USWAG utility solid waste activ gp

<div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/epa-chiefs-former-lobbying-clients-are-getting-a-long-list-of-favors-from-agency">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/epa-chiefs-former-lobbying-clients-are-getting-a-long-list-of-favors-from-agency</a></div><div>
</div><div>At least three former lobbying clients of Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler have received favorable decisions from the EPA under his leadership.Wheeler <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/09/19/drain-the-swamp-trump-has-named-more-lobbyists-to-cabinet-than-bush-or-obama-did-in-8-years/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">spent years as an energy lobbyist</a> at the law firm Faegre Baker Daniels, where he represented companies like the coal giant Murray Energy, whose owner RobertMurray is a <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/01/10/trumps-presents-to-coal-country-are-from-a-coal-magnates-wish-list/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">major Trump donor</a>. Wheeler <a href="https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/epa-acting-administrator-andrew-wheelers-recusal-letter/3134/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">signed a pledge</a> in May 2018 to recuse himself from matters related to former clients after he replaced <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/07/18/scott-pruitt-may-be-gone-but-the-epas-pro-pollution-agenda-remains-intact/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">embattled former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt</a>. But the two-year pledge expired earlier this year and he has been <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/wheeler-ethics-complaint/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">repeatedly accused of violating the agreement</a> by approving rules that he lobbied for as a lobbyist for Murray Energy and others.At least three of Wheeler’s former clients have pushed for rules that the EPA has proposed or implemented under his leadership.“Andrew Wheeler is overseeing policies that damage the air we breathe and water we drink while his associates benefit,” Chris Saeger, a spokesperson for the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US, told Salon. “This is a clear abuse of his taxpayer-funded position and ethics agreement."in April, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/climate/epa-mercury-coal.html" target="blank" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" outline="outline" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" transition="transition" color="color" s="s" ease="ease" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer">EPA weakened regulations</a> on the release of mercury and toxic metals from oil and coal-fired power plants, which experts said was aimed at “potentially constraining or handcuffing future efforts by the EPA to regulate air pollution.”The New York Times described the change as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/climate/epa-mercury-coal.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“particular victory”</a> for Murray, who pressed for the change in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/coal-murray-trump-memo.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“wish list” of environmental regulation rollbacks</a> he handed to President Trump just weeks after his inauguration. Murray <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/24/opinion/money-talked-loudest-at-trumps-inaugural.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">donated $300,000</a> to Trump’s inaugural committee.The Trump administration and federal agencies “have completed or are on track to fulfill most of the 16 detailed requests” in Murray’s wish list, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/climate/coal-murray-trump-memo.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the Times reported in 2018</a>. But Murray had “unsuccessfully pressed the administration in 2017” to roll back the mercury emissions rule, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060223767" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">E&E News reported</a>, before it was rescinded under Wheeler.The government watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/storage.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/16174818/Wheeler-Supplemental-Complaint-4-16-19.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">filed an ethics complaint</a> against Wheeler last year over his involvement in the rule change, noting that he “participated in the matter less than a year” after signing the pledge.“It is becoming more and more clear why coal and energy companies are happy to have their former lobbyist Andrew Wheeler in charge of the EPA,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/wheeler-ethics-complaint/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">said at the time</a>. “Administrator Wheeler’s apparent failure to abide by ethics obligations and to avoid the reality or appearance of conflicts continues to undermine the EPA’s integrity and weakens public confidence in our government.”Earlier this year, the EPA also <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/509792-epa-rule-extends-life-of-toxic-coal-ash-ponds" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">finalized a rule</a> that would extend deadlines to start closing <a href="https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/epa-proposes-allowing-unlined-coal-ash-ponds-remain-open-years" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">unlined coal ash ponds</a>. Coal ash from coal plants is dumped into excavated holes in the ground, where it mixes with water to create “coal ash ponds,” which can leak if they are not properly lined. The proposed rule would allow some coal plants <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776174139/trump-administration-proposes-relaxing-rules-on-waste-from-coal-plants" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">five more years</a> before requiring them to close the unlined ash ponds.One of the major backers of the rule is the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG), a <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/uwag-and-uswag-the-secretive-utility-groups-that-target-epa-rules/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">secretive trade group</a> whose members include <a href="https://www.uswag.org/en/USWAGMemberList" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Xcel Energy</a>, a <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/lobbyists/summary?cycle=2013&id=Y0000039030L" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">longtime former Wheeler client</a>. Xcel Energy <a href="https://beta.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0172-0067" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">called for the rule change</a> and the USWAG <a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/CCRRulePetitionCoverletter.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">petitioned Pruitt for the rule</a> in 2017. The USWAG <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/04/776174139/trump-administration-proposes-relaxing-rules-on-waste-from-coal-plants" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">praised the EPA</a> for proposing the change under Wheeler last year.Accountable.US criticized the EPA for rolling back regulations on coal ash at the behest of Wheeler’s former client.“Administrator Wheeler is part of a corrupt pattern in the Trump administration, putting the interests of his allies above the public he is supposed to serve,” <a href="https://www.accountable.us/news/breaking-wheeler-weakens-epa-coal-ash-rules-for-former-client/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Saeger said last month</a>. “This administration is abusing its power to hand out favors to corporate lobbyists, selling out Americans’ health and the environment in the process.”In May, the EPA <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2020-0240" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">proposed no additional measures</a> to mitigate negative air quality impacts associated with renewable fuel standards as required under the Clean Air Act. The proposed rule has been open for public comment ever since but has only received 16 thus far, including <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OAR-2020-0240-0012" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">one supporting the rule from Growth Energy</a>. The company has been one of the <a href="https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/17193/biofuel-groups-file-comments-on-epaundefineds-anti-backsliding-proposal" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">biggest supporters of the rule</a>.Growth Energy was one of Wheeler’s clients before he joined the EPA, according to his <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/10/19/document_gw_03.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">financial disclosure</a>, which said he provided the company “strategic advice and counseling.” Wheeler had pledged to recuse himself from matters related to Growth Energy until shortly before the proposed rule was published.The trend has played out in other agencies whose heads were appointed by the president. The Interior Department has made <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/david-bernhardt-interior-oil-and-gas/index.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">at least 15 policy changes or proposals</a> that benefited Secretary David Bernhardt’s former energy industry clients. Several of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf’s former lobbying clients have also <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/05/former-clients-of-acting-homeland-security-chief-chad-wolf-get-millions-in-dhs-contracts.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">received millions in government contracts</a> while he held senior positions in the department. More than 280 of Trump’s political appointments have been former lobbyists, according to an analysis by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/we-found-a-staggering-281-lobbyists-whove-worked-in-the-trump-administration" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">ProPublica</a>.CREW has repeatedly called for the EPA’s inspector general to investigate whether Wheeler violated his ethics pledge in connection to rules that benefited his former clients.“Administrator Wheeler has repeatedly used his government position at EPA to benefit the former clients that made him rich, and to the detriment of the agency’s critical mission,” CREW Deputy Director Donald Sherman said in a statement to Salon. “Administrator Wheeler’s continued lobbying on behalf of industry from within EPA, is clear evidence that patronage is a feature, not a bug, of the Trump administration.”</div><div>=</div><div>ref</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/uwag-and-uswag-the-secretive-utility-groups-that-target-epa-rules/">https://www.energyandpolicy.org/uwag-and-uswag-the-secretive-utility-groups-that-target-epa-rules/</a></div><div>
</div><div>may 2019</div><div>
</div><div>matt kasper</div><div>
</div><div><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">The <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/utility-air-regulatory-group/" target="blank" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Utility Air Regulatory Group</a> <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/10/epa-air-chief-3238271" target="blank" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">announced</a> on Friday that its remaining members had decided to disband the embattled project after more than 40 years. UARG had been an unincorporated group of utilities represented by lawyers at Hunton Andrews Kurth that fought against clean air standards.But while the utilities may have dissolved UARG, the same corporations still have other “U Groups” that exist to attack EPA’s enforcement of the nation’s environmental laws. Just as utilities used UARG to target the Clean Air Act, they have the Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG) and the Utility Water Act Group (UWAG) to attack EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Water Act and other laws that utilities have long perceived as thorns in their sides.USWAG is represented by lawyers at Venable LLP. Attorneys from Hunton Andrews Kurth, the same firm that housed UARG, represent the members of UWAG. Both U-groups are set up similarly to UARG: unincorporated, voluntary, ad-hoc coalitions that do not disclose individual utility members. USWAG has been a party in 88 lawsuits since the early 1990s while UWAG has been a party in 99 cases since 2000, according to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records.<h4 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 0px 25.2344px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; line-height: 1.2;">Utility Solid Waste Activities Group, Utility Water Act Group targeting Obama-era rules; also subsidized by utility customers</h4>UARG’s utility members faced intense scrutiny in recent months since <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/epa-air-pollution-regulations-wehrum-1191258" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Politico obtained and published</a> confidential documents that outlined goals for a meeting of UARG’s policy committee to attack Obama-era clean air and public health rules.The spotlight brightened when leading Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/ec-leaders-launch-investigation-of-secretive-front-group-uarg-and-its-ties" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">sent letters</a> to several member-utility CEOs asking for information about EPA air official Bill Wehrum’s relationship with UARG and its member companies. Wehrum was an attorney at Hunton and represented UARG. Congress <a href="https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/democrats-call-for-investigation-of-top-epa-officials-role-in-reversing-enforcement-position" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">is investigating</a> how he and another former Hunton lawyer now at the EPA, David Harlow, have helped reverse the agency’s position in a major enforcement action to favor a client of their former law firm – DTE Energy.The Congressional probe into UARG requested that the utilities state whether they had forced their customers to fund their annual contributions to the collective legal effort. Journalists and consumer advocates also pressed individual utilities to answer the question posed from the members of Congress. Several utilities, including <a href="https://insideepa.com/daily-news/utility-aep-tells-house-democrats-ratepayers-fund-uarg-dues" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">American Electric Power</a>, <a href="https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/aps-quits-lobbyist-group-ethics-probe-epa-officials-srp-tep-11273451" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Arizona Public Service</a>, and <a href="https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/aps-quits-lobbyist-group-ethics-probe-epa-officials-srp-tep-11273451" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Tucson Electric Power</a>, admitted that they force their customers to fund UARG expenses and therefore the legal challenges to the Clean Air Act. Others, such as <a href="https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/congressional-probe-looks-at-lobbying-group-funded-by-ameren-other/article_4c61b33d-b7fd-5e4c-9a08-d26a0d3a8486.html" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Ameren</a>, <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/11/house-panel-probes-dte-utility-support-industry-groups/3435466002/" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">DTE Energy</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060169943" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Dominion</a>, and <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060169943" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Duke Energy</a> did not provide details about the source of UARG funding.Rate case filings reveal that many utilities similarly force their customers to fund their attacks on EPA’s ability to enforce the Clean Water Act via USWAG and UWAG. In 2017, the Minnesota Office of the Attorney General <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5770321-Minnesota-Attorney-General-Direct-Testimony.html#document/p52/a486802" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">argued</a> that customers of Minnesota Power shouldn’t foot the utility’s membership bill for both USWAG and UWAG. Missouri Public Service Commission Staff <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3461233-MO-PSC-Statement-of-Positions-EEI-Dues.html#document/p4/a353010" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">explained</a> that Ameren shouldn’t bill its customers $96,010 for UWAG annual dues and $47,163 for USWAG. And in November of 2018, the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5765622-Kentucky-Attorney-General-Data-Requests-Kentucky.html#document/p69/a486078" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">attempted to prevent</a> Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities customers from paying the $68,175 for USWAG annual dues and $109,501 for UWAG.In a 2016 Arizona Public Service rate case, the Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO) <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3625848-RUCO-Filing-APS-EEI-Dues.html#document/p37/a483616" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">described</a> the U-groups as “purely voluntary, many of which are political in nature, and may not be necessary for the provision of utility services.”Earlier this month, <a href="https://insideepa.com/daily-news/5th-circuit-judges-appear-split-suit-over-delay-utility-effluent-rule" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">UWAG attorneys were in court</a> to join the defense of the Trump administration’s two-year delay of Obama’s Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule. Two years ago, Hunton attorneys representing UWAG <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-03/documents/letter_to_epa_submitting_petition_for_reconsideration_w_exhibits-c_508.pdf" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">petitioned the Trump EPA</a> to reconsider the ELG rule. Under President Obama, the EPA finalized an update to the rule as it hadn’t been updated since the early 1980s. The rule exists to limit the wastewater that power plants can discharge in waterways. That <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/07/power-plant-effluent-limits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">wastewater includes</a> arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium, and cadmium.USWAG attorneys, meanwhile, have <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/coal-ash-rule/" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">targeted a coal ash rule</a>, which the Obama Administration proposed in 2010 following the largest toxic waste spill in U.S. history at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in Kingston. One billion gallons of coal ash sludge destroyed 300 acres and dozens of homes. The rule established a set of requirements for the safe disposal of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. Similar to the ELG rule, <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/coal-ash-rule/" style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">USWAG was quick to petition</a> the Trump EPA to reconsider parts of the coal ash rule. In September 2017, then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/blog/Signed%20CCR%20Petition%20Response2017-09-13-155129.pdf" style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">announced</a> that it will review parts of the rule that USWAG addressed in their petition.Ten years after the Kingston spill that triggered the rule which USWAG has fought to undermine, 400 workers who cleaned up the spill have been sickened. Another 40 died, according to a tally maintained by the <a href="https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2019/05/03/workplace-safety-rally-kingston-coal-ash-workers/3632667002/" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(196, 209, 224); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;">Knoxville News Sentinel</a>.</div><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; display: inline-block; width: 841.203px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ul class="meta-list" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8.40625px 0px 50.4688px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li class="meta-cat" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 20px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; display: inline;">Posted in: <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/category/utilities/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Utilities</a>, <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/category/utilities/utility-air-regulatory-group/" rel="category tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Utility Air Regulatory Group</a> </li><li class="meta-tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 10px 20px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; display: inline;">Tagged in: <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/tag/uarg/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">UARG</a>, <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/tag/utility-air-regulatory-group/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Utility Air Regulatory Group</a>, <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/tag/utility-solid-waste-activities-group/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Utility Solid Waste Activities Group</a>, <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/tag/utility-water-act-group/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Utility Water Act Group</a>, <a href="https://www.energyandpolicy.org/tag/uwag/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">UWAG</a></li></ul></div></div><div> ref<a href="https://www.uswag.org/en/USWAGMemberList">https://www.uswag.org/en/USWAGMemberList</a>Listed below are all USWAG members, as of 1/09/2020. USWAG Affiliate members are listed <a href="http://www.uswag.org/Affiliates/Pages/defaultold.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(73, 23, 110); text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none; border: medium none;">here</a>. AES Corporation Dayton Power & Light Indianapolis Power & Light Company ALLETE Minnesota Power Alliant Energy Corporation Interstate Power and Light Company Wisconsin Power and Light CompanyAmeren Corporation Ameren Illinois Ameren Missouri American Electric Power Company AEP Ohio AEP Texas AEP Generation Resources Appalachian Power Company Indiana Michigan Power Kentucky Power Ohio Power Company Public Service Company of Oklahoma Southwestern Electric Power CompanyAmerican Gas Association American Public Power AssociationArizona's G&Ts Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. Sierra Southwest Cooperative Services, Inc. Southwest Transmission Cooperative, Inc. Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. Aurora Energy, LLCAvangrid Central Maine Power New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) Rochester Gas & Electric (RG&E) Berkshire Hathaway Energy MidAmerican Energy Company NV Energy  PacifiCorp   Birchwood Power Partners Buckeye Power Inc.<div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;">CenterPoint Energy, Inc. </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;">Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;">CLECO Corporation </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;">CMS Energy Corporation Consumers Energy </div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;">Consolidated Edison, Inc. Consolidated Edison Co of New York, Inc. Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. Cooperative Energy Coserv Electric Denton County Electric Cooperative, Inc. dba CoServ ElectricDairyland Power CooperativeDominionDTE Energy Company DTE Electric DTE Gas Duke Energy Duke Energy Carolinas Duke Energy Commercial Power Duke Energy Indiana Duke Energy Kentucky Duke Energy Ohio Duke Energy Renewables Progress Energy Carolinas Progress Energy FloridaDuquesne Light CompanyDynegyEast Kentucky Power CooperativeEdison Electric Institute Empire District Electric CompanyEntergy Corporation  Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Entergy Louisiana, LLC Entergy Mississippi, Inc. Entergy Texas, Inc. Entergy New Orleans, LLC System Entergy Resources, Inc. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC Entergy Nuclear Generation Company Entergy Nuclear Palisades, LLC Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 3, LLC Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.Evergy, Inc.Eversource EnergyExelon Exelon Generation Constellation BGE ComEd PECO Atlantic City Electric Delmarva Power Pepco Exelon Business Services CompanyFirstEnergy Corp. The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co Jersey Central Power & Light Metropolitan Edison Monongahela Power Ohio Edison Pennsylvania Electric Pennsylvania Power Potomac Edison Power Toledo Edison West Penn Power Great Plains Energy, Inc. KCP&L Great River EnergyHawaiian Electric Company, Inc. Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. LG&E and KU Energy Longview PowerLos Angeles Department of Water & Power Lower Colorado River AuthorityMadison Gas and Electric CompanyMemphis Light, Gas, and Water Division Metropolitan Water District of Southern CaliforniaMinnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. National Fuel Gas Company National Grid  National Rural Electric Cooperative Association New York Power Authority NiSource, Inc. Columbia Gas Northern Indiana Public Service CoNRG Energy, Inc. OGE Energy Corporation Oglethorpe Power CorpOhio Valley Electric CorporationOmaha Public Power District Oncor Electric DeliveryOrlando Utilities Commission  Pacific Gas & Electric Company Pinnacle West Capital Corporation Arizona Public Service Company Platte River Power AuthorityPNM Resources, Inc. PNM Texas-New Mexico Power CompanyPortland General Electric PowerSouth Energy CooperativePPL Electric Utilities CorporationPrairie State Generating Company, LLC Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.  PSEG Long Island PSEG Power Public Service Electric and Gas Company Puget Energy, Inc. Puget Sound Energy Salt River ProjectSantee Cooper SCANA Corporation  South Carolina Electric & Gas CompanySeminole Electric Cooperative, Inc.Sempra Energy San Diego Gas & Electric Company  Southern California Gas CompanySouthern California Edison CompanySouthern Company Alabama Power Company Georgia Power Company Gulf Power Company Mississippi Power Company Southern Nuclear Southern Company Services Southern Illinois Power CooperativeSunflower Electric Power CorporationTalen Energy Corporation Talen Energy Supply  Talen Generation  Raven Power Sapphire Power Jade Power TECO Energy Tampa Electric Company Tennessee Valley AuthorityTri-State Generation & TransmissionUnisource Energy Corporation Tucson Electric Power Company UniSource Energy Services Vistra EnergyWabash Valley Power Association WEC Energy Group We Energies Wisconsin Public Service Peoples Gas North Shore Gas Michigan Gas Utilities Minnesota Energy Resources Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation Xcel Energy, Inc.</div></div>
=</div>