Breaking News from America's Progressive Community...

1999 Releases
February
January

archives/1998
December
November
October
September
August
July
June

Making news?
E-mail us!
editor@newscenter.org

NewsCenter is a news service - providing breaking news and views for progressive-thinking Americans.

The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader and other consumer and environmental advocates on Thursday charged Virginia lawmakers with selling out the interests of consumers in exchange for hefty contributions from the state’s electric utilities, which would be deregulated under legislation poised for final passage in the House of Delegates.

On Thursday, Nader joined Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project, the Sierra Club of Virginia and Virginia Consumer Action in protesting the influence of Virginia Power in the deregulation debate.

"Virginia Power says this legislation is competition. We say they've fixed the game," Nader said. "This legislation is a consumer rip-off. Virginia's lawmakers who are voting for SB 1269 should be ashamed that they are putting their need to raise money before the interests of consumers.

"Large corporate interests are buying and selling public policy decisions in Virginia because the campaign finance laws are so lax."

Rep. Kenneth Plum, chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, and Sen. Thomas Norment, Floor Leader of the Republican Party, the groups charged, are being influenced by utility campaign contributions in their support of SB 1269, a bill that radically rewrites Virginia's laws governing electric utilities.

Republican lawmakers accepted $390,000 from Virginia Power and its parent company, Dominion Resources, while Democratic lawmakers raked in $192,000 from the electric company during the 1997 and 1999 election cycles. Electricity generators contributed $1,127,400 from 1997 to 1999, with $706,200 going to Republicans and $421,200 being contributed to Democrats. Both parties are raising large amounts of money for their war chests to be used in their struggle for control of the Virginia General Assembly.

Virginia Power, which controls 80 percent of the electricity market in the state, has had a hand in shaping SB 1269 in a way that leaves them as the bill's greatest beneficiary. The legislation, for instance, has no provisions to wrest this market share away from the state's largest utility. As a result of a special provision, which will provide reimbursement for the uneconomic investments of utilities -- euphemistically called "stranded costs" -- Virginia Power will walk away with a windfall conservatively estimated to be $2 billion.

"The stranded cost bailout associated with SB 1269 was negotiated in a last-minute, secret meeting that included utilities and the large industrial customers who will get special price discounts if this bill passes," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy Project. "No consumer groups or public interest advocates were invited to this negotiating marathon, even though it will be consumers who pay the price for this back-room insider deal-making."

Bruce Parker, Energy Chair of the Sierra Club-Virginia Chapter, said that because of the campaign dollars at stake the debate over the electric utility bill has been a sham. "At the General Assembly there is a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy governing the debate on this bill," Parker said. "Members of the General Assembly have not asked the hard questions about SB 1269, and Virginia Power and the other utilities are sure not telling members about dirty air emissions and higher costs for consumers."

Donal Day, a representative of Virginia Consumer Action, agrees. "Rushing a deregulation bill through the General Assembly during its short session, before most Virginians are even aware of the debate is foolish," Day said. "Virginia is a relatively low-cost state, and we should be waiting to see what happens to residential and small business consumers in high-cost states that have already passed legislation."

###