Kentucky Bill Aims to Give Energy Planning Commission Unchecked Power, Block Public Accountability

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Kentucky Senators are moving forward with a bill that would give the state's taxpayer-funded Energy Planning and Inventory Commission (EPIC) unchecked spending power and exemption from decades-old, common-sense public accountability standards. The proposed changes would effectively allow EPIC to operate in the dark, blocking Kentuckians from seeing how the Commission chooses to spend taxpayers' hard-earned money.

If passed, Senate Bill 100 (SB 100 An Act relating to the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission and declaring an emergency) would grant the Energy Planning and Inventory Commission a first-of-its-kind blanket exemption from the Kentucky Open Records Act, allowing any information, records, data, files, documents, or correspondence produced by EPIC to be kept hidden from the public. All other state agencies - including those that regulate utilities, coal mines, and power plants - follow the standard rules set out by the Open Records Act.

The Kentucky Open Records Act exemption would notably block the general public from having any insight into how the Commission is using their money. Removing public oversight, a primary safeguard against mismanagement and corruption, could allow for inefficiency, wasteful spending, and rising costs - all outcomes EPIC is tasked with preventing.

Created in 2024 by the Kentucky General Assembly, EPICreviews power plant retirement decisions and assesses present and future energy needs, work that is largely duplicative of the Public Service Commission (PSC), a state agency which is notexempt from the Open Records Act. The EPIC Board is notably made up of representatives of investor-owned utilities, coal corporations, oil and gas companies, and other corporate interests.

"SB 100 presents a grave threat to anyone who shares our belief that the government should be accountable to the people who pay for it," said Sarah Reeves, Sierra Club Kentucky Grassroots Programs Coordinator."There is no reason EPIC should be held to a lower standard of transparency than the actual PSC. EPIC's industry-friendly board members benefit when families pay more, not less. If it's truly here to ensure affordable energy for Kentuckians, why rush to hide EPIC's work? Every tax dollar sent to EPIC is a dollar hardworking families cannot use to pay their rising utility bills. The people of Kentucky deserve to know whose interests EPIC is serving."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.