Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Getting their money's worth
Blossman disagrees. 'I'm not a big believer," he says. 'That global warming is nothing but media."
Gambit Weekly
At the very least, Lee Zurik's report on Jay Blossman demonstrated one thing, stupid politicians can be just as corrupt as intelligent politicians. Of course, we already knew that from watching the mayor.
WWL reports:
In 2007, about one third all donations Blossman received came from Entergy employees, spouses or consultants. Last year Blossman received contributions from 166 different people or companies. Approximately 54 of those contributions came from people connected to Entergy.
...
Since 2002, those solicitations have gotten Blossman more than $100,000 of contributions from Entergy employees.
Some of things that Blossman has done for Entergy:
The proposed rules would turn the traditional regulatory process on its head by allowing a utility to earn money on a nuclear plant before it is in operation. The rules would also require the PSC to approve of the need for a nuclear plant before it is built and again at the beginning of each of three phases. The PSC would annually review the construction costs and, in the case the plant is never completed, would allow a utility to collect its costs from its customer.
The rules were requested by Commissioner Jay Blossman last year.
That passed:
The PSC, in a 3-2 vote, will allow a utility that is building a nuclear plant in Louisiana to earn interest on money it is spending as it is constructing a nuclear plant.
Historically, utilities have only been allowed to charge customers for a power plant after it is producing power. And Commission Chairman Jay Blossman Jr. has portrayed the debate over the rules for a nuclear plant as a race with Mississippi and other southern states to be the site of one of the first new nuclear plants.
He's also not big on RFP's, at least where big utilities are concerned. From the June 12, 2006 edition of Power Markets Week (not available online):
The Louisiana Public Service Commission staff has recommended that generators categorized as qualifying facilities be encouraged to bid their available capacity into a utility's solicitation for power.
At the same time, one commissioner is proposing that solicitations be skipped when a company wants to build its own coal-fired or nuclear plants.
In a draft report to the PSC issued June 2, the staff said QFs should be encouraged but not required to participate in the request for proposal process. At issue is whether those facilities are exempt from the commission's market-based mechanism order, which requires capacity procurements to be tested in the marketplace through the RFP process.
...
PSC Commissioner Jay Blossman wants to exempt utilities seeking to build coal-fired and nuclear plants from testing their plans against competitive alternatives through bid solicitations.
Most recently, he was Entergy's point man on the Litte Gypsy plant.
I thought that the end of last night's report was quite telling:
Entergy says that Lambert Boissiere received about 50 Entergy contributions in his last race against Cleo Fields and Boissiere and Blossman receive more contributions from them than other commissioners because most Entergy employees live in their district.
I had noticed that Blossman and Boissiere seem to cast similar votes -- on both rate increases and on internal matters
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Fine post.
But, the way it's written here, that Blossman quote on global warming actually makes him look like a non-denialist.
Shouldn't it read more like "I'm not a big believer [in climate change]. That global warming is nothing but media."
But, the way it's written here, that Blossman quote on global warming actually makes him look like a non-denialist.
Shouldn't it read more like "I'm not a big believer [in climate change]. That global warming is nothing but media."
Yeah, I flubbed it when I took out the "he says." I read it as a double negative, which it may have been, or may not. It depends on what exactly he said, with what pauses.
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