The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid extracted concessions from new energy regulator Norman Bay on “the federal takeover of New York’s electric grid,” but stated the verdict is still out on whether Bay will reverse his “record of prosecutorial abuse” and “railroading of West Chester-based Powhatan Energy Fund managers Kevin and Rich Gates on contrived ‘market manipulation’ charges.”

The West Chester investors “have published all their (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) correspondence online and asked FERC to waive privacy privileges so the world can see what they’ve been subjected to,” the article stated. “Such protections are supposed to shield FERC targets, but Mr. Bay is using them to prevent scrutiny of his methods.”

With just 52 votes, Bay was barely confirmed to lead the FERC, which the Journal called “a political operation promoting green energy and other liberal interests” and for which it gave a less-than-optimistic forecast for the future: “Bay’s tenure will not be pretty.”

Read more about the confirmation vote’s political intervention and controversial history in the Wall Street Journal here, and refer back to previous Chesco Business Today coverage here, here, here, here and here.

_______

Top photo courtesy of Philly.com