The Caesar Rodney Institute announced that David Stevenson, director of the Center for Energy Competitiveness at CRI, is among four persons who filed a lawsuit against the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and DNREC Secretary and Colin O’Mara over tighter air pollution standards.
According to a release, the complaint claims O’Mara does not have the power to reduce the agency’s new carbon emissions goals, the basis for raising the carbon dioxide permit fees. The plaintiffs also asserted that DNREC is violating the Delaware Constitution The new regulatory ruling will cost Delaware families and businesses over $50 million a year in fees collected through consumers’ electric bills, the release said.
“Multiple parties warned DNREC this decision was a potential violation of the Delaware Constitution in public comment sessions but the comments were ignored,” Stevenson stated. ” The state constitution specifically requires that all taxes and fees must be approved by a 3/5 majority in each legislative chamber.”
“One of the biggest debates in the legislature this year was over a tax increase,” Plaintiff and State Representative Harold “Jack” Peterman, R-Milford, said. “Twenty-two legislators opposed an attempt by Delmarva Power to raise electric rates, and both issues involved less money than this. Twenty-five percent of the money collected must be spent on energy efficiency projects and on helping people pay their electric bills, according to a multi-state Memorandum of Understanding. Unlike most state spending, the legislature has no say in how the money raised from this fee increase will be spent.”
Other plaintiffs listed are: Christian Hudson, of Hudson Management and Sam Yoder & Sons in Greenwood; and John Moore, CEO of Acorn Energy in Wilmington and a CRI board member.
The case will be heard by Judge Richard Stokes, Superior Court judge, in Georgetown.
The institute, based in Dover, has turned to litigation in an attempt to roll back state energy policies, claiming the costs are hurting the Delaware economy and consumers. It has remained a skeptic of climate change
An earlier suit claimed that that the state played favorites in selecting Bloom Energy to install fuel cells that feed power into the grid in the state. The installation was part of a deal that brought a Bloom plant to the state. Filings with the state indicate that Delmarva Power consumers pay $4 a month extra for the energy from the Bloom servers when compared to electricity prices on the open market.
The institute was one of the few initial critics of the federal and state loan package for Fisker Automotive, which had planned to build a hybrid automobile at the former GM Boxwood plant.
Two Chinese companies are now bidding for the remains of Fisker, which is now in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
