Pedernales Electric Co-Op Scandal Begs Legislative Action

One of the most offensive scandals of 2008 has been the Pedernales Electric Co-Op’s continuing saga of greed and corruption. The PEC has royally urinated on its “members” – captive customers of the utility.

It has been the subject of extensive coverage by the Austin American-Statesman. See the most recent article http://www.statesman.com/search/content/business/stories/other/12/17/1217pec.html
as well as the accompanying Editorial by the Statesman: http://www.statesman.com/search/content/editorial/stories/12/17/1217pedernales_edit.html

Like most scandals, the web is woven by a number of players, and the circle is often unbroken:

The alleged ringleader in the scandal is Bennie Fuelberg, the former General Manager of the PEC. Apparently, the PEC made some questionable payments to the law firm of Clark, Thomas & Winters that eventually made their way to Curtis Fuelberg, the brother of Bennie Fuelberg. Among his many clients, Curtis Fuelberg is one of the lead lobbyists for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

In the AAS story, the spokesperson for Bennie Fuelberg is none other than Jason Stanford. Stanford is one of the leading liberal opposition researchers in Texas, a perennial Democratic Party vendor and frequently works for the TTLA on various political campaigns.

It appears to me that Curtis Fuelberg and Jason Stanford may be getting paid with monies from ill-gotten gains.

This week, a 390-page investigation was released which is full of problems for the PEC executives – and the captive ratepayers.

There are few heroes when corruption is so prevalent and ongoing, but the Austin American-Statesman and reporter Claudia Grisales along with Sen. Troy Frasier and Rep. Patrick Rose are to be commended for shedding light on the problems, and encouraging action.

Let’s hope the legislature sees fit to release the customers of this failed monopoly and brings justice to the members.

Perhaps the PEC should be split up, sold and the members get the profits, along with opportunity to shop for another electricity provider.

There they go again, filing lawsuits that will end up costing you more

There they go again, as Ronald Reagan would say. Environmental extremists are suing Dynegy Energy trying to stop their planned Waco-area plant.

Ever wonder why energy prices are so high? Thank the Sierra Club and Public Citizen – two groups who claim to want to protect the environment, but seem their ploy is to delay – and derail – new electricity generation in Texas UNLESS it is solar or wind..

We can’t fill Texas’ growing demand for electricity with solar and wind.

Part of the cost of delivering energy is the cost of litigation and the shortages we have due to delays in building new generating facilities.

So say “thanks” to the Sierra Club and Public Citizen when you sign the ever-increasing check to your electricity provider. Thanks for nothing!