Website: ManningForChange.com
Ranked Choice:
Companies should be allowed to build larger plants, even if that will cause rate increases for individual residents in the short term.
Strongly Disagree
We should invest more in sustainable energy (i.e. wind and solar power).
Strongly Agree
Individuals should have more choices in their utilities, rather than getting stuck with a company because of a monopoly.
Strongly Agree
The Public Service Commission adequately educates consumers on issues relating to public utility, common carrier, and “Do Not Call” regulations.
Strongly Disagree
Louisiana’s utility infrastructure is ready to handle major weather disasters, like hurricanes and flooding.
Strongly Disagree
Short Answer:
How should the Public Service Commission balance protecting consumers and protecting the profits of utility companies?
Because regulatory processes typically are dominated by businesses with deep pockets and the lobbyists and attorneys they hire, I believe a regulator’s first priority must be to represent the interests of the people and communities who don’t have attorneys and lobbyists. By “represent,” to be clear, I don’t mean merely speaking on behalf of those interests from the dais, but reaching out proactively to communities affected by some approaching decision, months before it’s made, to engage them around what’s at stake and how they can take part in helping to determine its outcome. Healthy regulation involves patient, long-term education inside communities about the regulatory process and how to engage in it, which I think is essential to addressing the imbalances in resources and access that too often transform regulatory processes into tools for the powerful to wield against the public.
District 3 includes much of the area deemed “Cancer Alley.” How do you view the Public Service Commissions responsibility to residents of this area?
I work closely with many organizations advocating for environmental justice alongside majority-Black, frontline communities, including the Coalition Against Death Alley, Rise St. James, Inclusive Louisiana, and the Greater New Orleans Interfaith Climate Coalition.
I am working with the Coalition against Death Alley to ensure no new petrochemical facilities are built in the River Parishes, industrial emissions are banned within 5 miles of public spaces, and that healthcare costs are covered for communities most impacted. The PSC has the authority and responsibility to support this reform.
I also see an environmental justice opportunity by launching Project Open Docket (POD), to provide clear, easy-to-understand descriptions of every open docket before the PSC, accessible through a user-friendly website. POD docket analyses will specialize in explaining clearly how policy decisions would affect communities, bills, and service.
What should voters consider when choosing their Public Service Commissioner?
I’d like constituents to understand fully the extraordinary potential that lies in the hands of the PSC to bring about changes most of us want: it isn’t a pipe dream to have access to affordable solar power, on your own roof or across town, to dramatically lower your electricity bills. It’s attainable. And the PSC can make it happen.
That it’s not normal for electrical grids to go down as much as ours does. The PSC can mandate investments that bring about a more reliable system.
For every family member of someone who is incarcerated, that it’s not the sheriff or the jail that’s charging the outrageous rates for phone calls. The PSC set the policy to allow those rates and the PSC can change them.
I’d like every resident to know that the incumbent Commissioner in this race has gotten most of his campaign funding from the companies he’s regulating. That needs to stop forever. I’d like every resident to know that there is power in the PSC, so that they start to demand we use it.
Would you like to clarify any of your ranked choice responses.
The needs in PSC 3 distinguish it from other areas. The district includes some of the poorest communities in the state, areas deeply affected by climate change and extreme weather events and communities increasingly likely to face long-duration power outages, now the leading cause of death from hurricanes.
The PSC has the authority to:
Establish grid reliability standards for Entergy, backed by stiff, enforceable penalties.
Adopt solar and storage resilience strategies such as Community Lighthouse and Get Lit Stay Lit so communities can function when the grid goes down.
Aggressively pursue federal funds under the Infrastructure Bill and Inflation Reduction Act to pay for resilience upgrades.
District 3 is the most progressive PSC district in the State. It’s majority Black; strongly Democratic; deeply supportive of affordable energy, aggressive regulation, renewable energy and ending mass incarceration. The Commissioner from District 3 should be leading the charge on these issues.