Thursday Press Conference: Groups Demand Answers From Mayor Bowser on Exelon-Pepco Deal
Dec. 9, 2015
MEDIA ADVISORY
Thursday Press Conference: Groups Demand Answers From Mayor Bowser on Exelon-Pepco Deal
WHAT: Press conference to demand answers from Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser about her administration’s support for Exelon’s bid to take over Pepco.
Community leaders and public interest and good government groups will shine a light on the shadowy activities surrounding Bowser’s about-face on Exelon’s bid to take over Pepco and the role her administration has played in silencing opposition and manufacturing support for the latest takeover scheme.
The groups will call on Bowser to disclose why she reversed course and cut a settlement deal with the Chicago-based mega-utility after the D.C. Public Service Commission (PSC) unanimously rejected the takeover. They also will ask about tactics her administration employed to get the deal done.
Public Citizen and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network are still waiting for a response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed more than a month ago with the Executive Office of the Mayor seeking all internal correspondence between the mayor’s office, Pepco and Exelon regarding the controversial settlement negotiations.
And this week, Public Citizen issued a second FOIA request for correspondence between the Bowser administration and employees of the U.S. General Services Administration, which reportedly dropped its opposition to the merger after intense lobbying by Tommy Wells, the director of the District Department of Energy & Environment.
WHEN: 10 a.m. EST Thursday, Dec. 10
WHERE: On the steps of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C.
WHO: David Arkush, managing director, Public Citizen’s Climate Program
Delvone Michaels, executive director, Working Families
John Chelan, representative, D.C. for Democracy
Joyce Robinson-Paul, former ANC Commissioner, member of Citizen’s Utility Board
VISUAL: A 14-foot inflatable flashlight
BACKGROUND: The D.C. Public Service Commission unanimously rejected the proposed Exelon-Pepco merger on Aug. 25. Bowser stood behind the PSC’s decision at the time. On Oct. 6, just days after closing a $25 million land and naming rights deal with Pepco, she reached a settlement deal with Exelon to revive the merger. Since then, several opponents of the merger have dropped their opposition at the bequest of the Bowser administration.
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