Ted Craver, Jr.

As a whole, Edison International emits 62.9 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. According to the EPA, this is equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered annually by over 12 million acres of pine forest, which is approximately the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined.  

Edison International, through its subsidiary Midwest Generation (MWG), operates 6 coal plants in Illinois and supervises another: the Homer City plant in Pennsylvania. Among these are Fisk and Crawford, two of the oldest plants in the country. Fisk and Crawford are situated in a more densely populated area than any other plants nationwide. All 7 of the coal plants owned or supervised by MWG have at some point been sued for violations of the Clean Air Act. The Homer City plant in Pennsylvania ranks fourth (pdf) in the nation for sulfur dioxide emissions and seventh for toxic air pollution. MWG’s 6 plants and Homer City account for $1.8 billion worth of health impacts every year. 

Ted Craver is a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). In 2007, EEI funded a large lobbying campaign against a bill that would have set targets for renewable energy use throughout the country. They were successful in getting such a requirement removed from the legislation. EEI is also a member of a front group called the Waters Advocacy Coalition, which claims to support the Clean Water Act, but argues against changes that would strengthen the legislation.  

In 2010, EEI employed eighty-two lobbyists and spent more than $13 million on lobbying expenditures. In both 2010 and 2011, Ted Craver donated the maximum-allowed $5,000 to the EEI political action committee, though which EEI can donate money to political candidates.