Tri-State Generation v. NM Public Regulation Comm.

Movant-Appellant Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc. (KCEC) appealed the district court’s denial of its motion seeking intervention as of right or permissive intervention in a pending case. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (Tri-State), a Colorado non-profit regional cooperative that provides wholesale electric power, filed suit against the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) seeking declaratory and injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. 1983. Tri-State argued that the NMPRC’s exercise of jurisdiction and suspension of Tri-State’s wholesale electric rates in New Mexico violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. In September 2013, Tri-State approved a wholesale rate increase for 2014 and filed an Advice Notice with the NMPRC. After rate protests by KCEC and three others, the NMPRC proceeded to suspend Tri-State’s 2014 rate increases as well. The NMPRC consolidated the proceedings on both the 2013 and 2014 wholesale rates. These proceedings remained pending before the NMPRC. In February 2014, Tri-State filed an amended complaint adding factual allegations regarding the NMPRC’s suspension of its 2014 wholesale rate. Tri-State’s amended complaint asserted Tri-State was entitled to declaratory and injunctive relief because “[t]he Commission’s exertion of jurisdiction to suspend and subsequently review and establish Tri-State’s rates in New Mexico constituted economic protectionism and imposed a burden on interstate commerce in violation of the Commerce Clause.” KCEC sought to intervene as of right pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) and permissively pursuant to Rule 24(b). Tri-State opposed intervention, but the NMPRC did not. Though not a party to the litigation, KCEC filed an answer to Tri-State’s complaint in which it asserted essentially the same affirmative defenses to Tri-State’s claims as had the NMPRC. The only unique defense KCEC presented was that Tri-State’s complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Prior to the district court’s ruling on KCEC’s motion, the NMPRC moved for summary judgment, arguing both that: (1) Tri-State was estopped from challenging the NMPRC’s rate-making jurisdiction given its agreement to the earlier Stipulation; and (2) the NMPRC’s order did not violate either New Mexico law or the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. Though still not a party to the litigation, KCEC filed a proposed response to the NMPRC’s motion for summary judgment, presenting essentially the same arguments as the NMPRC and providing no additional evidence. The district court then denied KCEC’s motion to intervene, finding that neither intervention as of right nor permissive intervention was appropriate. The Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court, finding that KCEC did not show that the district court’s denial of permissive intervention was “arbitrary, capricious, whimsical, or manifestly unreasonable.” View "Tri-State Generation v. NM Public Regulation Comm." on Justia Law