Attorney General Kris Mayes Challenges Corporation Commission’s Repeal of Renewable Energy Standards

Not so fast, Arizona Corporation Commission.

In an application for rehearing with the Commission, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes asserts that the body that oversees the Grand Canyon state’s energy portfolio and utility cost regulations erred when it voted last month to repeal its Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff Rules.

In a press release issued by Mayes’s office, they contend:

“The Commission violated its own Rule Review Procedures by approving the publication of a Notice of Final Rulemaking before completing the required Final Economic Impact Statement.”

In the statement, Attorney General Mayes commented:

“The Commission approved this decision before the required economic analysis was even finished. Arizonans never got the chance to review the completed analysis or comment on it before the commission voted – completely undermining meaningful public participation in the process. We’re asking the Commission to follow its own rules and comply with its own rulemaking procedures.”

This action comes on the heels of another Mayes victory, at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, against poor decision-making by State Republicans who sought to dismantle the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.

After that victory, Ms. Mayes commented:

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the people of Arizona and for the Indigenous communities whose ancestral homelands are protected by this monument. The court rejected every argument Senate President Warren Petersen, Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro, and Treasurer Kimberly Yee put forward. I am proud to have stood up to defend these sacred and important lands.”