Clean Energy Manufacturer Scores Victory In Fight For Economic Fairness

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Clean Energy Manufacturer Scores Victory In Fight For Economic Fairness

Settlement stipulates that Delaware’s renewable energy program must even the playing field for out-of-state companies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 21, 2015

 MEDIA CONTACT: Geoff Holtzman | geoff.holtzman@causeofaction.org | 703-405-3511

WASHINGTON – Today, Cause of Action is pleased to announce that a federal court in Delaware has approved a settlement agreement between our client, FuelCell Energy, Inc., and Delaware Governor Jack Markell and Delaware state utility officials regarding the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act (REPSA).

Under the terms of the settlement, Delaware’s Public Service Commission (DPSC) must now allow competition across state lines with respect to fuel cell manufacturers, in compliance with the commerce clause of the United States Constitution.

Cause of Action Executive Director Daniel Epstein issued the following statement:

“Today is a great day, not only for clean energy manufacturers, but for innovators and entrepreneurs everywhere who wish to compete on an even playing field. This settlement should send a message to government officials that fair interstate competition is a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution. Cause of Action is proud to have played a role in reaching this agreement, and we will continue to fight hard in the name of economic fairness.”

BACKGROUND:

In a 2012 complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy alleged that it was disadvantaged by the DPSC‘s special tariff awarded under REPSA to an in-state energy manufacturer and the associated State financial support for establishing in-state manufacturing that was offered to only one select company by the Governor of Delaware, without any prior public notice or bidding process.

FuelCell Energy, a global fuel cell company that designs, manufactures, installs, operates and services efficient and affordable stationary fuel cell power plants, argued that Delaware’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act, which was amended in 2011, violated the commerce clause of the United States Constitution, which prohibits state laws that discriminate against out-of-state competition.

Under REPSA, the State of Delaware only allowed bids on a State fuel cell project from a fuel cell company that agreed to establish manufacturing in the State, and the State provided financial incentives to support construction of the manufacturing facility, resulting in a sole-source contract rather than a competitively bid contract.

In April 2014, the District Court permitted FuelCell Energy to proceed with its constitutional claim.

The settlement agreement that we are announcing today will level the playing field for all out-of-state fuel cell manufacturers wishing to compete for business in the state of Delaware. Prior to this settlement, out-of-state fuel cell power plant manufacturers were prohibited from bidding on REPSA-funded incentives for fuel cell power generation projects, a violation of constitutional prohibitions on state-legislated discrimination against out-of-state businesses.

Cause of Action is a non-profit, nonpartisan strategic oversight organization committed to ensuring that government decision-making is open, honest, and fair.

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Weekly Rundown 10-16-2015

Cause of Action in the News:

Daily Caller  – Watchdog Group Hopes To Depose Hillary, State Department Officials                                                                                                       
Cause of Action has requested to depose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Under Secretary of Management for State Patrick Kennedy, the State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Margaret Grafeld, in addition to officials in the National Archives and Records Administration.

Our hope is that if the deposition of these individuals is allowed we will be able to shine a bright light onto the mystery of Hillary Clinton’s private email server.  A couple of the questions we plan on asking Mrs. Clinton include why she deleted emails in the first place and why she didn’t turn over electronic copies, which could contain insightful metadata.

In Other News:

Examiner.comFTC joins EPA, Justice in probes of Volkswagen

In addition to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission has joined the Volkswagen investigation.  The FTC is planning on looking into VW’s advertisements.  With at least 250 consumer lawsuits in 28 states and criminal probes in other countries this just adds to the car manufacturer’s woes.

SlateIRS Hasn’t Finished Doing Windows Upgrades Because It Can’t Find a Bunch of Its Computers

Even after spending $128 million upgrading their computers from Windows XP on their computers and Windows 2003 from their servers, the Internal Revenue Service isn’t finished. An audit revealed that almost fifty percent of the servers and over a thousand computers have not yet been upgraded.  It was also revealed that the IRS cannot find these computers and servers to upgrade them. “At the conclusion of our fieldwork, the IRS had not accounted for the location or migration status of approximately 1,300 workstations and upgraded only about one-half of its Windows servers.”

Washington ExaminerNew EPA climate rules target your air conditioning

The Environmental Protection Agency has introduced new rules that will directly affect the American people in their homes.  Air conditioners and refrigerators are the next target the EPA has in its sights.  The EPA’s administrator said that the rules would get us closer to meeting the current administration’s climate agenda.

Business InsiderFacebook, Google, Amazon and other big tech companies just slammed a proposed US cybersecurity law

A group of large tech companies have grouped together and have gone after the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which they claim “does not sufficiently protect users’ privacy or appropriately limit the permissible uses of information shared with the government.”  The act is supposed to make it easier for the government to get customer information from big tech companies.  As of right now, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is being deliberated in Congress.

Wall Street JournalClinton Server’s Technical Problems Boosted Use of Personal Accounts (In less than a month, the server appeared to stop functioning at least twice, according to emails the conservative group Citizens United obtained)

By now everyone has heard of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.  What everyone may not know is that after being in use for only a month the server started having technical difficulties.  When the server was down the email addresses that it was responsible for weren’t working either, which may have led to the use of personal email accounts to send State Department emails.

Weekly Rundown 10-9-2015

Cause of Action in the News:

Government ExecOMB Pressured to Invoke Bush Directive Banning Earmarks

The week Cause of Action has partnered with Demand Progress, another government watchdog, to petition the Office of Management and Budget to enforce an executive order that was put in place to protect taxpayers.  When looking into the discretionary spending of federal agencies, we discovered “that OMB’s current efforts to ensure that discretionary grant decision-making is transparent and merit-based are ineffective.”

Dan Epstein, Executive Director of Cause of Action, said the following about the matter: “Cause of Action’s research shows that for years, federal agencies have been ignoring a binding executive order designed to protect taxpayer dollars from being misused. Our organizations believe that Washington has a duty to the public to ensure that federal discretionary spending decisions are transparent and merit-based.”

In Other News:

PoliticoJudges refuse to align Clinton email FOIA lawsuits

With almost 40 Freedom of Information Act lawsuits concerning Hillary Clinton’s private email server, the current administration had requested that they all be combined into one suit.  The federal court judges in charge of those cases have all denied the request.  Chief Judge Richard Roberts said “The judges who have been randomly assigned to these cases have been and continue to be committed to informal coordination so as to avoid unnecessary inefficiencies and confusion, and the parties are also urged to meet and confer to assist in coordination.”

Daily SignalAudit: IRS Fails Transparency Test on Over 1 in 10 FOIA Requests

“Although the IRS properly released thousands of pages from these documents, taxpayer rights still may have been violated because some information was erroneously withheld.”  This was said in an audit that determined that 12.3 percent of the time the IRS failed to turn over Freedom of Information Act documents.  In addition, the audit also found that “eight cases we identified included improperly withheld information of examination and collection activity and other tax return information that the taxpayer or authorized Power of Attorney should have received.”

Washington Business JournalDHS leads federal cybersecurity efforts, but will other agencies follow?

The Department of Homeland Security has announced that they will be using a private company Raytheon Co. to help with their cybersecurity.  They are the first government agency to adopt this method of protection for their IT environment.  Experts believe this shows us that the agencies themselves are unable to handle all of their cybersecurity without private sector assistance.

Washington ExaminerAttorney general blasts FBI leaks in Clinton email probe

Attorney General Loretta Lynch chastised the FBI for the anonymous leak of information regarding the FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server.  Since the leak, the FBI has confirmed an investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email. Attorney General Lynch said “I think leaks are detrimental to any matter, no matter what it is, no matter who is involved.”

BreitbartREP. JIM JORDAN SAYS HOUSE WILL IMPEACH HEAD OF IRS

Representative Jim Jordan has claimed that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will be impeached by the House this session.  The IRS has failed to be helpful and has in fact discouraged the investigations into the Tea Party scandal. “If we don’t hold some people accountable in the executive branch for the executive overreach we’ve seen in [the Obama] administration, then they’ll never get the message,” said Rep. Jordan about the issue.

Cause of Action Teams With Demand Progress To De-Politicize Federal Spending Decisions

Cause of Action Teams With Demand Progress To De-Politicize Federal Spending Decisions

Oversight organizations call on Office of Management and Budget to enforce pro-transparency Executive Order

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 7, 2015

Cause of Action Media Contact: Geoff Holtzman | geoff.holtzman@causeofaction.org | 703-405-3511

Demand Progress Media Contact: Daniel Schuman | daniel@demandprogress.org | 202-577-6100

WASHINGTON – Today, nonprofit government accountability organizations Cause of Action and Demand Progress are petitioning the Office of Management and Budget to uphold an executive order that ensures American taxpayers are protected from government spending on wasteful earmarks.

Cause of Action and Demand Progress have penned a letter to OMB Director Shaun Donovan, asking that his agency issue a rule that will ensure Executive Order 13457, Protecting American Taxpayers From Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks, is enforced. This executive order was intended to curb abusive earmarking and politically pressured discretionary spending, but a Cause of Action investigation has found that the order has not been widely enforced.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL LETTER

Cause of Action Executive Director Daniel Epstein issued the following statement:

“Cause of Action’s research shows that for years, federal agencies have been ignoring a binding executive order designed to protect taxpayer dollars from being misused. Our organizations believe that Washington has a duty to the public to ensure that federal discretionary spending decisions are transparent and merit-based.”

Demand Progress Policy Director Daniel Schuman issued the following statement:

“The administration must add a measure of transparency to earmark requests received by executive branch agencies. Federal spending decisions should be made on merit and in the sunshine. There already is an executive order on the books that addresses secret calls and letters by Congress and special pleaders. It is time to enforce it.”

Cause of Action’s examination of federal discretionary spending through Freedom Of Information Act records and federal databases has revealed that OMB’s current efforts to ensure that discretionary grant decision-making is transparent and merit-based are ineffective. As a result, political appointees and others can use federal tax dollars to reward political allies and appease powerful interests.

Cause of Action and Demand Progress feel that this demonstrates a need for OMB to act in order to restore transparency and accountability. Therefore, the organizations are petitioning OMB to issue, at a minimum, a memorandum that does the following:

1. Confirms that Executive Order 13457 binds discretionary agency spending;

2. Affirms that it is prohibited to allocate discretionary funds in response to congressional requests outside of a transparent, merit-based decision-making process, and that agencies are not obligated to fund such requests;

3. Recognizes that congressional and non-congressional entities and individuals can and do exert pressure on discretionary spending decision-making on federal projects, programs, contracts, and grants;

4. Requires executive departments and agencies to make available to the public records of all written and oral communications from any source that references: (1) earmarks previously enacted into law, (2) earmarks referenced in congressional reports or materials, or (3) discretionary funds not yet awarded, if the agency is “pressured informally to show special favor to certain parties or interests in the course of agency decision-making;”

5. Directs executive departments and agencies to make records of these communications publicly available through their respective websites within 30 days of receiving such communications.

Cause of Action is a non-profit, nonpartisan strategic oversight organization committed to ensuring that government decision-making is open, honest, and fair.

Demand Progress is a national grassroots group with more than two million affiliated activists who fight for basic rights and freedoms needed for a modern democracy.

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Weekly Rundown 10-2-2015

In the News:

The HillAudit: Federal networks still vulnerable

The Government Accountability Office audited the cybersecurity of federal agencies and found 24 that had “persistent weaknesses.”  The GAO stated that “These deficiencies place critical information and information systems used to support the operations, assets, and personnel of federal agencies at risk, and can impair agencies’ efforts to fully implement effective information security programs.”  Even though many agencies have received recommendations on ways to increase their cybersecurity, most agencies have failed to adopt any new measures.

NY Times3 Hillary Clinton Emails Deemed ‘Secret’ in State Dept. Review of 6,300 Pages

In the latest batch of Hillary Clinton’s emails turned over by the State Department three emails were found that had been classified as “Secret.”  In addition to classified emails, there was also evidence that Russian hackers had attempted to gain access to the former Secretary of State’s private server.  The hackers had attempted a phishing attack using emails claiming New York speeding tickets and it is unclear if Mrs. Clinton opened the emails even though they remained on her sever.

Fox NewsFederal judge blocks new Obama administration rules on fracking

New oil and gas regulations have been stopped for now by a federal judge who claims the Environmental Protection Agency has not been granted authority to regulate hydraulic fracking.  Those seeking to prevent the new regulations have said that the rules copy state regulations already in place and would be at the cost of jobs.  Judge Scott Skavdahl’s ruling was based off of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which stated that the EPA has no power to regulate fracking.

Daily BeastHillary Clinton on Emails: Whatever (So much for that apology. On Meet the Press, Clinton was again nonchalant about her use of a private server.)

“Whatever happened to them, happened to them.”  This was what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about the emails on her private server when speaking to Chuck Todd of Meet the Press.  Her husband, former President Bill Clinton said “I have never seen so much expended on so little,” when talking about the email scandal.  Mrs. Clinton claims she has “done all that I can to take responsibility, to be as transparent as possible.”

Government ExecObama Again Found Lacking in Open Government Efforts

President Obama’s pledge to be the most transparent administration we have ever seen has continued to fall short.  In the fight for a more open government a collection of advocacy groups have requested that this administration “adopt substantive, measurable and transformative commitments, pursue a more collaborative relationship with civil society, actively support transparency-related legislation and policies, push the intelligence community to significantly reduce both secret law and overclassification, and ensure agencies work both to fulfill and exceed commitments.”

Wall Street JournalEPA Sets Stricter Standard for Ozone (New limit on pollutant linked to smog draws criticism from industry groups, environmentalists)

The national limit for smog has greatly been reduced due to new Environmental Protection Agency rules.  These new regulations are difficult to meet for manufacturers, large and small alike, but some are angry that the limit wasn’t reduced further.  Penalties, such as loss of federal funding, could be on the table for states that fail to reduce their smog emissions to the new limit.

Cause of Action Appeals DOJ’s Denial of Access to Information Regarding Billions of Dollars in Big Bank Settlement Funds

On Friday, Cause of Action appealed the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) determination that it has no publically releasable records relating to Cause of Action’s Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request regarding DOJ’s settlement agreements with big banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

On June 16, 2015, Cause of Action sought records under FOIA to show whether DOJ exercised proper authority in executing its Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (“RMBS”) settlement agreements, totaling $36.65 billion. Arguably, DOJ’s settlement agreements impermissibly settle claims of DOJ and other agencies, improperly distribute funds to unrelated third parties, and do not ensure that the funds DOJ and third parties receive are used to compensate bank victims. On July 29, DOJ stated that the agency could locate no responsive records and closed Cause of Action’s FOIA request.

Cause of Action’s appeal questions the adequacy of DOJ’s search for records and, alternatively, DOJ’s implicit determination that responsive records exist, but are not subject to the requirements of FOIA. Given the billion dollar price tag on these settlements and significant effort DOJ has expended to supposedly hold banks accountable, it is highly improbable that no records exist regarding DOJ’s power to make these deals obligating banks to pay billions to third parties in purported consumer relief efforts, which includes a mandatory minimum of $150 million in donations to certain non-profit organizations.

It follows that DOJ likely did not perform an adequate search, or is improperly excluding the records it found. Otherwise, DOJ did not have the power to enter into these billion dollar settlement agreements in the first place. That is an argument that Cause of Action has been exploring since DOJ announced these RMBS settlement agreements with considerable fanfare.

Cause of Action’s appeal asks DOJ to perform a reasonable search, adequately describe that search, and produce the responsive documents it identifies.

Weekly Rundown 9-25-2015

Cause of Action in the News:

Wall Street JournalNew Front Opens on Clinton Emails (News that FBI has recovered emails prompts Republican senator to ask for independent review)

With the turnover of Hillary Clinton’s email server to the FBI, Cause of Action is continuing to work for a more transparent government.  We are suing both the State Department and the National Archives to get them to do the right thing and ensure all required work emails were given to the government.  “Our lawsuit calls on both of those agencies to ensure that these records are properly recovered, and we intend to continue our efforts until that happens,” said Cause of Action Executive Director Dan Epstein.

Daily CallerWhite House Intervened In Dept. Of Energy FOIA Requests

A White House memo was found that told government FOIA lawyers that they must consult with the White House if any FOIA requests included what they called “White House equities.” “This report is yet another piece of evidence that shows how the Obama administration, which was supposed to be the most transparent in history, is anything but. Information seekers, whether they’re individuals, members of the news media or public interest groups, should be extremely troubled by the fact that this White House has been interfering with how federal agencies comply with the Freedom of Information Act,” Dan Epstein Executive Director of Cause of Action said about the memo.

In Other News:

NY TimesInvestigators Find Emails Hillary Clinton Said Were Erased

The FBI easily found emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said had been deleted.  Investigators are looking into what Clinton had described as “personal” emails and are checking to see if any of them have any level of classification.

Daily CallerEPA Doesn’t Know About Dozens Of Its Own IT Systems

Most people would assume that a government agency would have some system in place to keep track of it’s IT.  However, the Environmental Protection Agency has an unknown number of IT systems that it doesn’t know about.  Not knowing about your IT systems puts the data on those systems at a much greater risk to data breaches.

Free BeaconNSA Director: Foreign Spies Would See Clinton’s Emails as a Target

The director of the National Security Administration has admitted that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails would be a prime target for foreign spies.  Director Mike Rogers said that if the situation we’re reversed and it was a foreign leader who was conducting business on a private server, saying “From a foreign intelligence perspective, that represents opportunity.”

MondaqFTC Urges Start-Ups To Incorporate Cybersecurity Early

At a Federal Trade Commission conference the FTC emphasized the importance of cybersecurity for small to medium size businesses.  This conference occurred after a Court of Appeals decision to hold Wyndham Worldwide, company who was victim to a cybersecurity attack, responsible for the consumer data loss.  The FTC’s goal is to “ensure that companies make truthful representations about their privacy and security practices, and that they provide reasonable security for consumer data.”