Opinion ID: 73121
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the objection properly before us

Text: CPG did raise before the SEC during the comment period three objections to Southern’s application. Those timely raised objections, for which CPG is entitled to seek judicial review, are that: 1) Southern investing an amount up to 100% of its retained earnings in EWGs and FUCOs would result in an unavailability of capital that it might need to fund future operating costs, thereby resulting in higher rates for consumers; 2) profits from such investments would allow Southern to subsidize rates for its domestic consumers, thereby inhibiting competition in the electricity market; and 3) approval of the application would reward Southern even though it has a poor pollution record. CPG did not raise the second and third of those objections in its brief to this Court, so we consider them to be abandoned. See, e.g., Marek v. Singletary, 62 F.3d 1295, 1298 n.2 (11th Cir. 1995) (“Issues not clearly raised in the briefs are considered abandoned.”). 16 The only objection CPG presented to the SEC in a timely fashion and presses before us, is that Southern’s investment in FUCOs and EWGs would result in an unavailability of capital for Southern’s operations. That amounts to an attack on the substantiality of the evidence before the SEC, which found to the contrary. We reject that attack, because it is clear from the record that the SEC had a substantial evidentiary basis for finding the proposed investments would not result in capital being unavailable for other operations. The SEC considered financial data from several sources, sought comment from the state regulatory agencies, and used its own expertise in judging Southern’s application. Taking all of that evidence into consideration, the SEC had substantial evidence to conclude that Southern’s investment of financing proceeds in an amount up to 100% of its retained earnings in FUCO’s and EWG’s would not have a “substantial adverse impact” on local operations.