As seen in Fox News
_________
A top Biden administration official briefed a “funders only” event hosted earlier this year by the Energy Foundation, her former employer, according to records obtained by an energy policy group.
Allison Clements, a Democratic commissioner on the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), ultimately agreed to attend the Jan. 10 funder event despite an Energy Foundation official suggesting her presence might be “inappropriate,” according to text messages and emails obtained by the Institute for Energy Research (IER) and shared with Fox News Digital.
“Not sure if this is inappropriate to ask or not-would you be interested/willing/available to talk with funder group about Ferc 2022 priorities,” Energy Foundation fossil fuels program director Meredith Wingate wrote in a text message to Clements in December.
Wingate then said the group would consider rescheduling the event if Clements wasn’t able to attend on Jan. 10.
One week prior to the event on Jan. 3, Energy Foundation senior program associate Sandy Carter emailed FERC staff a schedule of the event which included a “funders only” portion and a briefing led by Clements and a question and answer session afterwards.
“I thought your comments were very interesting, and helpful in focusing our group on ways that we can support successful advocacy at FERC,” Wingate emailed Clements two days after the event, thanking her for her attendance.
While the content of Clements’ briefing remains unclear, IER and ethics experts said her presence at a meeting of apparent Energy Foundation donors raised ethics questions.
“Meeting regularly with far left organizations she used to work for creates a troubling impression,” IER President Tom Pyle told Fox News Digital. “Briefing the funders of these groups on the ‘FERC opportunity’ is inescapably improper.”
“At the very least, Commissioner Clements should recuse herself from voting on matters of interest to the Energy Foundation,” he continued. “If she was a Republican commissioner who was this cozy with industry representatives, the left would be calling for her resignation.”
_________
Read the full article here, at Fox News.
Read documents uncovered by IER’s FOIA lawsuits against FERC here.
