Introspective profiles and spotlights on today’s global politics.
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 and Federal Aviation Administration by the Energy and Policy Institute....
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 to secure bailouts for the utility’s coal and nuclear power...
Big-Dollar Contributors with Ties to Georgia Power and Southern Company Bet on Pridemore, Eaton for Georgia PSC
Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) incumbents Tricia Pridemore and Chuck Eaton each received approximately two-thirds of their campaign contributions from people or companies associated with regulated entities such as Georgia Power, according to an Energy and Policy Institute analysis of...
Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Boost Political Spending in Florida, Bet Heavily on Republicans
Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Duke Energy are getting an early jump on 2018 political spending compared to the last midterm election, according to records from the Florida Department of Elections. The majority of the money is finding it...
Alabama Cooperative Customers Unknowingly Funding Political Candidates
Rural electric cooperative members in Alabama are unknowingly contributing to political candidates’ campaigns through their monthly utility bills, according to a new analysis from the Energy and Policy Institute. The Alabama Action Committee for Rural Electrification, the political action committee...
A Trump adviser’s emails shed light on a shadowy anti-clean energy network
Emails sent and received by Travis Fisher, an outgoing senior Trump administration official at the Department of Energy, shed light on a murky anti-clean energy network with ties to the fossil fuel industry that operates in the Midwest and nationally. ...
Trump’s FBI nominee Christopher Wray weighed in on the ExxonMobil climate change investigations
Christopher Wray, President Trump’s nominee for FBI director, advised corporate clients on how to avoid “being in the crosshairs” of law enforcement at a 2015 legal forum where investigations by state attorneys general into whether ExxonMobil misled investors and the public about...
Daniel Simmons: New head of EERE worked for groups that tried to “eliminate” it
Before Donald Trump appointed Daniel Simmons to lead the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Simmons worked for special interest groups that called on Congress to eliminate the same Department of Energy program. Simmons worked as a Vice President...
Travis Fisher: Author of Rick Perry’s grid study called clean energy policies a greater threat than terrorism
August 24, 2017 Update: The Department of Energy just released its long awaited grid study, along with a cover letter from Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. DOE staff was flooded with existing research that affirmed renewable energy is reliable (Appendix...
EPA webpage that rejected climate denial is removed by Trump administration
An EPA webpage that rejected climate denial claims and defended the endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions has been removed by the Trump administration. It’s just one of many pages that discussed climate change to be removed from the EPA website...