4. Substantial Contribution to Resolution of Issues

A party may make a substantial contribution to a decision in one of several ways. ² It may offer a factual or legal contention upon which the Commission relied in making a decision,³ or it may advance a specific policy or procedural recommendation that the ALJ or Commission adopted.⁴ A substantial contribution includes evidence or argument that supports part of the decision even if the Commission does not adopt a party's position in total.⁵

This case presents a situation in which Intervenor commenced participation in a proceeding, but the underlying application was dismissed before the Commission reached a decision on any of the issues in the case. As stated in D.00-09-052, the Application was dismissed because Applicant requested dismissal. In its written request for dismissal, Applicant did not provide information as to its motive in seeking dismissal. We find that the record supports the conclusion that the participation of Intervenor was a direct cause of Applicant's decision to request dismissal of the Application. In its Request, Intervenor details various efforts it engaged in to organize community opposition to the Application, which appear directly related to Applicant's decision to seek dismissal. We note that Applicant has not filed any opposition to the Request, and has not refuted Intevenor's claim that the dismissal was sought as a consequence of Intervenor's activities in opposition to the Application.

While we did not reach a decision on the merits of the Application, we find it appropriate to grant Intervenor an award of compensation for its contributions that led to our issuance of the order of dismissal in D.00-09-052. This is consistent with the intent of the Intervenor compensation program to encourage productive participation that contributes to the outcome of a proceeding. The participation of Intervenor in this proceeding is similar to that of workshop participants whose contributions are made outside of the hearing room, and may not necessarily be memorialized in written submittals to the Commission.