Executive
Director, Energy Makes America Great Inc.
It is amazing that something that
seems as upbeat as “free” electricity from the sun can have such a dark side.
I started covering some of the
shenanigans from the solar industry last summer
when I wrote about the “Green Tea Party” in Georgia. I had no idea what a can
of worms I’d opened. In September, I wrote about the net-metering battle taking place
in Arizona—and pointed out the national implications of what
was playing out there. The following month, I addressed, what
I believe, is an organized effort by the industry, to co-opt the language of
the free-market/conservative/limited-government thinking population in an
effort to convince them that government-mandated and subsidized solar energy
was a good thing. Last month I warned consumers of solar scams in a column I
wrote titled “Clouds on the solar horizon.”
I have spent months on an
investigation into the cronyism, abuse, mismanagement, and violations involved
in Abengoa Solar, the Spanish company that received $2.8 billion in taxpayer
funding—most of it through the 2009 Stimulus Bill. My exposé was published
earlier this week in the Daily Caller.
Within the past few weeks, I’ve been
getting harassing phone calls from a solar supporter—so much so, that I’ve had
to block his numbers.
I’ve even
earned a mention in a Cleantechnica.com post
on “How To Write A Hit Piece On The Solar Industry In
6 Steps.”
Apparently there is a perception
that I am anti-solar, when in reality I wish I could afford solar panels on my
roof because I could use some “free” electricity—but, what I am is strongly
free-market. I despise government picking winners and losers. And, my green
energy investigations have proven that solar is at the center of the
corruption.
Now, I find out that a solar
advocate and employee of SunRun—one of the solar leasing companies that
Christine Lakatos and I have covered as a part of our “Green-energy crony-corruption
scandal”—has been trying to influence Wall Street analysts in
an attempt to “damage investor confidence” in Arizona Public Service (APS). APS
is the company at the forefront of changing current net-metering policies to
avoid having to increase rates on the majority of consumers.
In an email to Rajeev Lalwani, an energy sector
analyst with Morgan Stanley, SunRun Inc., public policy manager Kim Sanders
attempts to influence Lalwani by saying: “I wanted to share a bit more info
that indicates this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Do these people have no shame? Or,
are they behaving like desperate cornered rats, because they fear the
taxpayer-funded gravy train is about to hit the stop block?
In an April 10 letter to
SunRun Chief Executive Edward Fenster, Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC)
Chairman Bob Stump points out that Sanders’ efforts have “the potential to
affect adversely millions of ratepayers in APS territory.” Stump points out
that these ratepayers are the very people that the ACC is “charged to protect.”
Stump explains that this is because,
negatively influencing the “judgment of Wall Street analysts” could “damage
investor confidence in APS, undermine its capacity to borrow at reasonable
rates, and damage the company’s shareholders, many of whom are Arizonans on
fixed incomes and retirees.”
He likens the behavior of the “solar
advocacy community” to “bulls in china shops” and concludes the letter stating
that “such behavior” inflicts harm to “solar in Arizona.” Stump states:
“Attempts to ‘disrupt the utility monopoly model,’ as one solar activist put
it, should not entail damaging Arizona ratepayers.”
This shameful behavior addressed in
Stumps’ letter, and engaged in, as revealed in my previous reporting, on the
part of the “solar advocacy community” wouldn’t be needed if the industry could
stand on its own in a true free market.
Both consumers and regulators need
to be cautious when inviting in the wolf in sheep’s clothing that is the
commercial solar industry.
The
author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the
executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion
educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). Together they work
to educate the public and influence policy makers regarding energy, its role in
freedom, and the American way of life. Combining energy, news, politics, and,
the environment through public events, speaking engagements, and media, the
organizations’ combined efforts serve as America’s voice for energy.
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