Fossil Fuel Lobby Archives - Checks and Balances Project

PUCO staff accepted utilities’ claims that information they made public were trade secrets

2023-12-21

Still-unnamed staff members of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio accepted utilities’ vague claims of trade secrecy when they recommended hiding information from the public audit of the state’s HB 6 law even though the utilities themselves had already made much of the data public. In December 2021, three utility companies sought a protective order… Read more »

C&BP seeks identities of PUCO staffers who recommended HB6 audit protective order

2023-11-26

Checks & Balances Project is requesting the identities of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission staff members who recommended issuing the protective order that declared publicly available information to be trade secrets in the audit conducted into the details of Ohio’s HB6 law. The order, granted July 7 by Attorney Examiner Megan Addison, forced the redaction… Read more »

Misleading Ordinance Language Dates Back to 2014, Documents Show

2022-01-20

Readers might remember that we’ve been probing what happens when a rural community decides to host or reject proposed wind farms. In the course of that work, we’ve uncovered tactics and arguments that have been pushed from one community to another, leaving behind a legacy of strained neighbor relations and hard feelings, regardless of the… Read more »

As Anti-Wind Zoning Ordinances Spread Across Michigan, Ordinances’ Language Varies Little

2021-11-10

A series of virtually identical zoning ordinances that restrict the development of wind farms has spread across parts of rural Michigan, a Checks and Balances Project analysis shows. Two of the three ordinances were drafted with the help of the Grand Rapids-based law firm Foster Swift Collins & Smith, whose partner Michael Homier is part… Read more »

Rep. Lauren Boebert Must Resign

2021-08-31

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., must resign for not disclosing the fact that her husband made more than $900,000 as a fossil fuel consultant over the last two years. One of the most controversial House members, Boebert has assembled a pro-fossil fuel voting record. In February, she introduced a bill that would stop the president from… Read more »

Anti-Wind Activists Leave Trail of Recrimination, Lost Revenue In Rural Michigan Communities

2021-07-14

A trio of anti-wind activists have crisscrossed rural Michigan over the last dozen years, casting doubt on proven science, making unfounded allegations of government corruption and refusing to disclose the source of their financial support. As a result, rural Michigan communities they have visited have been mired in fierce disputes among neighbors, marked by… Read more »

Fossil Fuel Operatives Using Social Media Pressured Ohio County to Spurn Wind Tax Millions

2019-02-14

A new investigation uncovers how a sophisticated social media disinformation campaign helped to convince Van Wert County to reject further wind development.

Powerful Lobbyist Steered Seitz Effort to Block Ohio Wind Power Jobs

2018-04-16

Newly-produced emails show the strong sway Sam Randazzo, a lobbyist for large industrial users of coal power, has had on Ohio wind-energy foe Rep. Bill Seitz’s efforts to keep the state’s strict property line setbacks in place.

Update: Federal Agency to Mediate Coast Guard’s Public Records Evasion

2016-11-3

The federal government’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ombudsman, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), has agreed to mediate Checks and Balances Project’s complaint that the U.S. Coast Guard has refused to provide lawful, taxpayer-funded public records. Since February, we have been asking the Coast Guard to answer basic questions about its offshore… Read more »

Did National Black Chamber of Commerce Abuse Its IRS Status?

2016-05-11

As reported in yesterday’s POLITICO Influence, Checks and Balances Project recently referred the National Black Chamber of Commerce to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for potential abuses of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. NBCC President Harry C. Alford has become one of the leading voices of the utility industry’s argument that minority communities will somehow be… Read more »

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