Category: Utilities

FOIAs reveal FirstEnergy meeting with Rick Perry, 30+ corporate jet flights to D.C. since Trump’s inauguration

New details about FirstEnergy’s lobbying of the Trump administration and corporate airplane flights to Washington, D.C., can be found in documents obtained via FOIAs filed with the Department of Energy...

/ June 8, 2018

Documents reveal a lobbying blitz by FirstEnergy as Trump mulled bailouts for coal and nuclear power plants that could cost consumers billions

A new filing in the bankruptcy case for FirstEnergy Solutions details how lobbyists at Akin Gump, Washington, DC’s top-earning lobbying firm, spent hundreds of hours in April working on a renewed campaign...

/ June 1, 2018

Top candidates for Ohio House speaker back bailouts for utilities that back their campaigns

Updated on May 11, 2018: We’ve updated this post with a response from Rep. Larry Householder regarding his flight to Washington, D.C. aboard FirstEnergy’s corporate jet for President Donald Trump’s inauguration,...

/ May 10, 2018

Fossil fuel & utility money mostly goes to DeWine in early 2018, while Kucinich takes No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge in Ohio governor’s race

The campaign contributions that fossil fuel and electric utility interests have made in Ohio’s race for governor during the first four months of 2018 have largely gone to Republican candidate...

/ April 27, 2018

Duke Energy’s customers fund groups behind campaigns on coal ash, more

Duke Energy customers in North Carolina pay millions of dollars each year to fund industry groups that have spent years fighting against strong coal ash regulations, and have engaged in...

/ March 1, 2018

Five Ohio Supreme Court justices received FirstEnergy campaign cash before they axed a $43 million refund to the utility’s customers

Five of the six Ohio Supreme Court justices who ruled that FirstEnergy does not have to refund $43.4 million to customers have received campaign contributions from FirstEnergy. The Ohio Supreme...

/ February 14, 2018

Will the U.S. Chamber continue to fight the EPA’s endangerment finding in 2018?

Update January 10, 2018: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce confirmed today it is no longer trying to overturn the EPA’s endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions, but top U.S. Chamber officials...

/ January 4, 2018

FirstEnergy floods FERC with ghostwritten comments seeking bailouts for its coal and nuclear power plants

FirstEnergy is behind hundreds of pages of largely ghostwritten comments seeking bailouts for the utility’s failing coal and nuclear power plants that were submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

/ October 26, 2017

George David Banks: Trump’s climate advisor worked with anti-wind and climate skeptic groups

George David Banks, a top advisor to President Trump on climate change, once worked as the “D.C. liaison” for the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED), a coalition of “individuals,...

/ September 28, 2017

Utility lobbyist praises response to Hurricane Irma power outages in the media

A lobbyist for Consumer Energy Alliance-Florida praised several utilities for their response to Hurricane Irma in a letter to the editor published by Jacksonville.com, but did not disclose that some...

/ September 15, 2017