Attorney General Martha Coakley is asking state utility regulators to levy a record fine against National Grid for what she called an inadequate response to power outages after Tropical Storm Irene and a rare October snowstorm.
At a press conference Thursday, Coakley recommended that National Grid pay $16.3 million for poor handling of the storms, which left hundreds of thousands of customers without power when Irene pummeled the state in August and again when a pre-Halloween storm sent snow-laden tree limbs crashing through power lines.
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When did an arrogant Demohack, who gets called 'General' by syncophants, get the power to levy fines against utilities? Isn't the Department of Public Utilities the agency that is supposed to oversee and regulate electric power companies? This is merely another pretentious Democratic Party power grab. Yes, the major utilities in Masschusetts were pretty bad in restoring power to some parts of the state after the hurricane and the snow storm. But you can bet that none of the folks who lost food, the use of health support equipment and other inconveniences will be reimbursed and that Martha the General will pocket the $16 million from Northern Grid if the DPU upholds her pickpocketing. The Massachusetts Attorney General's department has a multihued, and seemingly conflicted, relationship with the state DPU. Martha can get her underlings to try to influence utility rates, to represent the DPU in legal cases, and to dispute the DPU on certain issues. Now we have Martha trying to take on the glory of supposedly acting as a consumers' defender against the poor service of a couple of electric providers. Oh yes, if Martha gets away with the fine against National Grid, she promises to raid NStar's coffers next, same case, just a different day, and maybe different amount of moolah.
We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us - if at all - not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men The stuffed men.
With political grandstanding by Mass. politicians like AG Coakley, it's no wonder that Mass. ranked 47 out of 50 in this year's Best and Worth Survey by Chief Executive magazine of states in which to do business. The ultimate losers, if National Grid has to pay $16 million, are their customers (many with low income) who will eventually absorb the fine through their utility bills. Meanwhile, Ms. Coakley will probably be running for higher office.