Mathis v. Iowa Utilities Board

Summary

The Iowa Supreme Court reviewed whether a 170-turbine wind energy project constituted an electric power generating facility at a single site under Iowa Code section 476A.1(5), requiring a certificate from the Iowa Utilities Board. The court held that the statutory term "single site" was ambiguous and that the Board's longstanding common-gathering-line interpretation was not erroneous. The court affirmed the district court's judgment upholding the Board's declaratory order.

Holdings

1. The legislature did not clearly vest the Iowa Utilities Board with authority to interpret the term 'single site' in Iowa Code section 476A.1(5). General rulemaking authority, authority to implement the chapter, and the power to waive statutory requirements did not confer authority to define the statutory term for all cases.
2. The term 'single site' is ambiguous, but the Iowa Utilities Board's common-gathering-line standard is a permissible and legally supportable interpretation: wind turbines connected to a common gathering line constitute a single facility, while turbines connected to separate gathering lines are treated as different facilities.
3. Reid does not require treating the entire Palo Alto County wind project as a single facility because Reid concerned components of an electricity-generating facility operating at a single location, whereas the project here generated electricity across a geographically dispersed area.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Iowa Legislature clearly vested the Iowa Utilities Board with authority to interpret the term 'single site' in Iowa Code section 476A.1(5).
2. If the Board lacked clearly vested interpretive authority, whether its common-gathering-line interpretation of 'single site' and 'facility' was erroneous as a matter of law.
3. Whether the 170-turbine Palo Alto County wind project constituted one facility requiring an IUB certificate of public convenience, use, and necessity.

Disposition

affirmed