Bentz – Mississippi Power not using Mississippians to build Kemper Plant
Bentz doesn’t like that Mississippi Power isn’t using state workers and resources to build the plant, something the commission strongly suggested the company do but couldn’t require.
“They have fallen short on their commitment to have Mississippians do the job up there,” Bentz said, adding the last figure he saw was 20 percent of state companies and goods were being used. “I have made it very clear to them in letters and in personal conversations that they have fallen short in that aspect.”
Bentz said over the past few years the commission has looked at Mississippi Power’s spending and insisted the company cut down on using its plane and that stockholders pay for sponsoring community events.
“I would get the actual plane logs and look at the flights that took place and some of them were, in my opinion, no company-associated expenses,” he said. “We’ve done some significant disallowances on aircraft expenses.”
Bentz said employees sometimes used the plane to travel from Gulfport to Hattiesburg and he thought that wasn’t necessary.
Sun Herald
3/16/13
Magnolia Tribune
