Electric Power Supply Association v. Rhodes

The U.S. Supreme Court denied petitions for writ of certiorari seeking review of Second and Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decisions that upheld state subsidies in New York and Illinois for nuclear power plants. The petitioners had argued that the Court should review the question of whether the Federal Power Act preempted the states’ zero-emission credit programs.

Parties challenging New York’s and Illinois’s zero-energy credit (ZEC) subsidies for nuclear energy filed petitions for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Second and Seventh Circuit rulings that upheld the ZEC programs. The two petitions argued that the Federal Power Act preempted the ZEC programs. They cited the Court’s decision in Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing, LLC invalidating Maryland subsidies that guaranteed generators compensation at state-approved rates rather than at the wholesale market-based rate set in auctions approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The petitioners argued that the Federal Power Act preempted not only subsidies where generators were required to sell their power in FERC-approved markets (as in Hughes) but also preempted subsidies like New York’s and Illinois’s that the petitioners said were designed to subsidize only generators that sell into FERC-approved markets even though they did not require sales in such markets. The petitioners told the Supreme Court that the New York case was the superior vehicle for review of the question. For information on the Illinois case, click <a href=https://climatecasechart.com/case/electric-power-supply-association-v-star/">here</a>.