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Utilities, once represented by UARG, now part of the ‘Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition’ in their suit against the EPA
| From | Energy and Policy Institute <[email protected]> |
| Subject | Utilities, once represented by UARG, now part of the ‘Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition’ in their suit against the EPA |
| Date | June 12, 2024 12:17 PM |
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** Utilities, once represented by UARG, now part of the ‘Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition’ in their suit against the EPA ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
By Matt Kasper on Jun 11, 2024 10:25 am
A new ad hoc coalition of electric utilities has sued ([link removed]) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its newly proposed rules ([link removed]) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and new gas plants.
The coalition, called the “Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition,” is represented by the same attorneys who represented a previous, seemingly similar ad hoc utility litigation coalition, the Utility Air Regulatory Group ([link removed]) (UARG), which disbanded amid Congressional oversight investigations in 2019.
“Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition” is the latest in a long line of ad hoc groups formed by utilities as vehicles for their efforts to legally challenge clean air and water rules. McGuireWoods lawyers Allison D. Wood, Makram B. Jaber, and Aaron M. Flynn are representing the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition. Wood, Jaber and Flynn previously worked for years at the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, formerly known as Hunton & Williams.
In the initial filing on May 10, the McGuireWoods attorneys disclosed ([link removed]) that the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition includes some of the country’s largest investor-owned utilities, including American Electric Power and its subsidiaries, Arizona Public Service, and Duke Energy.
Additional Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition members are Talen Generation and Talen Montana Holdings, Vistra, and the American Public Power Association (APPA). Talen Generation operates ([link removed]) a portfolio mostly of coal, gas, and oil plants in the PJM grid region, covering Mid-Atlantic and some Midwestern states. Talen Montana Holdings includes ([link removed]) the Colstrip Steam Electric Station in Colstrip, Montana. Vistra is the largest competitive power generator, with a fleet consisting mainly of coal and gas plants across several wholesale power markets. APPA is the trade association for community-owned utilities, such as the Salt River Project in Arizona, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Austin Energy, the Nebraska Public Power District, and hundreds of others ([link removed]) .
Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC), which owns two coal plants in Indiana and Ohio, is also part of the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition. OVEC is owned by a consortium of utilities ([link removed]) that includes AEP, AES Corporation (owner of AES Indiana and AES Ohio), Buckeye Power, CenterPoint Energy, Duke Energy, FirstEnergy, PPL Corporation (owner of Louisville Gas & Electric, Kentucky Utilities, and Rhode Island Energy), and Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative. AEP holds the largest equity stake of OVEC, at 43%.
In its petition for a stay of the rules pending judicial review, the coalition disclosed additional members ([link removed]) , including Ameren Missouri, Evergy, Louisville Gas & Electric, Kentucky Utilities, NRG Energy, NRG Texas Power, and Southern Company.
Wood, Jaber and Flynn historically represented these same utilities as lawyers for the now-defunct UARG ([link removed]) .
** Former Utility Air Regulatory Group attorneys involved
------------------------------------------------------------
UARG was a coalition that represented utilities – but did not disclose its utility members – and which had been a party in over 200 lawsuits since 2001, according to federal court records, including challenges to EPA Clean Air Act regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan proposed by the Obama administration.
The Energy and Policy Institute detailed in its 2017 report Paying For Utility Politics ([link removed]) how utilities across the country forced their customers to pay for their dues to UARG and other trade associations out of their monthly bills. Utilities claimed the payments allowed the company to access timely information about environmental regulations and technical materials.
Page 51 of Attorney General Data Requests LGE Response ([link removed])
Page 51 of Attorney General Data Requests LGE Response
Contributed to DocumentCloud ([link removed]) by Matt Kasper (Energy and Policy Institute) • View document ([link removed]) or read text (s3.documentcloud.org/documents/5765666/pages/Attorney-General-Data-Requests-LGE-Response-p51.txt?ts=1718115874)
Documents obtained and published ([link removed]) by Politico in February 2019 revealed UARG’s actions and full membership roster. The materials outlined goals for a meeting of the group’s policy committee to attack Obama-era clean air and public health rules. The documents also detailed that while UARG had various technical committees, its 2017 budget allocated at least $4.47 million to legal fees, while allocating only $265,721 to technical expenses. According to InsideEPA ([link removed]) , a utility industry source said that one major complaint among the members in UARG was that it lacked a litigation advisory committee and would unilaterally pursue suits that the source describes as “litigation run amok.”
Two months after Politico published the materials, Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to several utility CEOs asking for information about former UARG attorney and then-EPA official Bill Wehrum’s relationship with the group and its member companies. The Congressional letters also requested that the utilities state whether their UARG annual contributions came from customers or shareholders.
“This is about transparency. Ratepayers have a right to know if they’re involuntarily paying for a secret campaign to undermine critical public health protections,” Rep. Pallone told ([link removed]) Politico.
Utilities began to flee ([link removed]) from the ad hoc coalition, and weeks later, UARG announced ([link removed]) that its remaining members had decided to disband the embattled project after more than 40 years.
** UARG attorneys leave for McGuireWoods and create new coalitions; utility looked to recover costs from customers
------------------------------------------------------------
Almost a year after Hunton’s UARG project disbanded, the three Hunton Andrews Kurth lawyers who had represented UARG – Wood, Flynn, and Jaber – began working at McGuireWoods ([link removed]) .
In April 2021, the Residential Utilities Division in the Minnesota Attorney General (AG)’s office uncovered how Otter Tail, a Minnesota electric utility, proposed to keep charging customers for UARG-related expenses.
In testimony, the AG’s office said ([link removed]) , “Otter Tail claims that the test-year cost for UARG dues is actually for two subscription services provided by the McGuireWoods law firm: the “McGuireWoods Clean Air Act Monitoring Service” and the “McGuireWoods Climate Legal Group” … Otter Tail asserts that the McGuireWoods subscription group “takes no positions and does not advocate, file comments, or engage in litigation or lobbying.””
Page 46 of MINNESOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL–RESIDENTIAL UTILITIES DIVISION EXHIBITS DIRECT TESTIMONY ([link removed])
Page 46 of MINNESOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL–RESIDENTIAL UTILITIES DIVISION EXHIBITS DIRECT TESTIMONY
Contributed to DocumentCloud ([link removed]) by Matt Kasper (Energy and Policy Institute) • View document ([link removed]) or read text (s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20586594/pages/minnesota-office-of-the-attorney-general-residential-utilities-division-exhibits-direct-testimony-p46.txt?ts=1718115875)
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ruled ([link removed]) that Otter Tail cannot recover expenses for McGuireWoods’ services:
“Although the Company argues that these organizations provide valuable services and information, it is unclear how the membership dues connect to the provision or improvement of utility services … In future cases, if the Company wishes to seek recovery for McGuireWoods services, the Company must provide an accounting of the legal activities that are provided by McGuireWoods, the amount of subscription cost allocated to each of these activities, and McGuireWoods’ billing-hour details for the legal services under the subscriptions. This information would help the Commission evaluate the services’ value to ratepayers.”
Since McGuireWoods and Otter Tail claimed that the expenses for the firms’ “Clean Air Act Monitoring Service” and the “Climate Legal Group” were explicitly not being used for litigation, it’s possible that the utilities and McGuireWoods may have needed to create a new ad hoc coalition to be used for direct litigation.
The Energy and Policy Institute asked each investor-owned utility participating in the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition if it would seek to recover the costs of any payments for the coalition from customers. None responded.
The same utilities do attempt to recover expenses for dues to other trade associations, like the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). But pushback to that practice has been increasing. Most recently, the Arizona Corporation Commission disallowed ([link removed]) Arizona Public Service from recovering its EEI dues from customers, which meant an annual savings of over $1.1 million for customers. “The Commission does not support paying for APS’s membership in advocacy organizations such as EEI with ratepayer-derived funds, and thus is not including in APS’s operating expenses the … dues paid for APS’s EEI membership,” wrote ([link removed]) Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman James O’Connor. EEI also filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) against the EPA’s greenhouse
gas rule.
Image source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Flickr ([link removed]) .
The post Utilities, once represented by UARG, now part of the ‘Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition’ in their suit against the EPA ([link removed]) appeared first on Energy and Policy Institute ([link removed]) .
Read in browser » ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed]
** Recent Articles:
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** Wisconsin utilities file for rate, profit hikes after Republicans ousted Huebner from PSC ([link removed])
** FirstEnergy floats $13.6 million refund in Pennsylvania in response to Ohio criminal investigation and audits of influence spending charged to customers ([link removed])
** Charities and groups funded or connected to APS filed comments in support of its $460 million rate hike request ([link removed])
** Blocking renewable energy is a top state legislative priority for network of pro-fossil fuels think tanks ([link removed])
** Southeastern Utilities Block Transmission Necessary for Decarbonization ([link removed]
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By Matt Kasper on Jun 11, 2024 10:25 am
A new ad hoc coalition of electric utilities has sued ([link removed]) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its newly proposed rules ([link removed]) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and new gas plants.
The coalition, called the “Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition,” is represented by the same attorneys who represented a previous, seemingly similar ad hoc utility litigation coalition, the Utility Air Regulatory Group ([link removed]) (UARG), which disbanded amid Congressional oversight investigations in 2019.
“Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition” is the latest in a long line of ad hoc groups formed by utilities as vehicles for their efforts to legally challenge clean air and water rules. McGuireWoods lawyers Allison D. Wood, Makram B. Jaber, and Aaron M. Flynn are representing the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition. Wood, Jaber and Flynn previously worked for years at the firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, formerly known as Hunton & Williams.
In the initial filing on May 10, the McGuireWoods attorneys disclosed ([link removed]) that the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition includes some of the country’s largest investor-owned utilities, including American Electric Power and its subsidiaries, Arizona Public Service, and Duke Energy.
Additional Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition members are Talen Generation and Talen Montana Holdings, Vistra, and the American Public Power Association (APPA). Talen Generation operates ([link removed]) a portfolio mostly of coal, gas, and oil plants in the PJM grid region, covering Mid-Atlantic and some Midwestern states. Talen Montana Holdings includes ([link removed]) the Colstrip Steam Electric Station in Colstrip, Montana. Vistra is the largest competitive power generator, with a fleet consisting mainly of coal and gas plants across several wholesale power markets. APPA is the trade association for community-owned utilities, such as the Salt River Project in Arizona, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, Austin Energy, the Nebraska Public Power District, and hundreds of others ([link removed]) .
Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC), which owns two coal plants in Indiana and Ohio, is also part of the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition. OVEC is owned by a consortium of utilities ([link removed]) that includes AEP, AES Corporation (owner of AES Indiana and AES Ohio), Buckeye Power, CenterPoint Energy, Duke Energy, FirstEnergy, PPL Corporation (owner of Louisville Gas & Electric, Kentucky Utilities, and Rhode Island Energy), and Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative. AEP holds the largest equity stake of OVEC, at 43%.
In its petition for a stay of the rules pending judicial review, the coalition disclosed additional members ([link removed]) , including Ameren Missouri, Evergy, Louisville Gas & Electric, Kentucky Utilities, NRG Energy, NRG Texas Power, and Southern Company.
Wood, Jaber and Flynn historically represented these same utilities as lawyers for the now-defunct UARG ([link removed]) .
** Former Utility Air Regulatory Group attorneys involved
------------------------------------------------------------
UARG was a coalition that represented utilities – but did not disclose its utility members – and which had been a party in over 200 lawsuits since 2001, according to federal court records, including challenges to EPA Clean Air Act regulations, such as the Clean Power Plan proposed by the Obama administration.
The Energy and Policy Institute detailed in its 2017 report Paying For Utility Politics ([link removed]) how utilities across the country forced their customers to pay for their dues to UARG and other trade associations out of their monthly bills. Utilities claimed the payments allowed the company to access timely information about environmental regulations and technical materials.
Page 51 of Attorney General Data Requests LGE Response ([link removed])
Page 51 of Attorney General Data Requests LGE Response
Contributed to DocumentCloud ([link removed]) by Matt Kasper (Energy and Policy Institute) • View document ([link removed]) or read text (s3.documentcloud.org/documents/5765666/pages/Attorney-General-Data-Requests-LGE-Response-p51.txt?ts=1718115874)
Documents obtained and published ([link removed]) by Politico in February 2019 revealed UARG’s actions and full membership roster. The materials outlined goals for a meeting of the group’s policy committee to attack Obama-era clean air and public health rules. The documents also detailed that while UARG had various technical committees, its 2017 budget allocated at least $4.47 million to legal fees, while allocating only $265,721 to technical expenses. According to InsideEPA ([link removed]) , a utility industry source said that one major complaint among the members in UARG was that it lacked a litigation advisory committee and would unilaterally pursue suits that the source describes as “litigation run amok.”
Two months after Politico published the materials, Democratic leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to several utility CEOs asking for information about former UARG attorney and then-EPA official Bill Wehrum’s relationship with the group and its member companies. The Congressional letters also requested that the utilities state whether their UARG annual contributions came from customers or shareholders.
“This is about transparency. Ratepayers have a right to know if they’re involuntarily paying for a secret campaign to undermine critical public health protections,” Rep. Pallone told ([link removed]) Politico.
Utilities began to flee ([link removed]) from the ad hoc coalition, and weeks later, UARG announced ([link removed]) that its remaining members had decided to disband the embattled project after more than 40 years.
** UARG attorneys leave for McGuireWoods and create new coalitions; utility looked to recover costs from customers
------------------------------------------------------------
Almost a year after Hunton’s UARG project disbanded, the three Hunton Andrews Kurth lawyers who had represented UARG – Wood, Flynn, and Jaber – began working at McGuireWoods ([link removed]) .
In April 2021, the Residential Utilities Division in the Minnesota Attorney General (AG)’s office uncovered how Otter Tail, a Minnesota electric utility, proposed to keep charging customers for UARG-related expenses.
In testimony, the AG’s office said ([link removed]) , “Otter Tail claims that the test-year cost for UARG dues is actually for two subscription services provided by the McGuireWoods law firm: the “McGuireWoods Clean Air Act Monitoring Service” and the “McGuireWoods Climate Legal Group” … Otter Tail asserts that the McGuireWoods subscription group “takes no positions and does not advocate, file comments, or engage in litigation or lobbying.””
Page 46 of MINNESOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL–RESIDENTIAL UTILITIES DIVISION EXHIBITS DIRECT TESTIMONY ([link removed])
Page 46 of MINNESOTA OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL–RESIDENTIAL UTILITIES DIVISION EXHIBITS DIRECT TESTIMONY
Contributed to DocumentCloud ([link removed]) by Matt Kasper (Energy and Policy Institute) • View document ([link removed]) or read text (s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20586594/pages/minnesota-office-of-the-attorney-general-residential-utilities-division-exhibits-direct-testimony-p46.txt?ts=1718115875)
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ruled ([link removed]) that Otter Tail cannot recover expenses for McGuireWoods’ services:
“Although the Company argues that these organizations provide valuable services and information, it is unclear how the membership dues connect to the provision or improvement of utility services … In future cases, if the Company wishes to seek recovery for McGuireWoods services, the Company must provide an accounting of the legal activities that are provided by McGuireWoods, the amount of subscription cost allocated to each of these activities, and McGuireWoods’ billing-hour details for the legal services under the subscriptions. This information would help the Commission evaluate the services’ value to ratepayers.”
Since McGuireWoods and Otter Tail claimed that the expenses for the firms’ “Clean Air Act Monitoring Service” and the “Climate Legal Group” were explicitly not being used for litigation, it’s possible that the utilities and McGuireWoods may have needed to create a new ad hoc coalition to be used for direct litigation.
The Energy and Policy Institute asked each investor-owned utility participating in the Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition if it would seek to recover the costs of any payments for the coalition from customers. None responded.
The same utilities do attempt to recover expenses for dues to other trade associations, like the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). But pushback to that practice has been increasing. Most recently, the Arizona Corporation Commission disallowed ([link removed]) Arizona Public Service from recovering its EEI dues from customers, which meant an annual savings of over $1.1 million for customers. “The Commission does not support paying for APS’s membership in advocacy organizations such as EEI with ratepayer-derived funds, and thus is not including in APS’s operating expenses the … dues paid for APS’s EEI membership,” wrote ([link removed]) Arizona Corporation Commission Chairman James O’Connor. EEI also filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) against the EPA’s greenhouse
gas rule.
Image source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Flickr ([link removed]) .
The post Utilities, once represented by UARG, now part of the ‘Electric Generators for a Sensible Transition’ in their suit against the EPA ([link removed]) appeared first on Energy and Policy Institute ([link removed]) .
Read in browser » ([link removed])
[link removed] [link removed]
** Recent Articles:
------------------------------------------------------------
** Wisconsin utilities file for rate, profit hikes after Republicans ousted Huebner from PSC ([link removed])
** FirstEnergy floats $13.6 million refund in Pennsylvania in response to Ohio criminal investigation and audits of influence spending charged to customers ([link removed])
** Charities and groups funded or connected to APS filed comments in support of its $460 million rate hike request ([link removed])
** Blocking renewable energy is a top state legislative priority for network of pro-fossil fuels think tanks ([link removed])
** Southeastern Utilities Block Transmission Necessary for Decarbonization ([link removed]
============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2024 Energy and Policy Institute, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website via our Contact Us page.
Our mailing address is:
Energy and Policy Institute
P.O. Box 170399
San Francisco, CA 94117
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]
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