[Canary] Utility companies

[Avram Friedman]

Elizabeth,
In North Carolina we have Duke Power and Progressive Energy. To our west 
and southwest in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky we have TVA and to our 
south we have Southern Company in Georgia.
We've had varying degrees of  success in dealing with these companies.   
In NC we succeeded in getting the NC Clean Smokestacks Act passed in 
2002 that mandates a cleanup of the 14 coal burning power plants in this 
state. This was at first adamantly opposed by Duke and Progress. But, 
eventually they came on board, mostly because there was money to be 
made.  They were retiring a huge debt acquired from building a series of 
nukes in the 70's and 80's.  They were due for a rate-case review that 
would have undoubtedly mandated lowered rates for their consumers.  But 
the Clean Smokestacks Act froze rates for five years allowing them to 
build scrubbers and catalytic reduction systems for the NC plants and 
still make more money than they were making while paying off the nuclear 
debt.

TVA is in a constant state of struggle with North Carolina because their 
coal plants send a constant stream of transported NOx, SO2 and mercury 
eastward into western NC and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 
killing trees, plants and wildlife and making it the most polluted park 
in the nation.  It's not very good for the health of the human 
population in these parts either.  One in three children have asthma in 
western NC. It's even worse on the Cherokee Indian Reservation. We've 
successfully coerced our Attorney General to sue TVA over this pollution 
and this is an ongoing court battle.  TVA has made some improvements 
over the past decade, but not nearly enough.  Interestly TVA has begun 
to dabble in large-scale wind energy and the Canary Coalition and others 
we have collaborated with them in promoting this technology.

Southern Company is our story of least success.  Actually, no success.  
This is a neanderthal corporation that is completely unresponsive to 
public appeal or inquiry. They are very powerful in Georgia and 
elsewhere and are apparently willing to exercise their political power.  
So, far we haven't been able to convince our Attorney General to 
consider taking on Southern Company in court.

We haven't dealt with AEP or Cinergy yet, but it's probably in our 
future as the Canary Coalition has been expanding throughout the 
country, especially in the Appalachian Region.  We now have members in 
22 states.  There are several tracks open to exploring in trying to 
influence the behavior of utility companies.  One is direct contact and 
trying to engage members of the corporate Board of Directors and/or 
stockholders.  Two is through state regulatory agencies and the 
legislature. Three is through the federal EPA and Congress. Four is 
through the courts.  We haven't entered into any court battles yet 
because this is an extremely expensive option that large corporations 
can afford and we can't.  We feel court battles are better left to state 
and federal agencies to pursue.  So, most of our efforts have focused on 
influencing state agencies to fight the battle.  We've also expended 
much effort on legislative activity with some fruitful results including 
the above mentioned Clean Smokestacks Act.  The success of all efforts 
ultimately depends on our ability to involve public support and apply 
political pressure.  So, the first step is public education and 
recruitment.  Get as many community leaders, local politicians, 
newspaper editors, etc. on board as possible.
Avram


Elizabeth Joshi wrote:

>I was wondering which utility companies your group has
>had the most success in dealing with and whether you'd
>be willing to provide me with some of your strategies.
> We have coal plants owned by a subsidiary of American
>Electric Power, as well as plants owned by Vectren and
>Cinergy (among many others).  We have 17 coal plants
>in our region, which seems like a very large number to
>me.  I believe that Vectren is only in Ohio, Indiana
>and maybe one other state, but I thought your group
>may have had dealings with AEP and Cinergy in the
>past.  I've written to AEP, but I am not optimistic
>that it will have great impact.  The plant the AEP
>subsidiary owns,is supposed to be one of the largest
>mercury emitters in the country.  Any suggestions you
>can provide me for strategies in getting heard by
>these utility giants would be greatly appreciated.  I
>am not really the picket sign type, so I really prefer
>to write letters, make calls, etc., etc.
>
>Thanks!
>
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