwas created in 1977 by section 302(a)(1)(E) and (F) of the Department of Energy Organization \nAct.  WAPA’s mission is to market and deliver reliable, renewable, cost-based federal \nhydroelectric power, transmission, and related services within a 15-state region of the central and \nwestern United States.  WAPA was established to assume the marketing functions of power \ngenerated by the various dams owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of \nReclamation (Reclamation), and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.  WAPA is engaged in, \namong other things, marketing, transmitting, and arranging for delivery of power to its customers \n– which include Reclamation’s project-use loads and WAPA’s other electric service customers.  \nWAPA markets power to preference entities who are generally nonprofits including public utility \ndistricts, municipalities, water and irrigation districts, federal and state agencies, rural electric \ncooperatives, and Native American Tribes.  WAPA also owns, operates, and maintains high \nvoltage transmission systems to facilitate delivery of its power to its customers, and sells excess \ntransmission capacity. \nWAPA’s Sierra Nevada Region (WAPA-SN) sells power at wholesale to preference \ncustomers in California from multiple hydroelectric powerplants of the Central Valley Project \n(CVP) and market purchases, using the CVP transmission system.  The great majority of WAPA-\nSN’s system operates as a sub-balancing authority area under the Balancing Authority of \n \n2 Cal. Indep. Sys. Operator Corp., 195 FERC ¶ 61,214 (2026) (the “Show Cause Order”)."},{"page":3,"startToken":450,"endToken":720,"text":"- 3 - \nNorthern California (BANC).  However, one of WAPA-SN’s transmission lines is within the \noperational control of the CAISO.   \nWAPA-SN became a Participating TO in the CAISO and signed the Transmission \nControl Agreement (“TCA”) among and between the CAISO and its Participating TOs in \nDecember 2004.  WAPA only placed under the operational control of the CAISO its rights and \ninterests in the Path 15 Upgrade Project, a single, approximately 83-mile, 500-kilovolt \ntransmission line extending from the PG&E Los Banos Substation to the PG&E Gates \nSubstation.  A federal entity, WAPA has reserved various rights and authorities necessary to \nfacilitate its participation as a TO for the Path 15 Upgrade project, including use of its own Tarif \nor OATT for interconnections to the Path 15 Upgrade to the extent the CAISO provisions are \ninconsistent.  \nII. \nRELEVANT BACKGROUND \nOn June 18, 2026, the Commission issued the Show Cause Order, thereby initiating a \nproceeding under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act.  The Show Cause Order found that the \nCAISO’s Open Access Transmission Tariff (“CAISO Tariff”) and/or the TO Tariffs of each of \nthe CAISO Participating TOs appear to be unjust, unreasonable, or unduly discriminatory or \npreferential to the extent that they do not include provisions establishing the rates, terms, and \nconditions for the interconnection of and service to certain large and co-located loads.  The Show \nCause Order therefore directed the CAISO and the CAISO Participating TOs to either explain \nhow their respective tariffs remain just and reasonable without specific provisions for the \ninterconnection of large and co-located loads or to develop such provisions.3  \n \n3 Show Cause Order at P 3."},{"page":4,"startToken":720,"endToken":962,"text":"- 4 - \nIII. \nJUSTIFICATION FOR RESCISSION \nWAPA is a non-public utility that is exempt from the Commission’s jurisdiction pursuant \nto Section 201(f) of the Federal Power Act.4  The Commission acknowledged that the Show \nCause Order included Participating TOs that are not subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction and \nexplained that it would “rescind the show cause order” against such entities at their request, \nprovided that the CAISO “respond[s] to this order regarding the non-public utility’s CAISO \nTariff provisions on file with the Commission.”5  Accordingly, as a non-public utility, WAPA \nrequests that the Commission rescind the Show Cause Order against it. \nWAPA has and will continue to coordinate and cooperate with the CAISO in responding \nto the Show Cause Order, to the extent that the CAISO requests assistance from WAPA and \nother non-public utilities.  WAPA has conferred with the CAISO in advance of the filing of this \nmotion. In accordance with WAPA policy and practice, if in the course of WAPA’s continued \ncoordination with the CAISO that it determines changes to its Tariff are needed to address the \nissues in the Show Cause Order, WAPA will file proposed revisions to its Tariff with the \nCommission in due course. \n \n \n4 16 U.S.C. 824(f) (2024) (”No provision in this subchapter shall apply to, or be deemed to include, the United \nStates”), cited in Show Cause Order at P 3, n.9. \n5 Show Cause Order at P 3, n.9."},{"page":5,"startToken":962,"endToken":1036,"text":"- 5 - \nIV. \nCONCLUSION \nWHEREFORE, for the foregoing reasons, WAPA respectfully requests that the \nCommission rescind the Show Cause Order against WAPA as a non-public utility and ask that \nthe Commission waive any notice and comment periods that might be applicable to this motion. \n \nRespectfully submitted, \n \n \n/s/ J.Ben Summerhays \n \n \n \n \n \nAttorney for Western Area Power Administration \n \n \nWestern Area Power Administration \n \n12155 W. Alameda Parkway \n \nLakewood, CO 80228-8213 \n \n(720) 962-7023 \n \nsummerhays@wapa.gov \n \n \n \nAugust 3, 2026"},{"page":6,"startToken":1036,"endToken":1124,"text":"CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE \nI hereby certify that I have on this 3rd day of August, 2026, caused a copy of the \nforegoing document to be sent to all parties on the list compiled by the Secretary of the \nCommission in this proceeding, by electronic mail or such other means as may have been \nspecified by such party, pursuant to Commission Rule 2010. \n \n \n/s/ J. Ben Summerhays \n \n \n \nAttorney for Western Area Power Administration \n \nWestern Area Power Administration \n12155 W. Alameda Parkway \nLakewood, CO 80228-8213 \n(720) 962-7023 \nsummerhays@wapa.gov"}],"sections":[{"p":1,"at":0,"title":"Opening text","method":"opening text","endPage":2,"endAt":240,"startToken":0,"endToken":201},{"p":2,"at":240,"title":"I. WAPA Background","method":"PDF bookmark","endPage":3,"endAt":860,"startToken":201,"endToken":583},{"p":3,"at":860,"title":"II. relevant background","method":"PDF bookmark","endPage":4,"endAt":7,"startToken":583,"endToken":721},{"p":4,"at":7,"title":"III. justification for rescission","method":"PDF bookmark","endPage":5,"endAt":7,"startToken":721,"endToken":963},{"p":5,"at":7,"title":"IV. CONCLUSION","method":"PDF bookmark","endPage":5,"endAt":12,"startToken":963,"endToken":964},{"p":5,"at":12,"title":"CONCLUSION","method":"printed heading","endPage":6,"endAt":0,"startToken":964,"endToken":1036},{"p":6,"at":0,"title":"CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE","method":"printed heading","endPage":6,"endAt":551,"startToken":1036,"endToken":1124}]}