The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008

By Robert Weissman, Multinational Monitor. Posted November 24, 2008.

In Maryland, the "stranded cost" deal gave Constellation (through its affiliate Baltimore Gas & Electric, BGE) the right to charge ratepayers $975 million in 1993 dollars (almost $1.5 billion in present dollars).

Deregulation meant that Constellation's energy generating assets - including its nuclear facility at Calvert Cliffs - were free from price regulation. As a result, instead of costing Constellation, Calvert Cliffs' market value increased.

Deregulation also meant that, after an agreed-upon freeze period, BGE was free to raise its rates as it chose. In 2006, it announced a 72 percent rate increase. For residential consumers, this meant they would pay an average of $743 more per year for electricity.

The sudden price hike sparked a rebellion. The Maryland legislature passed a law requiring BGE to credit consumers $386 million over a 10-year period. At the time, Constellation was very pleased with the deal, which let it keep most of its price-gouging profits - a spokesperson for the then-governor said that Constellation and BGE were "doing a victory lap around the statehouse" after the bill passed.

In February 2008, however, Constellation announced that it intended to sue the state for unconstitutionally "taking" its assets via the mandatory consumer credit. In March, following a preemptive lawsuit by the state, the matter was settled. BGE agreed to make a one-time rebate of $170 million to residential ratepayers, and 90 percent of the credits to ratepayers (totaling $346 million) were left in place. The deal also relieved ratepayers of the obligation to pay for decommissioning - an expense that had been expected to total $1.5 billion (or possibly much more) from 2016 to 2036.

The deal also included regulatory changes making it easier for outside companies to invest in Constellation - a move of greater import than initially apparent. In September, with utility stock prices plummeting, Warren Buffet's MidAmerican Energy announced it would purchase Constellation for $4.7 billion, less than a quarter of the company's market value in January.

Meanwhile, Constellation plans to build a new reactor at Calvert Cliffs, potentially the first new reactor built in the United States since the near-meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979.

"There are substantial clean air benefits associated with nuclear power, benefits that we recognize as the operator of three plants in two states," says Constellation spokesperson Maureen Brown.

It has lined up to take advantage of U.S. government-guaranteed loans for new nuclear construction, available under the terms of the 2005 Energy Act [see "Nuclear's Power Play: Give Us Subsidies or Give Us Death," Multinational Monitor, September/October 2008]. "We can't go forward unless we have federal loan guarantees," says Brown.

Building nuclear plants is extraordinarily expensive (Constellation's planned construction is estimated at $9.6 billion) and takes a long time; construction plans face massive political risks; and the value of electric utilities is small relative to the huge costs of nuclear construction. For banks and investors, this amounts to too much uncertainty - but if the government guarantees loans will be paid back, then there's no risk.

Or, stated better, the risk is absorbed entirely by the public. That's the financial risk. The nuclear safety risk is always absorbed, involuntarily, by the public.

CNPC: Fueling Violence in Darfur

Many of the world's most brutal regimes have a common characteristic: Although subject to economic sanctions and politically isolated, they are able to maintain power thanks to multinational oil company enablers. Case in point: Sudan, and the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

In July, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo charged the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, with committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The charges claim that Al Bashir is the mastermind of crimes against ethnic groups in Darfur, aimed at removing the black population from Sudan. Sudanese armed forces and government-authorized militias known as the Janjaweed have carried out massive attacks against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa communities of Darfur, according to the ICC allegations. Following bombing raids, "ground forces would then enter the village or town and attack civilian inhabitants. They kill men, children, elderly, women; they subject women and girls to massive rapes. They burn and loot the villages." The ICC says 35,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million displaced.

The ICC reports one victim saying: "When we see them, we run. Some of us succeed in getting away, and some are caught and taken to be raped - gang-raped. Maybe around 20 men rape one woman. ... These things are normal for us here in Darfur. These things happen all the time. I have seen rapes, too. It does not matter who sees them raping the women - they don't care. They rape girls in front of their mothers and fathers."

Governments around the world have imposed various sanctions on Sudan, with human rights groups demanding much more aggressive action.

But there is little doubt that Sudan has been able to laugh off existing and threatened sanctions because of the huge support it receives from China, channeled above all through the Sudanese relationship with CNPC.

See more stories tagged with: corporations, corporate crime

Multinational Monitor editor Robert Weissman is the director of Essential Action.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace! Sign up now »