Clarke Reed is one of the founding fathers of Mississippi’s modern Republican Party. Reed, 84, chaired the party for 10 years, beginning in 1966, when only 5 percent of the state’s population was Republican. Today, the GOP controls both state legislative houses and holds virtually every statewide office, with the exception of the office of the Attorney General.
Southern Company subsidiary, Mississippi Power Company, provides electricity to 23 Southeastern Mississippi counties. This electric utility monopoly is building a $3.8-billion coal plant in Kemper County, for which its customers will have to pay over time via their monthly electric bills. The state Legislature recently passed two bills for Mississippi Power and the Kemper plant: One allows the company to issue $1 billion in bonds for which its customers are responsible. The other authorized a seven-year phase-in plan for the Kemper plant’s electric rate structure.
Q. What is your political perspective on Mississippi Republicans and their support for Mississippi Power’s Kemper County lignite coal plant?
A. I was one of the first chairmen of the Republican Party (of Mississippi). We started the party up back then, in the 1960s, when Republicans comprised about 5% of the population. Now, of course, we’re the majority. I knew we’d get there. I didn’t know it would take so long: It took 50 years. The real power would be to have the House, the Senate and the governor, I thought. Then we would be able to do something great for the state. But guess what the signature legislation is going to be for this first-ever Republican-controlled state government? This lignite plant. And it’s a horrible thing. And I think it’s a political issue that could be used against us for years. It proves Republicans are for the millionaires and don’t give a darn about the state. It’s not true. But we’re in charge, and it’s what we look like.
Q. What economic impact do you think the Kemper plant will have on the state?
A. For the average poor guy, the electricity bill is a big bill to have. And for small businesses, it’s a great, big bill. And for large businesses, too. High electricity bills hurt the whole economy. Southern Company probably never made a better investment in 100 years, or however long they’ve been around. They spend $5 or $10 million – probably no more than five -- on lobbyists and get a $4 billion return. Where could they get a better return than that? They come to Mississippi to get it. We have a bought government over here. And they bought us. It’s outrageous. It’s that ridiculous: A few million dollars with lobbyists and a $4 billion return.
Q. What do you think about the Mississippi Republican establishment – Haley Barbour, Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves -- being pro-Kemper?
A. I don’t like it.
Q. You have said that you think true Republican economic values are those of the free market and the Milton Friedman school of thought.
A. We’re supposed to be more conservative ... When we elect Republicans – this is the first year we’ve ever had it all (in state government). We have full responsibility. And here we do this.
Q. What is your understanding of the Kemper plant? Advocates say: It’s a great economic development tool. It’s a job creator using a Mississippi resource – lignite coal. It’s a diversification of energy resources and fuel.
A. It’s totally foolish. We’re going to have more natural gas down here than we’ll ever need. About the economic development argument -- the more (Mississippi Power) spends, the more they get back. They borrow the money, and we pay it off for them. We have a surplus of power. We could be buying power. It’s going to run everybody out of that area, and then the rates will be even higher. High power bills are really destructive for small and big businesses. It hurts the whole state. It’s so -- so wrong. People don’t realize, I guess, that the more utilities spend, the greater their return. If they’ve got this kind of lobbying power -- if they can make Mississippi do this, there’s nothing they can’t make us do. A few more million dollars, and they can get another billion.
Q. Do you think it was a conflict of interest, for former Gov. Haley Barbour, a lobbyist for Southern Company, to have thrown so much support to the Kemper project from the governor’s mansion?
A. I don’t like the term “conflict of interest.” They could have gotten any lobbyist to do this. I’m sure (Barbour) sees it as right. He’s an honest and moral man. I’ve known him his whole life. But I think -- how could our elected officials have been duped into this thing by anybody … I would not have voted for it. I’m a big admirer of Tate Reeves, and our Speaker (of the House, Philip Gunn) would have been my choice, if I had been voting. People are going to wake up at some point and see what happened. If I recanted on the other side, I’d use this for all it’s worth politically. I’d say, “When those Republicans came in – those conservatives that we thought were going to do everything right – look what we got out of it.” That would be a great tool to use. If we do stuff like this when we’re in the majority, then we don’t deserve it. We ought to be thrown out.
Q. A power plant that would run on natural gas, instead of coal, was the alternative to building the Kemper plant. Mississippi Power argued that natural gas had historically been very expensive and would not be the most economical thing for its customers. What are your thoughts on natural gas?
A. The technological changes that allow people to drill for natural gas in shale formations have been a game changer. There’s no way natural gas is going to spike up with the amount of it that is coming online.
Bigger Pie Forum Q&A with Clarke Reed
Bigger Pie Forum is a Jackson Jambalaya advertiser and purchased distribution rights for its content.
Bigger Pie Forum is a nonprofit, educational organization that seeks to stimulate constructive discussions about encouraging economic freedom, discouraging cronyism, and helping Mississippi’s economy to grow. Please visit biggerpieforum.org and join us on Facebook.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
MS GOP founder Clark Reed to Bigger Pie: Kemper plant 'foolish'
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20 comments:
Boy is he right...spot on.
Yes...how many times will Mississippians stand for this sort of ripping off of the public?
Should we express our gratitude to the utility commissioners for being snowed, or for them snowing the constituents.
First question KF - is this a "paid advertisement"? Bigger Pie Forum is nothing now but a site bitching about the Kemper Plant, with a very one-sided view.
Clarke Reed is anything but an energy expert. Why is his opinion any more valuable than say, Ed Blackman's?
And for correctness, Clarke Reed is not a "founder" of the MS Republican Party. An early participant, yes. But not a founder.
Very good commentary and as far as I know, entirely correct. In my opinion, the technology for the lignite plant looks ridiculus compared to using natural gas as feeder fuel. The United States could be a net exporter of natural gas should the downstream producers choose to do so as with the resource plays coming on line there is an abundance of gas available with good infrastructure to take it to end users. I don't know that carbon dioxide capture has been done on the magnitude that will be run at the Kemper Plant in addition to ripping the countryside up to mine lignite.
Clarke Reed is not only well informed , he gets the facts before he opines...an old fashion notion to be sure.
He hung out with Bill Buckley,7:38 pm and Buckley didn't suffer fools like you!
this is 7:38, and I agree, Clarke Reed is well informed. A smart gentlemen. But energy has never been his field of expertise. Hanging out with Bill Buckley doesn't qualify him as one either. Don't know that Buckley was an expert in the production of electricity from any source - lignite, natural gas, hydro, or any of the others.
My comment was that being the former chairman of the MSGOP does not make one an expert in everything, much less the cutting edge technology. And to 7:42 and 8:04, would bet that you don't even qualify as being as much of an expert as a former state GOP chairman.
(BTW, I had a couple of opportunities to be around Buckley - in a personal setting - but not nearly to the extent that Clarke did. Didn't make me an energy expert either.)
I’m sure (Barbour) sees it as right. He’s an honest and moral man
How did Charles Wife get the Katrina contract?
OK, so Clarke wasn't a 'founder', but what the party has become was built largely on the efforts of Clarke and a small handful of others. Like Barbara Mandrell's 'peanuts in a Coke', Reed was a Mississippi Republican before being a Mississippi Republican was cool. Does he need to be an 'energy expert'? No.
But BPF is interviewing him as to his opinion about the Kemper plant? Respect his opinion as a political commentator, but whether lignite is a better fuel than natural gas? Or whether carbon dioxide has a commercial value? But since he agrees with Foote, BPF features his interview and JJ reprints it.
7:38:
Read through the post itself and your question will be answered.
"They come to Mississippi to get it. We have a bought government over here."
Truer words were never spoken. Our politicians, ever looking ahead to the next election, are just as available for purchase as they ever were in the past. The only difference is that the bribes are now neatly listed for public review (except in the case of Jackson mayoral candidates, apparently) and titled "campaign contributions."
Things were supposed to change when we ran the Dems out of office, but our GOP state government is about to whiff for the second Legislative session.
"Meet the new boss,
Same as the old boss..."
I have an attraction to the core Republican values of personal responsibility, traditional values, and conservation. The trickle down economics and whats-good-for-big-business-is-good-for-the-citizen philosophy has only average appeal. It usually is simply self-interest and/or short-sighted. I admire Mr. Reed for making this point.
Responding to the 7:38 post, I have 30 years as an engineer for Oil and Gas E&P companies before retiring, in both domestic and international capacities so I do know a little about energy. What is your strong suit?
There is a lot of lignite coal in the Delta but to my knowledge no one there is using domestic mined lignite, at least not like the Kemper plant will be using it. Entergy, which serves the Delta, provides power through a lot of low cost nuclear and also just added a traditional natural gas plant in Hinds County to their power generation. Currently, natural gas provides a very affordable alternative to other fossil fuels.
KF, I had read the entire post before I commented. Realize Reed was talking about the politicians that approved the financing (that doesn't involve state dollars) but he makes the assumption that the plant is not financially feasible when making his criticisms. I was questioning his ability to know that this is a bad deal - same questions I raise with the folks at Bigger Pie (who, by the way, have a dog in the hunt).
7:50; Sorta like everybody here being an expert on leasing vs buying and evaluating multiple proposals without having seen them?
The financing is up to $1 Bil bonds to be paid back by ratepayers along with payment of $2.88 Bil in rates authorized by PSC for a total of nearly $4 Bil.
What's Bigger Pie's "dog in the hunt"?
5:12, no, I was quoting from the 'much touted' C&W study. One of the purposes of their analysis was to recommend whether the state should be purchasing/building facilities such as DOR or leasing them. Many of the 'downtown voices' have referenced the C&W study because when it was done it recommended LMC. But now that the RFP results are in, those same voices ignore that part of the C&W report.
The same people that 'haven't seen' the proposals seem to know that LMC should have been selected. All I've looked at is the DFA analysis of the three proposals selected for final BAFOs.
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