- Sep 26, 2011
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I'm burned out from having to comment on all the shit stories we've been bombarded with over the past 4 years...
Screw it.
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Screw it.
Stephanie Kodish is used to opposition to her work. In her job with the National Parks Conservation Association, she pushes utilities to comply with environmental laws. That can mean installing expensive new anti-pollution technology on coal plants, or even closing them down.
Last year, though, she encountered a completely new kind of opposition that left her disconcerted.
After years of feuding and lawsuits, the utility Entergy Arkansas Inc. had agreed to shut down two coal plants over the next decade. Weeks later, the Arkansas Attorney General and a local coalition called the Arkansas Affordable Energy Coalition intervened, asking a judge to stop the settlement. They argued that other fuel sources would be more expensive and less reliable.
But emails obtained through public records requests show the coalition represents more than just coal, gas and steel businesses in Arkansas. In fact, it was created by a nonprofit — the Energy Policy Network — whose largest financial contributor most years is the state of Wyoming, home to the coal mines that feed the two Arkansas plants slated for shut down.
When told the coalition was backed by Wyoming Kodish first laughed in surprise, but then turned serious. "It's disturbing to learn that those interests are disingenuous and people are being manipulated," she says.
Several ethics and transparency experts say this is the first time they have heard of a U.S. state using so-called "dark money" in this way. They agree that it raises troubling questions about state officials backing a group that surreptitiously seeks to impact policy elsewhere.
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Wyoming Is Using Dark Money To Help Keep Coal Plants In Other States Open
Wyoming is quietly supporting action elsewhere to preserve its coal-dependent economy. Experts on money in politics say they've never seen this before and find it troubling.www.npr.org
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Coal left Appalachia devastated. Now it’s doing the same to Wyoming.
Vulture capitalists are sucking value from a dying industry.
www.vox.com