Home SCC chair, heading up NextEra-Dominion merger review, is a former NextEra attorney
Virginia

SCC chair, heading up NextEra-Dominion merger review, is a former NextEra attorney

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Photo: © yelantsevv/stock.adobe.com

The Virginia State Corporation Commission is in charge of the review of the proposed $67 billion NextEra Energy-Dominion Energy merger. The chair of the SCC, Kelsey A. Bagot, was a senior attorney at NextEra Energy before her appointment in 2024.

Small world.

Bagot, who will lead the review of the proposed merger, was a senior attorney at NextEra Energy for a 20-month stretch from 2022-2024.

No conflicts for her here.

Not at all.

That our General Assembly would confirm a senior attorney from a major utility to head up our SCC is bad enough.

Worse: her appointment was the work of two Democrats, Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, and Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, who were given the task of coming up with nominees to fill two open seats on the SCC in the 2024 legislative session.

The other opening in 2024 was filled by Sam Towell, an attorney for Smithfield Foods.

This is the corporate Democrats at their best.

Now we have Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who bent over backwards to protect billions in tax breaks for data center operators in the recent state budget negotiations, pretending to want to intervene on our behalf in the SCC review of the Big Utility merger.

It’s all kayfabe, ladies and germs.

Done deal.


ICYMI: NextEra-Dominion merger

 

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected]. Support AFP by signing up for our newsletter and/or powering our work with a one-time or monthly contribution.

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