Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think. Here’s how it starts:
>*I’m pleased to report that Mark Walter, who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, is financing two big clean energy projects.*
>*I’m less pleased to report that under his watch, the team to which I’ve devoted much of my life won’t stop shilling for Phillips 66 — an oil company that California officials have accused of a “decades-long campaign of deception” about climate change.*
>*Walter is the billionaire chief executive of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners. He led a group of investors that rescued the Dodgers from the disastrous tenure of Frank McCourt, paying $2.15 billion to take the franchise off McCourt’s hands. Thanks to Walter and friends, the Dodgers have made the playoffs 11 straight seasons, winning a World Series in 2020.*
>*Suffice to say, I’m grateful.*
>*Baseball runs in my family: My grandfather grew up rooting for the Dodgers in Brooklyn. My parents took me to my first game when I was 6 weeks old; by age 8, I was running around Dodger Stadium during batting practice, asking players for autographs. You’ll still find me at the ballpark every home stand, cheering my heart out. Bobbleheads line my dresser, desk and bookshelf.*
>*To quote Tommy Lasorda, I bleed Dodger blue.*
>*So I was tickled when Tyson Slocum, who leads the energy program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, emailed me with a tip he knew would appeal to my sensibilities: He had figured out, by studying obscure filings at a Byzantine federal agency, that Walter was a significant minority investor in two massive battery energy storage systems being built in Arizona.*
>*The lithium-ion battery banks, called Sierra Estrella and Superstition, have finished construction; an event is taking place Monday to celebrate their completion. Together, their 340 megawatts can supply 76,000 average-sized homes for four hours, according to Phoenix-area public utility Salt River Project. The batteries will, among other tasks, help the utility store solar power for after dark, making it possible for one of America’s largest metros to keep the lights on with fewer heat-trapping fossil fuels.*
>*It’s a win for Salt River Project customers — including Camelback Ranch, where the Dodgers hold spring training.*
>*Here’s the thing.*
>*Slocum was reading Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings — which, as far as I can tell, he actually finds fun — when he noticed something. Texas-based Plus Power, which built Sierra Estrella and Superstition, owns 60% of the projects. But a different company owns the other 40%. Slocum did some sleuthing and concluded the other company was likely owned by Walter.*
>*In the interests of transparency, he submitted his own filing to FERC, raising the question of who owns the other company.*
>*Lo and behold, the company confirmed to the federal agency that it’s owned by Walter, as a private individual.*
>*“I’m thrilled that he’s investing in [storage]. My filing is in no way trying to dissuade that investment, or not allow it,” Slocum told me. “We simply just have a policy that any energy system that’s located in a community, members of the community should have a clear understanding who owns it, whether it’s a coal-fired power plant or a solar system, or a battery system.”*
>*Makes sense to me. If I were Walter, I’d welcome the publicity. He’s using his wealth to confront the climate crisis.*
>*In Arizona, anyway.*
>*In Los Angeles, Walter continues to spread the gospel of Big Oil.*
Again, I hope you’ll read the whole piece and let me know what you think! If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters in your inbox here: [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)
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Hey all, I hope you’ll read my latest L.A. Times column and let me know what you think. Here’s how it starts:
>*I’m pleased to report that Mark Walter, who owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, is financing two big clean energy projects.*
>*I’m less pleased to report that under his watch, the team to which I’ve devoted much of my life won’t stop shilling for Phillips 66 — an oil company that California officials have accused of a “decades-long campaign of deception” about climate change.*
>*Walter is the billionaire chief executive of financial services firm Guggenheim Partners. He led a group of investors that rescued the Dodgers from the disastrous tenure of Frank McCourt, paying $2.15 billion to take the franchise off McCourt’s hands. Thanks to Walter and friends, the Dodgers have made the playoffs 11 straight seasons, winning a World Series in 2020.*
>*Suffice to say, I’m grateful.*
>*Baseball runs in my family: My grandfather grew up rooting for the Dodgers in Brooklyn. My parents took me to my first game when I was 6 weeks old; by age 8, I was running around Dodger Stadium during batting practice, asking players for autographs. You’ll still find me at the ballpark every home stand, cheering my heart out. Bobbleheads line my dresser, desk and bookshelf.*
>*To quote Tommy Lasorda, I bleed Dodger blue.*
>*So I was tickled when Tyson Slocum, who leads the energy program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, emailed me with a tip he knew would appeal to my sensibilities: He had figured out, by studying obscure filings at a Byzantine federal agency, that Walter was a significant minority investor in two massive battery energy storage systems being built in Arizona.*
>*The lithium-ion battery banks, called Sierra Estrella and Superstition, have finished construction; an event is taking place Monday to celebrate their completion. Together, their 340 megawatts can supply 76,000 average-sized homes for four hours, according to Phoenix-area public utility Salt River Project. The batteries will, among other tasks, help the utility store solar power for after dark, making it possible for one of America’s largest metros to keep the lights on with fewer heat-trapping fossil fuels.*
>*It’s a win for Salt River Project customers — including Camelback Ranch, where the Dodgers hold spring training.*
>*Here’s the thing.*
>*Slocum was reading Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings — which, as far as I can tell, he actually finds fun — when he noticed something. Texas-based Plus Power, which built Sierra Estrella and Superstition, owns 60% of the projects. But a different company owns the other 40%. Slocum did some sleuthing and concluded the other company was likely owned by Walter.*
>*In the interests of transparency, he submitted his own filing to FERC, raising the question of who owns the other company.*
>*Lo and behold, the company confirmed to the federal agency that it’s owned by Walter, as a private individual.*
>*“I’m thrilled that he’s investing in [storage]. My filing is in no way trying to dissuade that investment, or not allow it,” Slocum told me. “We simply just have a policy that any energy system that’s located in a community, members of the community should have a clear understanding who owns it, whether it’s a coal-fired power plant or a solar system, or a battery system.”*
>*Makes sense to me. If I were Walter, I’d welcome the publicity. He’s using his wealth to confront the climate crisis.*
>*In Arizona, anyway.*
>*In Los Angeles, Walter continues to spread the gospel of Big Oil.*
Again, I hope you’ll read the whole piece and let me know what you think! If you’re interested, you can sign up to get my twice-weekly Boiling Point newsletters in your inbox here: [latimes.com/boilingpoint](http://latimes.com/boilingpoint)