Public records released during Sunshine Week highlight unusually close coordination between regulators and activist organizations

Emails obtained through a public records request filed by the Government Accountability and Oversight and released to the Fiscal Alliance Foundation are raising questions about the overly close relationship between the former chair of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and environmental advocacy organizations that routinely push for policies affecting the state’s energy system.

The records, released during Sunshine Week, show multiple instances of communication between then Department of Public Utilities Chair James Van Nostrand and environmental advocacy groups involved in campaigns to reshape Massachusetts’ energy policies, often making them more expensive.

In one email exchange, staff at the Conservation Law Foundation discussed organizing a sendoff gathering for the outgoing DPU chair and contacted agency staff to coordinate his availability for the event at their Boston office.

The Department of Public Utilities is the state’s primary regulator responsible for protecting ratepayers and overseeing utility companies that provide electricity and natural gas to Massachusetts residents.

The Fiscal Alliance Foundation said the emails illustrate how regulators can become overly aligned with advocacy groups pushing policy agendas that directly affect consumers’ energy bills.

“Massachusetts ratepayers deserve an independent regulator who approaches advocacy groups with professional distance and objectivity, not familiarity and favoritism. When the head of the state’s utility regulator appears to have such a friendly relationship with an organization actively lobbying for sweeping changes to the energy system, it raises legitimate questions about who the regulator ultimately sees as their constituency,” said Paul Diego Craney, Executive Director of the Fiscal Alliance Foundation.

“The job of a regulator is fundamentally different from the job of an advocate. Advocacy organizations exist to push an agenda. Regulators are supposed to stand apart from those pressure groups and make decisions based on the law, the evidence, and the interests of ratepayers who will ultimately pay the bills,” noted Craney.

The Fiscal Alliance Foundation said the emails serve as a reminder of why transparency laws and public records requests remain essential tools for public accountability.

“Sunshine Week reminds us that transparency is one of the only ways the public can see how government decisions are really being shaped. When regulators become too comfortable with the same advocacy groups pushing costly energy policies, it’s the public that ends up paying the price,” closed Craney.