On August 24, 2005 in response to a decision by Mirant Corporation to cease generation of electricity at its Potomac River generating station, the District of Columbia Public Service Commission requested that the Secretary of Energy issue a 202(c) emergency order requiring the operation of the Potomac River generating station in order to ensure compliance with reliability standards for the central D.C. area. After investigation, the Secretary made a determination that without the operation of the Potomac River generating station there was a reasonable possibility an outage would occur that would cause a blackout in the central D.C. area. Therefore, on December 20, 2005, a 202(c) emergency order was issued requiring Mirant to operate the Potomac River generating station. The expiration date on that order was October 1, 2006, but it was extended until February 1, 2007. On January 31, 2007, a new 202(c) emergency order was issued to Mirant with substantially the same terms as the earlier order. That order expired July 1, 2007, pursuant to its terms.

Additional material related to the Mirant power station is available under docket EO-05-01: Emergency Petition and Complaint of the District of Columbia Public Service Commission Under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act  - Documents 2005-2007.