Dave Anderson

After Ohio’s landmark decisions on HB 6 utility scandal, what’s next? Regulators just fined FirstEnergy $250M over its bribery scheme. While historically high, the amount falls short of what consumer advocates had pushed for.

If PUCO fined utilities per day for breaking laws-- like FirstEnergy did-- it could help stop illegal activity, says @energyandpolicy.org expert.

@kmkowalski.bsky.social @canarymedia.com with update on Ohio's worst-ever energy scandal: bit.ly/3Kr6N6e

@occ4consumers.bsky.social

The man behind the fall of offshore wind David Stevenson has solar on his roof and drives a hybrid. How did he become the leader of the movement that helped Trump crush offshore wind farms?

In Feb 2023, I attended a climate skeptics conference in Orlando. I was the only reporter.

David Stevenson told me there that the offshore wind industry would ​“crumble” before it reached South Carolina. And that he was leading the opposition.

I followed him for 3 years and wrote this story.

Here’s a more expansive look at the alignment of fossil fuel operatives and nuclear power proponents to crush renewables that I tounched on in my big piece today. ☢️

Great reporting @bloomberg.com team!

Nuclear and Fossil Fuels Join Forces Against Renewables The once unlikely alliance took root in Texas and now reaches right into the White House, where President Trump wants to ban wind energy projects.

The Trump-aligned leader of a national campaign against offshore wind power dreams of a coal plant revival and SMR nuclear in coastal Delaware www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Nuclear and Fossil Fuels Join Forces to Undermine Renewables The once unlikely alliance took root in Texas and now reaches right into the White House, where President Trump wants to ban wind energy projects.

Former Trump transition team member David Stevenson secretly prepared a draft anti-offshore wind power executive order for President Trump. Stevenson leads an anti-offshore wind campaign for a network of right-wing think tanks that’ve received fossil fuel money www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

18 States Sue Over Trump’s Halting of Wind Power Projects The halt threatens jobs and holds back energy production at a time the president has claimed an “energy emergency,” state attorneys general said.

“The Trump administration’s directive to halt the development of offshore wind energy is illegal,” said Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/c...

Dark Money Donor Conduit Funneled $195 Million to Right-Wing Groups in 2024 - EXPOSEDbyCMD Last year DonorsTrust, the preferred donor advised fund of the Koch political network, distributed $195.3 million in grants to the more than 300 right-wing influence groups, litigation centers, media ...

Trump aligned America First Policy Institute and American First Legal together received $25 million from the dark money portal Donors Trust @exposedbycmd.bsky.social www.exposedbycmd.org/2025/11/21/d...

Ticked Off: How the Trump Admin is Giving Your Money Away to Fossil Fuel Companies www.sierraclub.org/burningmoney

Can’t wait to hear what all the anti-offshore wind folks who align with Trump think of this new plan…

Internal Agency Memo Calls for Political Reviews of Solar, Wind Projects The widely circulating document lists more than 68 activities newly subject to upper-level review.

Scoop: Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) tells me in an interview this afternoon the major sticking point holding up permitting reform right now is Dems need language to halt Trump’s extra layers of extra screening on renewable energy.

I broke the news of the screening.

Thanks for reading, Congress.

PUCO stops FirstEnergy from making Ohio customers pay $108 million for a corporate accounting foul-up flagged by regulatory audits FirstEnergy wants to add $108 million to the rates paid by customers of its Ohio utilities so the company can avoid taking a loss for a corporate accounting foul-up flagged repeatedly in audits by sta...

Update: A spokesperson for the PUCO confirmed to @energyandpolicy.org that yesterday's order prevents FirstEnergy from recovering $108 million in shady "corporate overhead" expenses from customers of the company's Ohio utilities energyandpolicy.org/firstenergy-...

FirstEnergy reassures Wall Street about its plan to file a new multi-year rate plan in Ohio in early 2026, after the @PUCOhio orders $250 million in new fines + customer refunds, and approves a net $34 million rate hike for FE's Ohio utilities www.sec.gov/Archives/edg...

Trump cites ‘emergency’ to keep Michigan coal plant online into winter The Energy Department’s orders to keep the J.H. Campbell plant running are driving up costs and pollution. States and advocates are challenging the move…

The Trump administration has forced the aging, costly polluting J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan to stay running for another 90-day stretch, citing an energy ​“emergency” that state utility regulators and regional grid operators say does not exist:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/fos...
#energysky

BREAKING: FirstEnergy hit with $250 MILLION in fines for bribing politicians in the HB6 scandal. $180M goes back to customers starting in December. We're finally getting money back from the HB6 scandal! ⚡ ⚡ ⚡ https://bit.ly/47Qi8FV

Trump Wants to Prop Up Coal Plants. They Keep Breaking Down. According to a new analysis shared exclusively with Heatmap, coal’s equipment-related outage rate is about twice as high as wind’s.

One of the stupidest things I had to witness up close this year at DOE was the full-on effort to throw money at defunct or dying coal assets, all because Trump made a bunch of economically illiterate promises on camera.

Americans will pay a steep price for it.

🔌💡

heatmap.news/energy/coal-...

Kristi Noem sits on a horse wearing a cowboy hat. In the background is Mount Rushmore.

NEW: We’ve uncovered the first known example of taxpayer money flowing from DHS to businesses controlled by Kristi Noem’s allies and friends.

It’s part of a money trail that’s been shrouded in secrecy—and involves $220 million, a mysterious Delaware LLC & a horse named Gill.

Your taxpayer money at work…

a toilet with money sticking out of it and the words `` down the drain '' . ALT: a toilet with money sticking out of it and the words `` down the drain '' .

Trump’s Department of Energy is seeking applicants for $525 million in public funding for coal plants infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx...

Report shows scandal-plagued Ohio utility made $108 million in errors. It wants customers to pay • Ohio Capital Journal Scandal-plagued FirstEnergy wants to make customers pay $108 million it used for things like lobbying but said was for construction.

As it was in the midst of financing a $61 million bribery scheme, FirstEnergy also improperly claimed millions in construction expenses. Now the utility is asking Ohio regulators for permission to charge its customers for the $108 million in errors. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/11/14/r...

Text quoted from article cited in post. It reads, "Now that $108 million in such errors have been found, the utility is asking Ohio regulators for permission to charge its customers for them. Otherwise, they’ll be billed to FirstEnergy shareholders — which prominently include the company’s own executives."

Text from article cited in post. It reads, "If the Public Utilities Commission doesn’t allow it to bill ratepayers for charges that the audit said were improperly accounted for, it would “have an adverse impact on FirstEnergy’s financial condition,” the filing said. In other words, shareholders instead of customers would be left holding the bag. And that would cost the FirstEnergy brass, as opposed to their ratepayers, who have no choice about whether to use the company’s distribution system."

Ohioans: forward a copy of this article to your elected officials with a clear "HELL NO" message. We're NOT going to further reward corruption by footing the bill for it. Contact info in comments. Excellent journalism by @ohiocapitaljournal.com #Resist ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/11/14/r...

ALEC Pushes Power Grid “Stability” Bills to Favor Fossil Fuels Over Renewables - EXPOSEDbyCMD This past legislative session, at least 15 “grid reliability” and “grid stability” bills based on ALEC model policies were introduced in statehouses across the country.

ALEC Pushes Power Grid “Stability” Bills to Favor Fossil Fuels Over Renewables www.exposedbycmd.org/2025/11/12/a... via @exposedbycmd.bsky.social

The Public Utility Commission of Ohio's choice to limit the scope of a key audit predictably led to info about FirstEnergy's potential misuse of money from Ohio ratepayers for lobbying that was known to the auditors being omitted from a public final audit report energyandpolicy.org/firstenergy-...

Secrecy fight heats up in FirstEnergy bribery case Defense attorneys are pushing for secrecy in the FirstEnergy bribery case that Ohio's AG called the “corruption case of the century.”

Ex-Speaker Larry Householder is serving 20 years for taking bribes. Now the FirstEnergy execs accused of paying those bribes finally face trial. Chuck Jones and Mike Dowling's trial will take place in January and their 17 defense attorneys are fighting to keep evidence secret. https://bit.ly/4nHBlhq

Ohio had a plan for 25% renewable energy by 2025. We barely hit 5%. How did that happen? This WOSU series connects the dots: the secret budget amendments, the FirstEnergy bribes, the billions in lost investment. Understanding history is the 1st step to changing our future. https://bit.ly/4npf1co

FirstEnergy wants to make Ohio customers pay $108 million for its corporate accounting foul-up FirstEnergy wants to add $108 million to the rates paid by customers of its Ohio utilities so the company can avoid taking a loss for a corporate accounting foul-up flagged repeatedly in audits by sta...

FirstEnergy wants the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s approval to recover $108 million in “overhead costs” flagged in multiple audits by state and federal regulators from its Ohio customers energyandpolicy.org/firstenergy-...

Reminder that in January, Trump world was so convinced their anti-clean energy policies could win in New Jersey that the Trumpy America First Policy Institute created a New Jersey chapter to advance Trump priorities like opposing offshore wind www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/ameri...

Huge wins for clean energy in Virginia and New Jersey tonight. The Trumpists attacked on electrical costs - and got clobbered. People didn’t like Trump’s braindead effort to take away clean, affordable energy. This ends any talk of retreat on clean energy.

PSE&G, New Jersey's largest electric and gas utility, is making money hand over fist off of ratepayers this year investor.pseg.com/investor-new... even as it funds Republican and Democratic groups that are trying to make political hay out of rising utility bills energyandpolicy.org/utility-bill...

Former FirstEnergy execs continue push to limit testimony in HB 6 bribery trial Ahead of their criminal trial scheduled for January, former FirstEnergy executives ask court to prohibit certain witness testimony.

Ahead of their criminal trial scheduled for January, former FirstEnergy executives ask court to prohibit certain witness testimony.

‘They’re not VIPs’: Former FirstEnergy execs get special treatment in Ohio corruption case Former FirstEnergy executives receive special privacy protections in an Ohio corruption case, keeping significant evidence sealed from public view.

Former FirstEnergy executives Chuck Jones and Mike Dowling, accused of orchestrating one of the most extensive public corruption schemes in Ohio history, have been granted extraordinary privacy protections in their Summit County case.