III. Discussion

Where a party abandons a project that is the subject of an application to this Commission, it is appropriate in some cases to dismiss the application, either with or without prejudice. While we have prohibited a party from abandoning an application where the proceeding has moved forward to a critical point and it appears the applicant will receive a negative decision, this is not one of those cases.

No party protested this application, and the application has essentially been in a holding pattern since its filing in November 2000. While the Commission acted on many other MFNS applications during that period, MFNS never indicated a desire to pursue this application.

While MFNS has asked us to hold the application in abeyance, we prefer not to hold proceedings open indefinitely. MFNS has not pursued this application or asked that we proceed with it since sending its letter more than a year ago. We are dismissing the application without prejudice should MFNS decide to pursue the Sacramento and San Diego aspects of its project in the future.