Rick Perry Picks Winners and Losers

"Don’t let government pick winners and losers." That was Rick Perry’s mantra as Texas governor and a presidential candidate. But it didn’t take him long to abandon it as energy secretary. This week, we’ll revisit the rare, bizarre request from Perry asking federal regulators to restructure electricity markets and prop up struggling coal and nuclear plants. Then, the latest on the post-Hurricane energy crisis in Puerto Rico. We'll talk about the rebuilding effort, a controversial grid-rebuilding contract with an unknown company, and the strained Washington-Puerto relationship. Finally, an Alaskan sovereign wealth fund is betting big on distributed energy through Generate Capital. We'll talk about what the fund says about new investment approaches in emerging tech. Recommended reading and listening: The Interchange: An interview With Ari Peskoe About the Legal Holes in Perry's NOPR Vox: What Rick Perry Would Have Recommended If He Listened to His Own Grid Study Martin Heinrich op-ed: Coal Bailout Is a Crude Attempt to Pay for Campaign Promises Washington Post: FEMA Cites 'Significant Concerns' Over Whitefish Energy Deal in Puerto Rico GTM: Generate Capital Raises $200 Million Fund