CLC Stonewalls AG Martha Coakley

The Cape Light Compact, whose Chairman insists that it is "as transparent as a clean window, has responded to the first round of questions by the Office of the Attorney General - Ratepayer Advocacy, by officially objecting to every single question as being "outside the scope of the proceedings"  -- and then stonewalling them all (see attached)!

Just as the CVEC offered to review "in camera" some of the documents requested by the Special Committee of Inquiry on CLC and CVEC in 2012 -- pursuant to signing a non-disclosure agreement  and gag order -- the Cape Light Compact has offered to meet privately with representatives of the Office of the Attorney General, but objects to letting any members of the public peer into the CLC "clean windows" behind which the shades are tightly drawn.

Anyone who dares to make inquiries of the Cape Light Compact -- including the Attorney General, in the context of evaluating the Compact's Aggregation Plan (effectively its charter), is persona non grata to the management of CLC.

Officials of CLC did not deign to provide a single document here, instead either refusing to do so or simply advising the Office of the Attorney General that (some of) the documents are publicly available, with a little sleuthing on the part of the AG.  So, therefore, the AG should just go locate them on its own time, according to CLC.

The key to all of CLC's responses -- indeed, the entire Cape Light Compact strategy and mindset regarding these irksome DPU proceedings -- is contained in the preamble to CLC's response to the Attorney General's impertinent questions:

"As a preface to its responses, the Compact maintains that the purpose of this proceeding is
to review revisions to its Aggregation Plan that memorialize institutional changes that
have occurred since the Department’s initial approval in D.T.E. 00-47. Pursuant to
Department precedent, the scope of its review is limited to insuring the revised plan is
consistent with G.L. c. 164, §134(a) and relevant Department regulations. D.P.U. 12-124,
Order at 15-29 (reiterating standard of review and declining Attorney General’s request to
revise to include a review of the power supply price charged by a municipal aggregator);
D.P.U. 14-69, Memorandum, dated May 29, 2014 (noting purpose of proceeding and
Department’s scope of review); e.g., D.P.U. 14-10, Hearing Officer Ruling on Motion to
Compel, dated June 5, 2014 (declining Attorney General’s motion to compel certain
discovery because outside the scope of proceeding) (appeal taken, June 10, 2014). The
Compact will continue to make every effort to ensure that this proceeding remains within
that limited scope.

"Having said that, the Compact respectfully reminds the Office of the Attorney General, as
it has previously stated by telephone and in a meeting with representatives of the Attorney
General, that it is willing to continue to meet with the Office of the Attorney General and
provide information and/or documents on matters that are outside the scope of this
proceeding, including any information that relates to a request by the Barnstable County
Assembly of Delegates relative to the Compact."

--BCK Law, Attorneys for Cape Light Compact / Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative

In other words, it is the Cape Light Compact's intention to limit the scope of these proceedings to obtaining a rubber stamp of the substantial revisions to its Aggregation Plan that have already occurred -- through CLC's unilateral changes to the Intergovernmental Agreement and its power supply contracts.

Under no circumstances is the AG, the DPU, or anyone else to be allowed to consider and evaluate the substance, the merit, the legality of these changes or their consistency with the stated goals of the Cape Light Compact under its original Aggregation Plan!

CLC respectfully reminds the DPU and the Attorney General - Office of Ratepayer Advocacy that it is their sole duty to assist the Cape Light Compact "to memorialize institutional changes that have [already] occurred" and that any other form of inquiry lies "outside the limited scope of this proceeding."

The DPU and the Office of the Attorney General are undoubtedly grateful to the Cape Light Compact for establishing these ground rules; for clarifying that the Cape Light Compact is not actually legally accountable to anyone; and that even through the windows may be clean on the outside, CLC reserves the right to paint them black on the inside.