The Koch Brothers have no interest.
State sale of heating plants questioned
JS Online
Feb. 22, 2011
As I reported last week, the budget repair bill includes a provision that empowers the state Department of Administration to sell the plants – and the sale would not have to be reviewed by the state Public Service Commission.
The sale could take place with or without the solicitation of bids, according to an analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee last week amended the provision to require that a cost-benefit analysis be done prior to a sale, and that any plant sale be submitted to the Joint Finance Committee for its review. But the panel left the "no-bid" language unchanged.
But what company would want to buy the plants?
Some opponents of the Walker bill are positing that Koch Industries, a contributor to Walker’s campaign, is a potential buyer of the plants.
But Koch denies any interest in buying the facilities. Koch operates paper mills, pipelines and fuel terminals in Wisconsin and employs 3,000 state residents.
“We have no interest in purchasing any of the state-owned power plants in Wisconsin and any allegations to the contrary are completely false,” Philip Ellender of Koch said in a statement Tuesday. “This is a dispute between public-sector unions and democratically elected officials over how best to serve the public interest. Unfortunately, there are those who would prefer to portray it as something else entirely.
In an interview, a Wisconsin utility leader and the head of a utility watchdog group questioned what value a private company might see in buying the plants.
“We would like the Joint Finance Committee to take a good look at the cost benefit analysis,” said David Benforado, who runs Municipal Electric Utilities of Wisconsin. “At first blush, these plants are probably all fully depreciated plants, and that’s not the time to sell. We would be very interested to make sure that it makes economic sense for the state.”
Charlie Higley, executive director of the Wisconsin Citizens’ Utility Board, agreed.
“They’d be lucky to get one bid,” Higley said.
Higley and the Madison-based Customers First coalition have written to Walker asking that the sale of heating plants be stripped out of the budget repair bill and be debated as a standalone bill.
“I don’t think anything should be sold no-bid and I don’t like the provision of this escaping any kind of review by the Public Service Commission and the sale automatically being considered ‘in the public interest,’ ” Higley said.
Full Story:
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/116684534.html
