chenowth, mark kch

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">amicus west va v epa</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF THE</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE IN</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">SUPPORT OF PETITIONERS</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">December 20, 2021</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Philip Hamburger</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><b>Mark Chenoweth</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Brian Rosner</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">(Counsel of Record)</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Richard Samp</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">New Civil Liberties Alliance</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">1225 19th St. NW, Suite 450</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Washington, DC 20036</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">(202) 869-5210</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Brian.Rosner@NCLA.legal</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Counsel for Amicus Curiae</div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/10/02/kochpac-pay-play-aims-slow-solar-renewables/</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><article class="post-6091 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail category-climate category-environment category-featured-investigations category-koch category-news entry" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/CreativeWork" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="box-sizing: inherit; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 1048.09px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">O</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ne of Koch Industries’ favorite current federal bills would change how states regulate utilities on renewable energy. A Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) analysis shows the legislation is supported by politicians receiving large contributions from the Koch Industries Political Action Committee (KochPAC).</span></font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Pay</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">so-called “Ratepayer Fairness Act of 2017” (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1572" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">H.R. 1572</a>) would require state public utility commissions to determine whether the setting of electricity rates for technologies deployed by individual customers, such as solar energy or energy storage, results in subsidies to those customers from customers who do not deploy those technologies.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Rep. <b>Richard Hudson (R-NC) sponsored H.R. 1572 and received <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_candidates,2018#North_Carolina" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$15,000</a> from Koch Industries in the 2017-2018 election cycle</b> to his campaign and First in Freedom PAC. The only U.S. House member to co-sponsor it is<b> Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK),</b> who has also received a combined <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_candidates,2018#Oklahoma" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$15,000</a> from KochPAC into his congressional re-election committee and his leadership PAC.</font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Play</font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">H.R. 1572 seeks to limit utility commissions from designing electricity rates favorable to solar or renewable energy if that technology causes customers or classes of customers to subsidize other customers or customer classes.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill would force utility commissions to hold hearings to consider whether setting electricity rates for a technology disproportionately affects some customers or customer classes, even if all customers gain in the long run (for example in reducing the need for new electricity generating plants).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If a commission finds that such subsidies or disproportionate effects exist, the bill then requires it to determine whether those subsidies are “appropriate,” as defined under current law. If the legislature or utility commission took a narrow view of “appropriate,” that policy could be used to stifle solar and other renewables.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legislatures and public utility commissions do wander away from “true” cost allocations to pursue other values like “just and reasonable rates” for residential customers.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">S</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ome public utility commissions can currently consider the environmental cost of changes in rates among classes, and many renewable advocates argue that the social costs of carbon — such as aridization, or pollution and its public health effects — should also be considered, as it is in the European Union.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although the Trump Administration has retreated from assigning a social cost to carbon in its decision-making, <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11082017/states-climate-change-policy-calculate-social-cost-carbon" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">state utility commissions are taking up the practice</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">H.R. 1572 is consistent with the Administration’s attempt to slow the use of storage facilities by solar energy and other renewable energy sources.</font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Players</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Th</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">e bill was originally introduced into the U.S. House in the last congressional session by then-U.S. Representative <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mike_Pompeo" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="background-image: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Mike Pompeo</a>, now the Secretary of State. Koch Industries was Pompeo’s top contributor in every election between 2010 and 2016.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jane Mayer noted in her book, <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">Dark Money</em>:</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 40px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After his election, <b>Pompeo turned to the company for his chief of staff, choosing Mark Chenoweth, a lawyer who had worked for Koch Industries’ lobbying team. </b>Within weeks, Pompeo was championing two of Koch Industries’ legislative priorities — opposition to Obama’s plans to create a public EPA registry of greenhouse gas polluters and a digital database of consumer complaints about unsafe products.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Among other ties to the Kochs, <em style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Washington Post</em> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pompeo-draws-liberal-groups-ire/2011/03/10/ABogK33_story.html?utm_term=.70b309ec6138" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">notes</a> that Pompeo started a business with private equity financing from the Kochs.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The only company other than Koch Industries lobbying for this bill is </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, and both have been large contributors to Republican congressional political organizations.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Companion legislation in the U.S. Senate (S. 613) was introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a climate change denier who took <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/races/industries?cycle=2012&id=AZS2&spec=N" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: inherit; background: 0px 0px; transition: all 500ms ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">$166,000</a> from oil and gas companies, including Koch Industries, in his last election in 2012.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With Flake retiring from the Senate, no significant action is expected on this legislation this year, but the Kochs always have the money to push new policies.</font></p></div></article></div>