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While the US maintains strategic reserves of oil and gas, these reserves have been allowed to fall to historically low levels under the Biden / Harris administration.  What’s more, the security of the infrastructure and of the supply and distribution of energy has not been addressed in the face of growing foreign ownership of US energy infrastructure (see below).  The current administration pays lip service to “global” energy infrastructure security, without directly addressing any concerns in the US.

More importantly, the security of this infrastructure becomes more critical as Democrats push for electrification of the entire energy sector.  The push for electrification under the guise of “green energy” creates a single, monolithic energy system covering electricity, transportation, industry and heating.  These are currently independent of each other with independent and largely US based supply and distribution chains.

During Superstorm Sandy electricity was disrupted for millions over a period of weeks.  However, the supply of gasoline was less disrupted as gas stations had local generators to pump and sell gas.  The underground supply of natural gas was not disrupted at all, and in the cold weather which followed the storm, people could drive and heat their homes.  With an all-electric infrastructure, cars would be immobilized and homes would be without heat.

Foreign ownership of parts of the energy distribution system makes an all-electric future seem almost nightmarish. Besides the problems with a single point of failure, foreign ownership of US public utilities introduces significant concerns for reliability, security and resilience of critical energy infrastructure. 

• Foreign owners are incented to cut costs, extract profits and return those profits abroad and as a result:
  • Foreign owners are less likely to invest in US infrastructure,
  • Foreign owners are less concerned with the security of US infrastructure
  • Doubly true for politically active foreign investors
• Foreign owners often rely on and favor their own more vulnerable supply chains outside the US and as a result:
  • Foreign ownership is likely to favor and introduce foreign, compromised sources of technology
  • Foreign ownership is less concerned with data privacy of US citizens
  • In the event of a major event, like Superstorm Sandy, repairs may be delayed due to parts sourcing issues

All this has the potential to leave critical infrastructure more vulnerable to natural disaster as well as espionage, cyberattacks and sabotage, especially considering the growing instability and tension in the Middle East, Russia and China. 

What does this have to do with Connecticut?

Avangrid is a company which, since 2015, has owned several Connecticut Public Utility Companies, including United Illuminating and CT Natural Gas. Avangrid operates throughout the US and is 81% owned by Iberdrola SA (incorporated in Spain).  Iberdrola SA, the parent company of Avangrid is owned by three major shareholders: BlackRock, Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund and Norges Bank.

The other 19% of Avangrid is owned by former major shareholders of United Illuminating: Blackrock, Vanguard and Fidelity.

BlackRock is run by Larry Fink, a proponent of ESG with a global perspective and Norges Bank is the sovereign wealth fund of Norway which controls $1.7 trillon in assets accumulated, thanks to Norwegians selling oil and gas while driving electric cars. The leader of Norges Bank is another proponent of “ESG.”

Note that ESG investing has been largely discredited in that it doesn’t deliver E or S yet it does distract companies, narrows their focus, reduces competitiveness and pursues questionable and politically motivated goals.

In a nutshell, Avangrid, with energy holdings throughout the US is about to be taken private and owned entirely by Iberdrola and it’s ESG and Qatar owners.

Why is foreign ownership of US critical infrastructure possible:

Until the 1990s, foreign ownership was roughly controlled by a 1935 law  (Public Utility Holding Company Act PUHCA) established by FDR in response to the collapse of several utility companies.  This law prohibited Public Utilities operating nationally and required in-state ownership of each utility company to limit damage from bad decisions made by these companies.  The 1935 law was significantly diluted by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, sponsored by 49 Democrats and 5 Republicans, including Chris Shays.  But foreign ownership of US Public Utilities remained negligible.

However, in 2005 the remaining provisions of the 1935 PUHCA act were repealed and replaced with the 2005 Energy Policy Act.  This repeal removed most obstacles to utility mergers, in the name of globalization and efficiency. State regulators can still object to mergers that would negatively impact rate payers, but this is more difficult with foreign owners who have fewer disclosure requirements. And there is no law protecting critical US infrastructure from foreign ownership.

Since 2005 Pricing concerns are governed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) together with local state utility boards.  Biden has appointed all 5 FERC commissioners.  

So what’s the problem again?

The problem is: no one is addressing national security concerns raised by the foreign ownership of energy infrastructure.  Locally, Avangrid which operates Gas and Electricity grids in CT is about to be taken over by a Spanish company owned by Qatar and ESG globalists (in the common definition).  Foreign corporations have fewer reporting requirements, making rate regulation more difficult, and they have interests which are often not aligned with US interests.  Avangrid is presumably trying to hurry this along lest a more US focused Trump administration puts the kibosh on foreign ownership of US energy assets.  CT regulators should take note.

* For more details on the history of the 2005 Energy Policy Act see: https://law.lclark.edu/live/files/9522-lcb123art11thakarpdf and https://www.eia.gov/electricity/archive/0563.pdf

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