[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14509]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ALL THE APPEARANCES OF A SWINDLE

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Did Peabody Energy Company deliberately unload a bad 
investment on public power organizations serving 217 cities and 
villages across the Midwest? Congress must find out because Peabody 
Energy lured public power organizations into contracts that forced 
municipal utilities to pay up to twice the market rate for electricity. 
At a time when private funding could not be had for new coal-fired 
utilities, Peabody Energy unloaded 95 percent of its investment onto 
public power customers in what became an almost triple cost overrun, 
with a coal mine that lasts 22 years, instead of 30 years as promised, 
and an ashfill that was supposed to last 23 years, and will last only 
12 to 14 years.
  The contract which municipals are tied into forces them to pay for 
power 42 percent above the market rate, whether the plant is producing 
energy or not. Billions of dollars were issued for bond financing for 
the project, and utility customers are vulnerable to huge costs for 
debt retirement. Wall Street wouldn't invest in the project, so Peabody 
went to Main Street, and now millions of public power customers will 
pay sky-high electric rates in what has all the appearances of a 
swindle.

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