New subject: two emails from National concerning Intervention

26 Jul 2007


      Let's have a phone conference Friday, July 27 at 7:00 p.m. to start the
plan for intervention.  If you cannot make this time please let me know
beforehand.
Karen
1 (866) 501-6174
Conference Code: 1005700
________________________________
From: Stephen M. Walker [mailto:stephenwalkeresq@gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 11:02 PM
To: Grubb, Karen
Cc: James Kotcon; Barbara Fallon; Jonathan Rosenbaum
Subject: Re: two emails from National concerning Intervention
I'm available pretty much any time this week.
Steve
On 7/23/07, Grubb, Karen <kgrubb@fairmontstate.edu > wrote:
I am leaving this weekend and will be gone for a week.  Who wants to
have a phone conference this week to get started on the plan?
I spoke with David Herring last Friday and just sent that form, too.
Below are the two emails from Erin Chalmers.
Karen
-----------------------------------------------------
From: Erin.Chalmers@sierraclub.org [mailto: Erin.Chalmers@sierraclub.org
mailto:Erin.Chalmers@sierraclub.org ]
Sent: Wed 6/27/2007 8:09 PM
To: william.depaulo@gmail.com; pjgrunt@gmail.com; Grubb, Karen;
jkotcon@wvu.edu
Subject: Allegheny Transmission Line intervention
Hi Bill and all,
On behalf of the national Sierra Club, the WV chapter has authorization
to intervene in the PSC hearing in the Allegheny transmission line case.
It looks like a great issue and I'm glad the chapter is taking it on!
I think this case presents many opportunities and also some difficult
issues.  You all are obviously already working with other chapters and
groups on the larger issue, but to the extent I can be of assistance in
getting resources, please let me know.  For instance, I may be able to
find testimony from other PSC hearings that addresses the true costs of
coal or potential rate savings from efficiency.  In terms of issues, my
concern on this case is mostly financial - as you well know, the chapter
will have to decide how much it can put into the case and plan
accordingly.  Bill has generously offered to carry out this case on a
reduced fee basis.  My understanding from talking with Bill today is
that he expects the chapter to make good faith efforts to raise funds to
pay for part of his time but that there is no specific fee cap or
arrangement.  Because you are a chapter member, Bill, I'm sure you'll
work closely with Karen and others to make sure they understand how much
time you are putting in and how much payment you expect.
I bring this up just because I have seen similarly lax fee arrangements
go awry in other cases, and I don't want any surprises for the chapter
or for Bill down the road.  So I strongly encourage Karen and the
chapter to work very closely with Bill and to make sure he is
comfortable with what the chapter is raising for funds for him.  The new
matter form I received noted that $5000 would be allotted to legal
expenses - I don't believe this was expected to be a fee cap of any
sort, but rather just an estimate of possible and reasonable costs that
the chapter would fund as needed.  Again, I expect that Karen and Bill,
and others, will work out their expectations as to paying for  Bill's
time.  An little work now in terms of figuring out your funding
expectations is worth it to avoid big headaches later.  I have seen big
fights in chapters over fee issues and just want to make sure that
doesn't happen here.
As another reminder, any settlement (which doesn't seem likely at this
point) would require separate national authorization.  Also, please keep
me informed of any major developments in the case and feel free to ask
if you have any questions I might be able to help with.
Best of luck and thanks for your hard work on this issue!
thanks, 
Erin
Erin Chalmers
Environmental Law Fellow
Sierra Club Environmental Law Program 
85 Second St., 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 977-5765 phone
(415) 977-5793 fax
-----------------------------------------------------
From: James Kotcon [mailto: jkotcon@wvu.edu mailto:jkotcon@wvu.edu ]
Sent: Tue 6/26/2007 10:00 AM
To: Grubb, Karen; Erin.Chalmers@sierraclub.org
Cc: Fallon, Barbara; Paul Wilson; 'Dave Muhly'; Glen Besa;
Peter.Martin@sierraclub.org; 'James Kotcon'
Subject: RE: Allegheny Transmission line deadline - WVPSC Intervention
Thanks for the leads.  We (I) have already contacted Synapse, as they
worked with us on the Longview case.  Unfortunately, they have already
been retained by other state parties, and due to the potential conflict
of interest, are unable to assist us.  I will follow up with the other
leads.
JBK
...
...
...
Erin.Chalmers@sierraclub.org 6/25/2007 8:49 PM >>>
Hi Jim, Karen and all,
Thanks for the detailed new matter form that Paul just sent.  I wanted
to
get back to you with some potential financial and expert resources for
this case.
First, it looks like the national law program is interested in 
contributing up to about $3000 toward the case.  This case fits well
with
our ongoing energy work, so we'd love to support it.    Also, you may
have
already tried, but if not, it might be worth your while to ask the
Club's 
national Global Warming and Smart Energy Committee - Joan Saxe is chair.
I
have no idea if they have money, but they might have either money or
interest in helping in other ways (finding other resources, helping with
media, etc).  Ditto with the Sustainable Planet Strategy Team.  I'll
also
alert our media dept that this is happening, and they might be able to
offer some assistance as well in the form of advising, writing press 
releases or looking over ones you have.
Second, I have a couple potential leads for expert witness/analysis
help.
1) Synapse Energy Consultants.  We have used them before in other cases,
including in Florida.  We have worked with David Schlissel (tell him 
Kristin Henry referred you) before, who was very good.  Their website
is:
http://www.synapse-energy.com/aboutus/
2) ACEEE: http://www.aceee.org/   We don't have a specific contact
there, 
but they may be able to help
3) HP Energy Associates, in Massachusetts  -  Hale Powell is the
contact,
who we have worked with before.
hpenergy@aol.com
978-392-8442
Folks in our office also recommended that you might be able to get more
bang for your buck if you were able to partner with a local university
who
could then work with one or more of the experts.  The hired expert could
do some big picture research and could potentially assign some discrete
tasks to university researchers, thus stretching your money as well as
getting more local buy-in and support.
Lastly, I attached a memo one of our interns recently compiled - it
lists 
existing research and papers addressing costs and other issues of
demand-side management and energy efficiency.  Some of those reports
could
be helpful.
thanks, and I'll work with Jim DePaulo to get national authorization in 
time for him to file on the chapter's behalf,
Erin
(this is a report mentioned in the other attachment that
can't be easily found online)
Erin Chalmers
Environmental Law Fellow 
Sierra Club Environmental Law Program
85 Second St., 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 977-5765 phone
(415) 977-5793 fax

Re: [EC] two emails from National concerning Intervention