About: matthew
Bio: Matt Kasper is a Fellow at the Energy & Policy Institute. He was previously a research assistant for the Energy and Environment Policy Team at the Center for American Progress, where he worked on state and local policy issues and was a guest contributor for ThinkProgress. Matt was also a fellow for Organizing for America in Indiana, and he spent time interning in Hartford, Connecticut, for the state legislature. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Matt graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Utility regulators receive free travel to secretive beach conference organized by Julia Johnson, board member of utility companies
Two months after being sworn in as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Neil Chatterjee was enjoying a dip in the Atlantic Ocean at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, a luxury hotel in Manalapan, Florida. It was only a week since he had been pushed front and center in the news thanks
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New Report: How electric utility customers are forced to fund the Edison Electric Institute and other political organizations
The Edison Electric Institute is an inherently political organization, and a powerful one. At $90 million, its budget is the highest it has been in over a decade – a budget that the nation’s electric ratepayers have helped fund. The Energy and Policy Institute’s latest report explores how regulated investor-owned utility companies are including their
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Southern Company CEO and Edison Electric Institute Chairman Tom Fanning’s Climate Change Denial
In the month since Tom Fanning, the CEO of Southern Company and current chairman of the Edison Electric Institute, said that carbon dioxide was not a primary contributor to global warming, no other utility leaders have disputed or criticized his remarks, despite the industry’s self-proclaimed commitment to climate action. “Do you think it’s been proven
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Legislation Advances to Allow Xcel Energy to Build Natural Gas Plant that Bypasses Usual Regulatory Review
On February 2, the Minnesota Senate Committee on Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy voted 7-2 in favor of giving Xcel Energy the certainty to build a 780-megawatt natural gas power plant. The new gas units will replace two coal-fired electric generating units at the Sherburne County plant, otherwise known as Sherco, in Becker,
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Where is the National Black Chamber of Commerce getting its money to attack solar power in Florida? And is it breaking the law?
The National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) has been part of the utility-funded Consumers for Smart Solar ballot measure – Amendment 1 – since the early days of the campaign. The organization has extended its support in the press, on social media, and the organization’s logo is featured prominently on the endorsements page of the
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First Episode of ‘Years of Living Dangerously’ Focuses on Solar Energy and Amendment 1 in Florida
The second season of the Emmy award-winning documentary series ‘Years of Living Dangerously’ premiers Sunday, October 30 at 8ET on the National Geographic Channel. Episode one follows David Letterman and ‘Saturday Night Live’ comedian Cecily Strong as the two explore the solar energy landscape and investigate what’s blocking the solar market from growing at
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Power Companies Funding Legal Efforts To Overturn Clean Power Plan In Court
Lawyers for the Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG) were among those who argued against the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan today before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Recent investigations have revealed that some of the nation’s largest electric utilities have quietly funded this special interest group’s attacks on the EPA’s first-ever limits on
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New Report Reveals Electric Utility Industry’s Influence at Universities
In 1971, Lewis Powell, before becoming a Supreme Court Justice, authored a memo, now known as the Powell Memo, and sent it to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Powell called on corporate America to take an increased role in shaping politics, law, and education. Business leaders, Powell instructed, must marshal their resources to influence institutions
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