“All our other grant awards come with letters of congratulations, including reporting requirements and specifications on how the funder would like to be recognized in Rec Center publicity,” she said, noting that the CCJCA award “came with no such letter.”

Morann said her board had recommended “that we apply for it (the CCJCA grant) and then wanted to see what the conditions were.”

“We were never able to discern the conditions” and whether they included giving public support to the CCJCA and Northern Pass, Morann said, “and after the check had been cut and I attended the ceremony at the request of the board of directors, the board met (Thursday) and decided to return the money.”

The money came by way of the Coös County Jobs Creation Association, which was created by Eversource, formerly known as Public Service of New Hampshire.

John Gallus, who chairs the Coös County Jobs Creation Association and is a former state senator and representative from Berlin, said there were absolutely “no strings attached” to the CCJCA awards, other than they be used to create or keep jobs in Coos County.

While Eversource is the financial resource behind it, the jobs creation association is independent, said Gallus, who is disappointed that the recreation center returned the grant.

“They knew where the money came from,” Gallus said. “The grants aren’t based on how anybody feels about Northern Pass and nowhere on our application did it say you had to sign up to great feelings about Northern Pass. We would give money to the biggest opponent of that project if they were creating jobs in Coos County.”

Eversource has awarded grants to improve cellular service, and in founding the jobs creation association, it provided the entity with $200,000 in seed money while also pledging $7.3 million more if and when the transmission project is approved and built.

NERC has filed a settlement for your  [Commission] review and approval in NP15-31 regarding Entergy. The settlement
involves six separate violations for two reliability standard requirements. The total penalty is $55,000. These violations had durations of multiple years.

This violation is classified as Medium/Moderate on the VRF/VSL Table, which would associate to a base penalty range of $4,000 to $100,000 pursuant to Appendix A of NERC ROP App 4B.

By my math, that is eight years and twelve days, or 2,934 days. Therefore, the base range should be $11,736,0004 to $293,400,000.

Gov. Mike Pence took a quick trip to New York City this week with a "delegation of Hoosier business leaders and economic development professionals" in an effort to coax businesses to relocate to Indiana to escape the "high-tax metropolitan area."

Oddly, the only business leaders from Indiana who accompanied Pence and eight economic development staff folks on the trip are all executives at public utility companies.

IEDC staff posted pictures of Pence in a corporate suite at a New York Yankees game where the home team was taking on the Boston Red Sox.

Donors have paid for Gov. Mike Pence to travel overseas, rent luxury sports suites, lobby lawmakers and fly to Iowa ahead of its first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest.

The list reveals that more than 50 companies, trade groups and governmental entities contributed $2.19 million to the foundation from January 2014 to June 2015.

The majority of that money — about $1.7 million — came from utility companies. Duke Energy and its foundation gave the most — more than $456,000. Other contributors included lobbying firms, industry groups, regional economic development agencies, universities and large Indianapolis companies such as Eli Lilly and Co. and Dow Agro Sciences.

"We continuously seek donations for the foundation to support our business development efforts," said Indiana Economic Development Corp. spokeswoman Abby Gras. "As you can see, there are a number of donors from economic development groups to businesses who donate to the foundation. I can't speak for those donors, but I imagine they donate because they see the value of the state's economic development efforts and support the continued growth of business and job creation in Indiana."

"It creates another opportunity, for example, with utility companies, which are heavily regulated at the state level, whose profits are really dependent on how they are treated by state government, it gives them the opportunity again to build relationships to be seen more as friends than somebody who needs some careful watching," said Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause Indiana.

Executives from the same companies that fund the trade missions often accompany Pence on those trips, providing valuable access to the state's top executive.

"What they are effectively doing is looking for business, and so what we have as a result are policies at the administration level and the legislative level that favor the utility business plan, which isn't necessarily in the interest of the public," said Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition.

The foundation's funds have even been utilized for lobbying efforts.

Since November, the Pence administration has spent at least $2,950 on a website to promote his $84 million "regional cities" initiative, which is intended to boost economic development across the state by leveraging private investment. During this year's legislative session, when lawmakers threatened to reduce the amount Pence was seeking, the website criticized his fellow Republican lawmakers and urged people to "TAKE ACTION!" by sending a form letter to their legislators.

Foundation money also was used to purchase gift bags for 25 key lawmakers. The bags included letters of support for the initiative from local mayors and a magnetic paperweight with paper-clip men.

Indiana Michigan Power $424,000

Duke Energy $381,654

Vectren $267,150

Northern Indiana Public Service Company $260,000

Indianapolis Power & Light $157,500

Duke Energy Foundation $75,000

NIPSCO $50,000

Hoosier Energy $37,500

Indiana Municipal Power Agency $28,883

American Electric Power $10,000

"Economic development benefits everyone," said Brian Bergsma, director of communications and government affairs for Indiana Michigan Power. "Job creation creates better streets, better schools, better economic opportunities for everyone."

Duke Energy spokesman Lew Middleton said the company has an ongoing relationship with the IEDC, where it meets with state economic development officials on a regular basis.

"We do hope to attract new businesses to our service area," Middleton said, "and at the same time, then be able to increase the number of jobs in any given community where a business might be thinking about locating. It sort of helps raise the quality of life for all the citizens in a particular community when new jobs come to the area."

But that effort was criticized by the Consumer Advocates Division, which said the move set a bad precedent and weakened the traditional rate making policies of the PSC, where nearly all facets of a utility’s business were considered in a single rate case.

At that time, Jackie Roberts, the CAD director, said allowing electric companies to assess additional surcharges to customers’ bills for tree trimming programs was just the most recent step in a trend toward companies filing a number of smaller rate cases.

According First Energy’s testimony, the company is expected to receive an 8.19 percent return on the cash expenditures under the program before taxes.

In these cases, Roberts said the commission needs to weigh what is needed for the utility to provide safe and reliable service against the customers interest in having reasonable rates.

“On its face, it certainly appears this filing would fail that test,” she said.

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has no plan to appoint a third member to the West Virginia Public Service Commission, even though several people have expressed interest in the position or recommended others they believe would fit the post.

Emails and communications obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that numerous people have contacted the Governor’s Office since January, asking Tomblin to confirm them for the post or to consider their preferred candidates.

The list of people seeking the governor’s attention include a former state senator, a city mayor, a retired engineer, a member of the state’s rural water association, a managing member at one of Charleston’s largest law firms and a lobbyist for First Energy, the parent company of MonPower and Potomac Edison, two of the state’s largest electric utilities.

An undated note left for the governor shows that Sammy Gray, the state affairs director and a registered lobbyist for First Energy, called to recommend two people for the commission spot. According to the note, Gray called to let Tomblin know that he supported Mike Castle, the Department of Environmental Protection’s director under Gov. Cecil Underwood, and Sam Cann, a former Democratic state senator from Harrison County, for the seat.

When contacted about his recommendations, Gray sent the request for an interview on to communication officials at First Energy.

“We believe both individuals possess solid experience with policy and energy matters that would help them make rulings in complex regulatory cases,” Todd Meyers, MonPower and Potomac Edison’s external communications manager, wrote in an email response. “Of course, the ultimate decision on who is appointed rests solely with the governor.”

First Energy’s recommendation of candidates for a utility commission, which ultimately regulates the company, is not out of the ordinary, according to Meyers.

“In the past, we have recommended individuals whom we believe to be qualified candidates for similar positions, both in West Virginia and elsewhere in our service territory,” Meyers wrote. “Again, others ultimately make the decisions on who is selected.”

In an email from April, Michael Basile, a managing member at Spilman Thomas & Battle, a Charleston law firm that represents clients like the West Virginia Energy Users Group in front of the PSC, asked the governor to consider attorney Susan Basile, his wife.

In the 1990s, Michael Basile worked for Gov. Gaston Capterton, the Attorney General’s Office, the West Virginia Development Office and later assisted in the transitions of Gov. Bob Wise and Gov. Joe Manchin. Basile, who has served as chairman of the Charleston Area Alliance and the Charleston Regional Chamber of Commerce, also is a registered lobbyist at the state capitol, where he has represented companies like DuPont, Chevron, Chesapeake Energy, DIRECTV and Dish Network.

In his email, Basile credited his wife’s qualifications and said she was a “big fan/supporter of GERT,” apparently referencing an acronym for Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.

Amy Swann, director of the West Virginia Rural Water Association, suggested the governor should consider one of her longtime colleagues and former PSC employee, Dina Foster.

Swann said Foster — now the manager of the Pea Ridge Public Service District, in Cabell County — has first-hand experience in utility issues and has the personal characteristics needed to make a good commissioner. With so many important issues being decided by the PSC, Swann said, Foster would be a valuable addition to the commission.

When Bill Wooten, a former Democratic state senator from Raleigh County, contacted the Governor’s Office earlier this year, he was hopeful he would be appointed.

With his experience in utility regulation from a legal and legislative policy perspective, Wooten thought he was qualified for the position, and he believed in his ability to weigh the needs of utility companies and their customers.

John Manchester, the mayor of Lewisburg, also submitted his credentials for consideration.

Manchester, who previously worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority and has dealt with utility regulation as Lewisburg’s mayor, said his experience has prepared him for the position.

“I pride myself on being a mediator, a man who tries to find solutions to issues,” Manchester said.

Allan Tweddle, a resident of Kanawha City and a semi-retired engineer, put his name in after having several people ask him to apply.

In his communications with the Governor’s Office, Tweddle listed a long list of people who could testify to his “commitment” and “open-mindedness.” While Tweddle worked with Southern California Edison, an electric utility on the West Coast during his career, he said he has absolutely no connection to any regulated utility in the state.

“We urge you to appoint a new commissioner as quickly as possible so that this investigation can be resolved,” Cathy Kunkel, a member of the Advocates for a Safe Water System’s steering committee, wrote in a letter to the governor in April. “Furthermore, we hope that anyone you appoint to the Public Service Commission will have experience in utility regulation and be independent of West Virginia’s major utility interests.”

"While the utilities are experts at running their business, it doesn’t always mean that they are right,”  said Jacqueline Roberts, director of the consumer advocate division.

“It’s an annual true-up, and it is to cover the cost of fuel and purchased power,” PSC spokeswoman Susan Small said. “There’s not profit for the company. It’s not going to staff salaries. It’s not operations and maintenance fees. It doesn’t go to rent and pension plans or anything like that.”

FirstEnergy spokesman Todd Meyers said the $165 million increase proposed in the Aug. 14 filing is largely the result of lower-than-expected wholesale electric prices over the past year.
Meyers noted the current rates were set partly based on projections of what amount of revenue the utility would be able to pass on to customers as a result of selling the excess electricity generated at its power plants.
“When we set the rates ahead of time based on where we think power prices are going to be, and then power prices aren’t there, we’ve already built in what we project the net benefit of sales to come back to customers will be. That’s built into the rates as they stand,” Meyers said. “That’s why the lower sales then really have an effect in the next true-up.”

Meyers said the Harrison Power transaction was never meant to be evaluated on the basis of a single year, but over the entire projected life of the plant. Prices can change year to year, sometimes in unforeseen ways, he said.
“We’re never looking at things to be a benefit to customers at one particular snapshot in time. We’re looking at what the best-case scenario is over time,” Meyers said. “You just don’t know what’s going to come around the corner, and we thought that having our whole strategy dependent on market purchases, then you’re really at the mercy of the market.

While recent case filings may create the impression that FirstEnergy has continued to seek rate increases, Meyers noted that there have also been decreases, such as the 5 percent rate decrease resulting from the 2012 ENEC filing.

At that time — roughly a year before the Harrison Power transaction was approved — the companies cited lower fuel and wholesale electric costs as reasons for the decrease.
“The perception that we keep raising the rates lately — that perception may be true — but there’s also times that we lower the rates, and people forget about the downswings,” Meyers said. “I wouldn’t call it a pattern. Every year, it’s a different look based on different circumstances.”

Cathy Kunkel, a fellow with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis who testified against the Harrison Power transaction, said the PSC’s 2013 decision has a direct correlation to the scope of the proposed ENEC increase.
Had the transaction never occurred, Mon Power and Potomac Edison would have purchased more electricity from the market than what they generated at the power plants under their control. This means ratepayers would have directly benefited from the low wholesale electric rates during the current ENEC review period, Kunkel said.
“One of the fundamental things we were saying at the time is the transaction was about risk, and it was about shifting risk from shareholders to ratepayers. And whether or not the risk actually materializes, it was still a shift of that risk,” Kunkel said. “And I think now we’re seeing the risk has materialized, and we’re seeing it in this rate increase.”
In recent years, wholesale electric rates have been driven down by low-cost natural gas, Kunkel said. But with a lack of fuel diversity in Mon Power and Potomac Edison’s generation fleet, West Virginia ratepayers haven’t seen as much benefit from this downward pressure on the wholesale electric market, she said.
The Harrison Power Station is one example of a larger strategy that FirstEnergy has adopted in recent years of moving more of its largely coal-fired generation fleet into regulated markets where the company is able to pass on more costs to ratepayers, according to Kunkel.
“I think the big picture is we’re just seeing coal less competitive in the marketplace than it used to be, and ratepayers are paying the difference, because Mon Power has invested so heavily in coal,” Kunkel said. “No one can say what the power prices are going to be, but it looks like a bad deal at least in the short run. It’s a high-risk investment for ratepayers. Let’s put it that way.”

“We are very concerned about the level of rate relief the company’s requesting,” Jackie Roberts, executive director of the PSC’s Consumer Advocate Division, said. “We are in the process of evaluating the filing to understand what drives their cost request.
“This is a very large rate increase following on the heels of other large rate increases, and we will be carefully scrutinizing this case.”

The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) is a nonprofit organization and a front group for the energy industry that opposes political efforts to regulate carbon standards while advancing deep water and land-based drilling for oil and methane gas. The CEA supports lifting moratoria on offshore and land-based oil and natural gas drilling, encourages the creation and expansion of petroleum refineries and easing the permitting process for drilling. The group also says it supports energy conservation. CEO portrays itself as seeking to ensure a "proper balance" between traditional non-renewable and extractive energy sources and alternative energy sources. The group also supports construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

According to Salon.com, which obtained over 300 emails of personal messages between lobbyists and Canadian officials, the CEA is part of a sophisticated public affairs strategy designed to manipulate the U.S. political system by deluging the media with messaging favorable to the tar-sands industry; to persuade key state and federal legislators to act in the extractive industries' favor; and to defeat any attempt to regulate the carbon emissions emanating from gasoline and diesel used by U.S. vehicles.

A front group is an organization that purports to represent one agenda while in reality it serves some other party or interest whose sponsorship is hidden or rarely mentioned. The front group is perhaps the most easily recognized use of the third party technique. For example, Rick Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) claims that its mission is to defend the rights of consumers to choose to eat, drink and smoke as they please. In reality, CCF is a front group for the tobacco, restaurant and alcoholic beverage industries, which provide all or most of its funding.

Of course, not all organizations engaged in manipulative efforts to shape public opinion can be classified as "front groups." For example, the now-defunct Tobacco Institute was highly deceptive, but it didn't hide the fact that it represented the tobacco industry. There are also degrees of concealment. The Global Climate Coalition, for example, didn't hide the fact that its funding came from oil and coal companies, but nevertheless its name alone is sufficiently misleading that it can reasonably be considered a front group.

The shadowy way front groups operate makes it difficult to know whether a seemingly independent grassroots is actually representing some other entity. Thus, citizen smokers' rights groups and organizations of bartenders or restaurant workers working against smoking bans are sometimes characterized as front groups for the tobacco industry, but it is possible that some of these groups are self-initiated (although the tobacco industry has been known to use restaurant groups as fronts for its own interests).

“Unfortunately, virtually all energy projects face at least some level of opposition. But, in most cases, the opposition comes from the vocal few who stand in the way of the silent majority who see these necessary projects providing tremendous job and economic development opportunities on many levels. The EDJ Alliance will help taxpayers, energy consumers, landowners and businesses to voice their opinion to elected officials so that they embrace the opportunities associated with energy development.”

Support landowners in Arkansas and Oklahoma!  Support energy infrastructure!  Support the Plains & Eastern Clean Line!

We need your help!

America's energy infrastructure needs your help!  Lobbying efforts at the white house level have inhibited the passage of an energy infrastructure project beneficial to citizens and landowners in Arkansas and Oklahoma!

........

Support energy infrastructure, land owners, and the Plains and Eastern Clean Line project by simply clicking the link below to sign the petition!  Every click makes a difference!

It is absolutely imperative to demonstrate support as a citizen!  The future of America's energy infrastructure is in your hands!!

Ryan Scott, Outreach Director

Since 2005, Ryan has provided strategic advice to clients across a number of industries with a focus on the oil and gas sector in particular.

While working as an attorney, before joining HBW, Ryan focused on commercial litigation, often representing business clients in contract disputes.  Prior to practicing law, Ryan worked at Deloitte & Touche’s Strategy & Operations Consulting practice.  While with Deloitte, he worked with clients such as Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), developing and delivering Financial Reporting & Legal training to a BMS executive team.  Ryan evaluated Finance function processes to improve and transform them leading up to a major SAP implementation for Wal-Mart.

Ryan received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California, and a JD – MBA from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.  Ryan is licensed to practice law in Illinois and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association.

MR. SCOTT: My name is Ryan Scott;
R-y-a-n, S-c-o-t-t. I'm here as a resident of Illinois and representative of Consumer Energy Alliance. We're a trade association representing virtually every sector of the economy from trucking, to organized labor, to energy producers. The reason I'm here to speak in favor of Rock Island is simple. Consumer Energy Alliance and I support this project because it represents an important piece of the energy puzzle to supply consumers with affordable and reliable energy.  Anyone who plugs in their smart phone into an electrical outlet, fires up their television to watch the Bears or perhaps a better football team or just uses their air conditioner will benefit from this project. The bottom line is in the United States demand is increasing. As one of the previous speakers stated, according to the Department of Energy and Energy Information Administration, forecasts of 25 percent increase in demand for electricity over the next three decades are expected in the United States. At the same time, the supply of electricity is expected to decrease due to aging plants and tightening Federal regulations. Many coal-fired power plants will be shuttered in the coming decades. In Illinois coal, which we expect to be decreasing in production, actually makes up approximately 40 percent of the State's energy base level. So that's an important piece of the puzzle that will no longer be available to Illinoisans. For all the reasons stated above and in order to meet Illinois' energy needs, the Consumer Energy Alliance and I support the Rock Island Clean Line project. Thank you.