While listening to the Morning Edition news program on the WSUF (105.7 MHz) affiliate of WSHU, which is the NPR station which covers Southern Connecticut and Suffolk County NY, I heard a terrific -- shocking, but terrific -- investigative journalism story which they did regarding overcharges and highly questionable charges billed to LIPA by its contractors, and simply passed along by LIPA for payment by its ratepayers, you and me, in the electricity rates.
Here, from the WSHU website (http://www.wshu.org/news/story.php?ID=8715) is the base introduction for this story:
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"LIPA struggles to provide oversight of storm costs
A receipt from Hooters. One of thousands of receipts submitted by National Grid to LIPA for Hurricane Earl
Charles Lane
Suffolk, NY April 27, 2011
Suffolk, NY April 27, 2011
Starting in January WSHU began investigating the Long Island Power Authority's response to storms. Specifically we looked at a non-storm, Hurricane Earl which grazed Long Island last September. WSHU examined four thousand pages of receipts and invoices and found reckless overspending that went unnoticed by LIPA until we began asking questions.
Documents
WSHU has posted all of the invoices National Grid has so far submitted to LIPA for Hurricane Earl. You can search and browse them on DocumentCloud or crunch through a downloadable spreadsheet.
Looking for something specific? like just the crew guide receipts, or examples of high priced meals (like here, here , and here), or luxury transport , or clothing , or alcohol, or GPS devices, or all the charges so far disputed for 2010 (plus Earl).
If you see something interesting (or know of things we missed), email charles@wshu.org"
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Documents
WSHU has posted all of the invoices National Grid has so far submitted to LIPA for Hurricane Earl. You can search and browse them on DocumentCloud or crunch through a downloadable spreadsheet.
Looking for something specific? like just the crew guide receipts, or examples of high priced meals (like here, here , and here), or luxury transport , or clothing , or alcohol, or GPS devices, or all the charges so far disputed for 2010 (plus Earl).
If you see something interesting (or know of things we missed), email charles@wshu.org"
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This is another demonstration of the value of good investigative journalism, based on facts, and based on excellent analysis, and free of any bias or partisan political fantasies, or hopes, or trumped-up (pun intended) charges.
Usually we find good investigative journalism done by the better newspapers in our country, as the recent Pulitzer Prize awards attest, but it is great to see WSHU and NPR tackling a major issue, such as abuses of ratepayers by LIPA, and it is only puzzling that Newsday failed to uncover this abuse.
Jerry Hannon
