Progressive Democrats for Delaware Prepare For Lawsuit to Advance Offshore Wind
Dover, DE, March 31, 2008 — In an effort to ensure that Delaware’s proposed offshore wind power project, which was recommended by the Public Service Commission back in December, is not derailed and ultimately killed by backroom deal making, Progressive Democrats for Delaware announces the formation of a Litigation Advisory Committee to plan for future legal action against parties that have been acting in bad faith.
PDD spokesman Jason Scott said, “We hope it does not come to this, but there are a few people in the General Assembly who have shown through their actions that they are determined to frustrate the fair and open bid process that resulted in the selection of the offshore Blue Water Wind project.” Scott said that the efforts headed by State Senator Harris McDowell to force an outcome that kills the offshore wind power project are simply wrong.
“Delawareans will not stand for it,” Scott added. “Delaware is overwhelmingly in favor of this project, and it is not hyperbole to say that every man, woman, and child in Delaware is being negatively impacted by this obstructionism. If it comes down to filing a class action suit, we believe that we will have an extremely large class of litigants.”
Scott points to State Senator Harris McDowell’s hearings, which were described as an “inquisition” that “put the PSC on trial” as prima facie evidence that certain members of the General Assembly are not acting in good faith.
About – Progressive Democrats for Delaware is a grassroots, volunteer organization that is recognized by Democracy For America and the Delaware Democratic Party.
The talking points that back up the claims in the press release that McDowell (Deluca, Copeland and Delmarva Power) were acting in bad faith are:
> As of March 5th, there was no record of Randall Speck’s hiring. There was no contract and no purchase order while Speck was performing the work McDowell hired him for, both of which are required by the State’s purchasing laws.
> Since March 5th McDowell has had three versions of who hired Speck; the Energy Committee, the leadership of the Senate, and the Democratic Caucus.
>McDowell has hired a court reporter to transcribe the tapes from the hearings. At around $4 per page with hundreds of pages to transcribe this is another “off the books” expense.
The legal remedies being considered:
Ø Seeking a court order (writ of mandamus) to return the matter to the agencies basically ordering them to do what HB 6 instructed them to do.
Ø An appeal to the Attorney General’s office to undertake an investigation of McDowell and company.
Ø Class action. That being the least likely.
The bottom line is that if we could sue McDowell and Delmarva Power for being criminally stupid it would be a slam dunk. Unfortunately we can’t sue them for that.
Our desire is to keep the process moving forward. Nobody wants this to end up in the courts, but we want everyone to know that the Blue Water Project was selected by a fair and open process – and we will not go away quietly if that process is subverted by three State Senators who’s motives are suspect at best.
Let’s not forget Deluca, Copeland and Hocker as the main forces against the project.
DeLuca (D) has been very under the radar. All the hijinx we know of can be tied directly to McDowell.
Copeland (R) is the “Chauncey Gardner” of wind power. He knows nothing, but always happens to be in the room when shit goes down.
Let’s hope the clique gets the message loud and clear.
If not, we can see what DE looks like after overall energy prices go up over 30% in the next year or so. Right now somebody wants a windfall profit from the backs of the people.
The least the legislature could do is remove all regulation on energy production so we can all produce energy rather than keeping it concentrated in the hands of the clique who purchase it from other states and run it like Enron.
Remember what happened to Enron?
When that happens to a state imagine what it looks like…. Guess who gets asked to pick up the tab for that?
I wonder how much pressure it will take to get McDowell to spill who is behind this travesty. You all are on the right track. The senate leadership is acting against what is best for us all in the long-term.
For those who can’t afford the few extra dollars a month (and there definately are many who can’t) there should be a relief fund of some kind.
For sure, DP&L is already increasing costs to us at a steady pace. Much of what their 59% boondoggle went to was the building up of pole and line energy distribution infrastructure for all of the new growth in Sussex and Kent.
No one wants to talk about that but most of what comes out of Adams drawer is good for developers and bad for everyone else. Adams was the one who went to DNREC a few years ago and forced them to halt the ready-to-implement Pollution Control Strategy for the Inland Bays. He only did that for the Capanos etc. not for the bays.
Wonderful plan. I hope it works.
One thing has to be pointed out–where in the DE GOP would you see a group willing to sue members of its own party in the General Assembly? Nowhere.
The best thing GOP “activists” can do is secretly write a letter about the nepotism of one GOP House Rep but not publicly condemn her.
But even that much was too scary for them. So what does the GOP do then?
1) They hastily draft anti-nepotism legislation and put the offending GOP Rep’s name on the bill to hide her corruption and
2) They then spin some BS story about how the Rep never engaged in nepotism after all because her relative began his (ANNUALLY RENEWED) state job before she came to the legislature.
That’s the extent of DE GOP integrity. A secret soft-ball letter followed by an immediate coverup.
Yet the Progressive Democrats of Delaware are looking to take elected Democrats to court IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
That distinction really tells you which party has the activists that really care about Delawareans and which party only looks on public advocacy as a pretense and campaign strategy.
Enron was incorporated in the State of Delaware. Did all that phony money filter through?
There are democrat activists, Independent Party and Green , and citizens who belong to no party, all affected by this decision.
Wind is a citizen issue, a non-partisan issue. If we want to move forward we need support from all. If they don’t officially support, get a candidate to oppose!