UPDATED: Waste-to-energy owners top 2013 lobbying clients
After publication, a major lobbying firm amended reports for various clients. Ethics Commission officials confirmed a misunderstanding caused over-reporting of some lobbying expenditures. The story and data below reflects those amended figures for clients of lobbyist Craig Nelson, of Doyle and Nelson.
The co-owner of a waste-to-energy facility in Orrington spent the most on lobbying in 2013 by a long shot, spending more than four times the amount as the next-highest client of lobbying services.
According to a state database of registered lobbyists, USA Energy Group LLC paid more than $460,000 to attorney Craig Nelson last year for lobbying services, tied in part to laws specifying criteria for state regulators to license solid waste disposal facilities. One such bill, LD 1483, in its original version, sought to create a financial mechanism for encouraging development of solid waste processing facilities that reflected state priorities for processing solid waste. The final version of the bill, passed into law without the governor’s signature in March, now requires the state to consider solid waste management hierarchy — placing the lowest priority on dumping in landfills — when licensing new solid waste facilities.
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USA Energy Group and Set PERC Investments LLC are partners in Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., which operates a 25-megawatt waste-to-energy facility serving towns in central and Down East Maine.
Verso Paper paid registered lobbyists the second most last year, hiring them to pursue energy cost reduction bills, leading ultimately to LD 1559, or the omnibus energy bill, which set broad energy goals for the state. Verso spent $105,600 on registered lobbyist compensation last year.
Updated: The Industrial Energy Consumer Group topped the list of lobbying expenditures, with just more than $45,000 spent on activities incidental to lobbying. The Pew Charitable Trusts ranked second for lobbying expenditures, including almost $7,000 spent on officials, nearly $9,000 on events.
The lobbying totals from the Maine Ethics Commission cover the period from Dec. 1, 2012, to Nov. 30, 2013. People spending eight hours or more in a given month trying to influence policy making and votes are required to register and file lobbying disclosure forms.
The compensation and expenditures above come from reports by registered lobbyists, or people who spent more than 8 hours in a given month lobbying. The definition of lobbying, outlined in section 312-A subsection 9 of the state's lobbyist disclosure law.
Comprehensive data for the most recent lobbying activity was not yet available as the state is transitioning to a new elections and lobbying disclosure website.
— Darren Fishell
Correction: A previous version of this story and chart incorrectly stated expenditures by Northeast Delta Dental. The incorrect data for Northeast Delta Dental was a result of faulty tabulation of data provided to Mainebiz by the Maine Ethics Commission. Separately, our story mischaracterized lobbying expenditures. They are incidental expenditures made in the course of lobbying. They are not direct expenditures or gifts for elected officials.
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