What Price Is NGO Reform? A Pennsylvania PUC Rate Case Illustrates Why It's Desperately Needed.

Our buddy Jim Willis, at Marcellus Drilling News, reported yesterday on a story that appeared on PBS station WHYY, which got over $2.1 million from the William Penn Foundation for 2023-24. The latter is a private NGO created by the Haas family, which made its fortune in chemicals and left Philly with these problems, per Grok:

Rohm and Haas was associated with a Superfund site in Philadelphia, specifically the Rohm & Haas - Philadelphia Plant located at 5000 Richmond Street in the Bridesburg neighborhood (EPA ID: PAD077883346). The site, spanning 68 acres, had industrial roots dating back to the early 1700s, with chemical manufacturing beginning in 1847. Rohm and Haas acquired the property in 1920 and operated it until its closure in 2011, producing chemicals like ion exchange resins and herbicides. The facility was involved in the production of plastics, resins, and other chemicals, which led to environmental contamination.

The site is managed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action program, with remediation overseen by the EPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Contamination issues included hazardous substances in soil and groundwater, though human exposures were deemed under control by June 2005, and groundwater migration was reported as controlled by August 2019. The site was enrolled in the One Cleanup Program in 2009 to address environmental concerns efficiently. Remediation efforts have included the demolition of most structures by 2011, except for a guardhouse, and ongoing monitoring to manage contamination.

Additionally, a nearby 120-acre landfill in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania, known as the Rohm and Haas Co. Landfill (EPA ID: PAD002292068), operated from 1952 to 1975 as a disposal site for plant waste, including 309,000 tons of waste, with at least 4,600 tons classified as hazardous. This landfill, adjacent to the Delaware River, was also designated a Superfund site, with remediation involving a hydraulic barrier and RCRA-type cap. Rohm and Haas faced legal action under CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) in 1990, resulting in liability for cleanup costs totaling $401,348.78, with further costs for ongoing monitoring.

Thus, Rohm and Haas is linked to two Superfund-related sites in the Philadelphia area, with significant environmental impacts addressed through federal and state cleanup programs.

The WHYY story was about a rate case before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC). The Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) seeks a rate increase, and there is organized opposition from the usual suspects, plus a few new ones. They call themselves the Energy Justice Advocates (EJA), and include the following:

• POWER Interfaith,

• Sierra Club,

• Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania,

• Clean Air Council,

• Vote Solar,

• PennEnvironment, and

• Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group.

Facing this coordinated attack, PGW's attorney filed a motion asking, among other questions, for the following information:

17. Did any Member organization of EJA provide written documents, information, or materials to its Members, or make available to its Members, information, statements or materials, including emails, talking points or posters, for use at public hearings in these proceedings?

18. If the Answer to Interrogatory No. 17 is Yes:

a. List each written document, information or material, including emails, talking points or posters;

b. Identify each person who received each such document, information or material, including emails, talking points or posters; and,

c. Produce a copy of each document identified in this Answer.

As Jim noted, this was an attempt to get at the obvious collusion involved and expose it. Unfortunately, a few days after the WHYY story appeared, a PUC Administrative Law Judge ruled as follows:

Once prima facie applicability of First Amendment associational privilege is established, the burden shift on the party seeking discovery, PGW, to show that the information sought is “highly relevant” to the subject matter of the proceeding. In its Answer, EJA explains that this is a more demanding standard of relevance…

Instead of showing that the information sought is highly relevant to the subject matter of this proceeding – PGW’s proposed rate increase request, PGW argued that its requests are well within the broad scope of discovery and protested that EJA improperly imposed a requirement to demonstrate evidentiary relevance before EJA responds to the interrogatories…

Without more, I am unable to find that PGW has shown that the information sought by PGW-EJA Set I Nos. 17 and 18 is “highly relevant” to the subject matter of this proceeding. Consequently, disclosure of information concerning EJA’s communications with its members in preparation for the public input hearings in this proceeding must be denied under First Amendment associational privilege.

This is probably not the end of the litigation, but let me suggest, as a non-attorney, that the real question that should be asked, to prove the EJA represents the special interests of a few rather than those of the general public, is simple and was not asked. Who is funding the EJA coalition? The answer is another lesson in NGO abuse. Not only is the WHYY compromised, but here is some of the other funding directed to coalition members from the same elites who are funding WHYY reports on the subject::

• POWER Interfaith ($780,000 from 2022-24),

• Sierra Club ($462,000 in 2022 from 2022-24),

• Clean Air Council ($1,897,000 from 2022-24), and

• PennEnvironment ($110,000 in 2021).

The total amounts to well over $5 million of Haas family investment in the NGOs harassing PGW via lawsuit and reporting. If PGW seeks information on the apparent collusion involved against it, it should start by asking about these relationships between the NGOs and those who are financing it all. And, these are special interests who seek not the welfare of ratepayers but, rather, the destruction of reliable energy and, with it, energy security, for the sake of grifting and political power.

And, don’t think it's only the Haas family. It's also the Heinz family, the Park family, the Simons family and a handful of other elites. Consider why Vote Solar is involved and who funds it, per Grok:

Vote Solar, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocating for solar energy policies, is primarily funded through grants, contributions, and donations from individuals and foundations. Specific funding sources include:

• Sandler Foundation: A left-of-center philanthropy supporting various advocacy groups.

• Climate Imperative Foundation: Focused on environmental advocacy.

• Energy Action Fund: Supports clean energy initiatives.

• Energy Foundation: Funded their Low-Income Solar Policy Guide, developed with GRID Alternatives and the Center for Social Inclusion.

• 11th Hour Project: Also supported the Low-Income Solar Policy Guide.

• Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties: Provided grants in 2022 and 2023.

• Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston: Contributed in 2022 and 2023.

• Donor-Advised Funds: Including Foundation for the Carolinas, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Jewish Communal Fund, Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, Schwab Charitable Fund, and Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund.

In 2022, Vote Solar reported over $5.9 million in compensation for officers and employees, representing nearly 68% of total expenses…

And, here is who is behind Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania:

Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania (PSR PA) is primarily funded through grants, contributions, and membership donations. Specific funding sources include:

• Park Foundation: Awarded $90,000 in 2022 for assessing radiation exposure near unconventional gas development and $90,000 in 2023 for environmental data projects focused on community justice.

• Heinz Endowments: Provides funding support for PSR PA’s work through the Breathe Project, a program of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies.

We could go on and on, but the pattern is obvious. A small number of estraordinarly wealthy NGOs, mostly private foundations, are attacking PGW over rates that their preferred energy solutions would inevitably raise energy costs far more than PGW’s requested increase. Moreover, they know it and don’t care. It's all about grabbing ever more power and riches, and we’re doing nothing to stop this abuse.

Again, what price NGO reform? What will it take?

#NGOs #NGOreform #PGW #Haas #Heinz #ParkFoundation #WilliamPennFoundation #WHYY #CleanAirCouncil #POWERinterfath