NextEra Energy attorney elected to State Corporation Commission

By Audrey Carpenter

A current NextEra Energy senior attorney and former legal advisor to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Mark Christie was elected to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Jan. 24 by the Virginia General Assembly.

Kelsey Bagot has been working for NextEra for 1.5 years. Prior to that she was the legal advisor to Christie for two years. Christie himself is a former SCC chairman.

Bagot is a Loudoun County resident and graduated from Harvard in 2014, according to her LinkedIn page. She has held 5 jobs in 10 years with her longest tenure being just under three years. The SCC position is a 6-year term starting April 1.

Just last month, the Blue Ridge Leader reported on a current class action lawsuit against NextEra and a $60 million bribery and corruption scheme involving a second energy company, FirstEnergy, which resulted in a 20 year prison sentence for an Ohio legislator and a $230 million government fine: https://blueridgeleader.com/company-to-build-transmission-lines-in-loudoun-has-history-of-legal-problems/

NextEra and FirstEnergy are the two companies selected in December 2023 to build the highly controversial MidAtlantic Resiliency Link (MARL), an electrical transmission project that would build 130-miles of 500-kilovolt transmission towers and lines from Southwestern Pennsylvania, through West Virginia and Maryland to Virginia, along with a new 500/138-kilovolt substation. 

MARL must get approval from the SCC, as well as other involved states, before construction can begin on the transmission towers, lines and substation.

Bagot is the attorney who wrote a Nov. 22, 2023 letter to FERC requesting that FERC allow reimbursement for costs that NextEra will incur for the MARL project before NextEra was even selected as the project’s contractor. NextEra and FirstEnergy were not approved by PJM Interconnection, the region’s electrical grid operator, as the contractors on the MARL project until Dec. 11, 2023.

Moreover, in her letter, Bagot asked for FERC to allow reimbursement to begin Jan. 22 in advance of the MARL project being submitted to the SCC for review. Bagot’s letter can be seen here: https://www.pjm.com/directory/etariff/FercDockets/7748/20231122-er24-472-000.pdf.

Ironically, in a Dec. 19, 2023 FERC meeting, Commissioner Christie criticized the very practice of FERC allowing companies reimbursement, or “incentives”, in advance of projects being approved. 

“First, the Commission’s incentives policies for years have been ridiculously generous to transmission developers while inflicting an ongoing victimization of consumers. I have repeatedly criticized these incentives – particularly the CWIP Incentive, Abandoned Plant Incentive, and RTO participation adder – in numerous cases since I joined the Commission,” Christie said.

The Blue Ridge Leader covered that story here: https://blueridgeleader.com/ferc-commissioner-urges-reform-of-federal-transmission-planning-and-financial-incentives/

“I don’t even know how this is legal or possible.”

The MARL project has drawn massive criticism from residents, business owners, farmers and conservationists. On Jan. 22, 170 people showed up to a meeting about the MARL project hosted by the Piedmont Environmental Council at Woodgrove High School in Purcellville. PEC hosted two similar meetings – one in Hillsboro on Nov. 30 and another in Upperville on Oct. 23.

A bus trip to Richmond is being hosted by the Coalition to Protect Prince William County on Jan. 31 to spend the day with state legislators to discuss data center development and legislation that’s been introduced to better regulate the industry. PJM Interconnection has said the MARL project is necessary, to a large degree, to provide electricity to Eastern Loudoun’s data centers.

The Waterford Foundation, a community-based non-profit founded in 1943 to preserve rural, historic and open spaces in Western Loudoun, created a petition Jan. 24 to fight the MARL project: https://www.change.org/p/oppose-500kv-transmission-lines-proposed-through-western-loudoun-and-waterford-nhl?fbclid=IwAR1MF9_u3K-BH5pqGB1nBXOpczIi5eWv6SWQxDdufoi_OW6qF7icljIz8k0

State Senator Russet Perry (D-Dist. 31) attended a meeting of concerned citizens on Jan. 14 in Waterford to discuss the MARL project. She said during that meeting that she lives in Round Hill and was concerned about the project’s path through Western Loudoun. She also said she and other legislators were working to ensure that the two open appointments on the Virginia State Corporation Commission were not solely chosen from among energy executives. 

However, the Virginia General Assembly voted unanimously to elect Bagot to fill one of two vacant seats on the SCC from among an applicant pool of 23 candidates among the energy, banking/investment and insurance industries, according to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. Virginia is one of only two states that selects its utility regulators by legislative election, according to the SCC. Governors appoint utility regulators in 38 states, and voters elect the regulators directly in another 10.

The Blue Ridge Leader asked Sen. Perry for comment on why she voted to elect Bagot, as well as State Delegate Marty Martinez (D-Dist. 29) and State Delegate Geary Higgins (R-Dist. 30). 

Sen. Perry said, “Today’s votes were unanimous in both the House and the Senate after an extensive nomination process in both chambers. Ms. Bagot will be required to recuse herself from any case involving NextEra Energy projects and has given her personal assurances that she will do so. Additionally, she received a full legal and personal vetting from several environmental groups who gave their seal of approval. Locally, the Piedmont Environmental Council [PEC] did not take an official position on any SCC nominee. Her resume is impressive and she is highly qualified. In order to take on the SCC role she will have to leave her current position, and her assurances of recusal were absolutely necessary to receive my support.”

Del. Higgins said, “As you know the issue of the NextEra 500kV line is one of great concern not just to me, but to a majority of my constituents. Unfortunately the process for nominating these SCC judges left myself and members of my party in the dark, so I was unable to play a role in the nomination or confirmation process for this position.”

Higgins further added, “I have received assurances from members of the Democratic caucus, who nominated Ms. Bagot, that she will recuse herself from all cases involving NextEra. I hope this to be the case, and have no reason to believe it will not be. Given her pledge to recuse herself (and her legal requirement to do so), and the fact that she will also be leaving NextEra, I do not believe this nomination will impact the outcome of this proposal. I’ve been told that Ms. Bagot is thoroughly qualified, intensely vetted, and comes highly recommended by FERC Commissioner Mark Christie. My office will remain vigilant to ensure there are no conflicts and we will continue to advocate for routing this transmission line through the existing right of way.”

Several Republicans said they were locked out of the appointment process and unable to participate in the selection or vetting phases due to not having a majority of party members in the committee. They also said they had no forewarning that the vote was coming up the day and time that it did, which left several feeling they were in the dark in voting.

Del. Martinez agreed and said he voted for the same reasons as Higgins and Perry.

The SCC chairs are full time positions, requiring Bagot to resign from NextEra. For some, that doesn’t alleviate a perceived conflict of interest.

“I don’t even know how this is legal or possible,” said Jessica Buhl, a Prince William County resident who lives near the Prince William Digital Gateway data center project and actively follows data center and transmission development. She questioned why Bagot would even be considered given her position with NextEra and prior FERC role. 

It was a sentiment echoed by many who say even with Bagot recusing herself from voting on NextEra submissions that come before the SCC, they are still highly skeptical of the ability of Bagot to be impartial in her SCC work related to energy projects.

 “How would that work anyway? There’s only three members on the SCC Commission. If she recuses herself and a tie happens among the other two Commissioners, then what?” asked Penny Harrington from Lovettsville.

According to the SCC, an alternative judge steps in should a tie occur.

Only one legislator out of 195 questioned Bagot about her ability to remain impartial after being so ingrained in the energy industry. Del. Tony Wilt (R-Dist. 26) asked, given her work with NextEra, if Bagot would be able to look at all energy issues from an impartial standpoint.

Bagot responded: “I will not have a bent one way or the other, but will be open minded and ask the right questions.”

Sam Towell, of Richmond, was also elected to the SCC. He works as the associate general counsel for litigation at Smithfield Foods and previously served as the deputy attorney general for civil litigation under Attorney General Mark Herring from 2017 to 2021. Towell’s term will begin March 17 and end Jan. 31, 2028.