PSC denies motion to extend MARL decision date
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MORGANTOWN - The Public Service Commission has denied a PSC staff motion to dismiss or pause NextEra Energy Transmission MidAtlantic’s application process for its MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project.
The PSC also denied the joint NextEra-staff motion to extend its decision deadline by 77 days. The PSC order came late Friday after NextEra had filed its reply to the staff motion.
The staff motion was prompted by several concerns: Proposed route revisions brought in newly affected landowners who needed time to review the case and intervene in order to provide testimony, and raised questions about constructability of a portion of the route; a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order regarding transmission planning and service to data centers raises unanswered questions about the application; and the need for the MARL Project was called into question by other transmission projects under development.
PSC addressed the concerns in its order.
The route revisions, it said, were filed after it established the procedural schedule and after substantial discovery and participation had occurred. It recognizes that three new landowners would be affected by the revisions.
But that doesn’t persuade the commission to modify the already approved timeline, it said. "When the Commission established the procedural schedule on March 18, 2026, it specifically recognized the importance of a strict schedule in this transmission certificate proceeding. ... The commission established a schedule that provided for discovery, testimony, an evidentiary hearing, briefing, and sufficient time thereafter for Commission review before the March 6, 2027 decision due date."
The route revisions can be addressed in the evidentiary record, the PSC said.
The FERC order also does not merit changing the timeline, the PSC said. "The existence of unresolved regulatory or planning issues does not, by itself, require dismissal, suspension, or extension of this proceeding."
And simply dismissing the case without prejudice - so that NextEra cold reapply at a later date - also is unwarranted, the PSC said. "Dismissal would terminate a proceeding in which the parties, Staff, affected landowners, and the Commission have already expended substantial resources. Staff and the intervenors' concerns may be considered in determining whether the evidentiary record supports granting the requested certificate."
The PSC concluded, "Nothing in this order prejudges the significance of the route revisions, the adequacy of NEET MA's engineering review, the implications of the pending FERC proceeding, or any other issue relevant to whether NEET MA has satisfied its burden of proof."
So the original timeline set by the PSC in March remains in effect.
Newly affected landowners will not have until Sept. 30 to file to intervene, as requested by NextEra and staff. Staff and intervenor direct testimony was due Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Rebuttal testimony is due Oct. 7 and the evidentiary hearing is set to run Oct. 26-Nov. 2.
The PSC decision due date is March 6, 2027.