RE: Weird procedural situation

Bob, I agree with you. Just wanted to let you all know this was out there =
so you wouldn't "hear it on the street". I spoke with Jim this AM to fill =
him in on the situation. Ray

-----Original Message-----=20
From: Frank, Robert=20
Sent: Thu 10/25/2001 5:37 PM=20
To: Alvarez, Ray; Steffes, James D.; Robertson, Linda; Novosel, Sarah=20
Cc:=20
Subject: RE: Weird procedural situation

Ray - it seems highly likely the court will allow FERC to proceed w/ rehear=
ing. In any case, I doubt an adverse ruling would affect the PNW case as t=
he 7/25 order simply announced the new proceeding. =20

-----Original Message-----=20
From: Alvarez, Ray =20
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 5:25 PM=20
To: Steffes, James D.; Robertson, Linda; Frank, Robert; Novosel, Sarah=
=20
Subject: Weird procedural situation=20

OK, here are the facts as I understand them: The CPUC filed petitions for =
review of the FERC's various refund orders in the Ninth Circuit Court of Ap=
peals. There is an unresolved jurisdictional issue that the petitions filed=
in the Ninth Circuit are incurably premature because they sought review of=
orders for which the petitioner was also requesting rehearing. The curren=
t status of the CPUC's Ninth Circuit petitions is that the court has not ye=
t dismissed the petitions as premature and FERC must file the record in the=
Ninth tomorrow, October 26. At that point, under Section 313 of the Feder=
al Power Act, the jurisdiction of the court of appeals becomes exclusive, a=
nd FERC will not be able to modify the orders under review except by leave=
of the court. FERC has filed, and the CPUC is supporting, a motion for an=
order permitting FERC to keep jurisdiction over its orders so that it can =
act on the pending rehearing requests. By all rights, the court should go =
along with this, but it's gone on this long. We are not adversely impacted=
. Arguably if FERC loses jurisdiction, the PNW and CA refund cases should =
come to a complete stop, although this is an unlikely scenario. I will kee=
p you posted of new developments. Ray