Texas. ERCOT’s board of directors approved a six-year employment agreement for president and chief executive Pablo Vegas at its September 14-15 meeting, a package the board’s own meeting documents put at $6,470,398 in potential earned compensation for 2027. The contract was never executed. The Texas Tribune reported that the board and the Public Utility Commission advanced the agreement on September 15, that board chair Bill Flores then said the board would not finalize it that day, and that Vegas remains under his current agreement through 2027.
Texas. The board’s eight selected directors separately approved a $150,000 retention award that raises average director pay to $219,375 from $169,375, a 30 percent increase effective October 1. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on the board to reverse it, saying, “My suggestion to them is to reverse their own increase. If they do not want to serve, I am sure there are plenty of public-service minded Texans who are willing to take their place.”
Texas. Landowners John Burrow and Kevin Kennedy filed a request with the Public Utility Commission of Texas on September 17 for an independent investigation and forensic audit of the electric load and generation models ERCOT used to justify three proposed 765-kilovolt transmission lines, Texas Scorecard reported. The filing says ERCOT’s 2024 Permian Basin Reliability Plan model selected 17,170 megawatts of new generation while its 2024 Regional Transmission Plan model selected 59,200, and it asks the commission to halt further action on the lines until the difference is reconciled.
Washington. Florida and Texas filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on September 17 in University of South Florida College Republicans v. Lutnick, according to the court’s docket. The case asks whether the Census Bureau’s use of statistical imputation in the 2020 count met the Constitution’s requirement of an actual enumeration, the count that determines how many seats each state holds in the U.S. House.
Alberta. Elections Alberta has hired 25,000 election officers toward a goal of at least 60,000 for the October 19 referendum, roughly 35,000 short with a month to go, CBC reported from the agency’s Friday release. The agency has received 48,000 applications. Provincial rules require every ballot to be counted by hand.
Scotland. First Minister John Swinney asked members of the Scottish Parliament to back a motion stating “that the Parliament agrees that Scotland is a nation that has a right to decide its own future,” with the vote set for Tuesday, PA Media reported. Swinney urged members to support the motion regardless of their position on independence.
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