Within hours of Marc Spitzer being sworn in as one of three new FERC commissioners, Arizona’s Gov. Janet Napolitano was handed a hot potato in naming Spitzer’s interim replacement on the state regulatory commission for the rest of the year. November’s election will produce a permanent new commissioner as Spitzer’s second elected term on the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) was set to expire Dec. 31.

Earlier in the year, Spitzer was one of three votes on the ACC to vote for preliminary approval of establishing a statewide renewable portfolio standard (RPS) goal of 15% by 2025. Two remaining commissioners, including ACC Chairman Jeff Hatch-Miller, who has doubts about an RPS goal’s economic impact on retail utility consumers, oppose setting the standard.

The ACC currently is slated to decide in September whether to make the RPS permanent.

Thus, whoever Napolitano appoints as an interim replacement will be a swing vote, so proponents on both sides of the issues are pushing their candidates as a means of establishing or blocking an RPS goal for the state. “I think it’s the most important vote this commission will ever cast,” said Commissioner Kris Mayes, a supporter of a statewide RPS, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star.

The governor, who is only required to appoint someone of the same political party as the departing commissioner, indicated in the news reports that she would not necessarily appoint someone based on that person’s stance on the RPS issue.

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