I was an active participant in California’s solar energy strategy and regulations initiatives. I used to goto public hearings, which were comprised of:

- about 30 lawyers from the electric utilities throwing monkey wrenches in the discussions. I’m not sure if they were too stupid to understand the discussions or they were doing it on purpose. Probably a combination

- 2 young lawyers from the Environment Defense Fund who didn’t say one word the entire time. They were clueless and charisma-less.

- Me: the only engineer and risk and financial analyst in the room, and from what I could tell the only one with deep experience in the economics of power generation. I had nobody paying me and couldn’t attend all of the sessions. I spoke up a lot and the judge tried to help me but I was drowned out by the 30.

I witnessed first hand how the government does this. There are so many paid lobbyists from the corporate side and so few people with skills representing the people. And I had ZERO support from friends and associates who claimed they cared about the environment. Yes just claims.

Democracy requires engagement otherwise corporate will take over!!!!!!