Our Time With Tyson Slocum

The EDCO team sat down with Tyson Slocum, Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, to discuss the newly created Office of Public Participation (OPP), the history of the movement for community input in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and why invested interests have been trying so hard for years to squander the prospects of this office.

In 1978, the Federal Power Act established the OPP under FERC, paving the way for the concerns of communities to be heard. However, when the following appropriations bill was passed, no funds were never made available to create the OPP.

For decades the issue went dormant until a recent movement of local activists, community members, NGO’s, and government officials banded together to create a petition calling on FERC to create the OPP. In June 2021, FERC officially announced it would be creating the OPP, and just this month the first director of the office was appointed.