The SBA Office of Advocacy . . . Taxpayer Funded Lobbyist for Berkshire Hathaway?

When it commenced on June 1, OIRA's review of the EPA's draft final rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants launched a flurry of lobbying activity among a veritable who's who of America's largest fossil fuel polluters. In just over six weeks, the White House's antiregulatory shop has presided over no less than 21 Executive Order 12866 meetings, the majority of which involved high-priced corporate lobbyists seeking to dilute, delay, or block the rule outright. The log for a July 1 meeting requested by Berkshire Hathaway Energy contains an interesting tidbit: Among the attendees was a representative of the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Advocacy. Nominally, of course, the mission of the SBA Office of Advocacy is to ensure that the concerns of America's small businesses are adequately represented in the federal rulemaking process. So, it's a little perplexing that a member of the SBA Office of Advocacy staff would be seated alongside the President and CEO of one of the largest and wealthiest energy concerns in the United States and two of its vice presidents. Berkshire Hathaway Energy is of course a component of Berkshire Hathaway, the Chairman and CEO of which is Warren Buffet who himself is currently listed as the third wealthiest person on earth.