The French State-owned company has built close relationships with the United States Department of Energy (DOE) over the years. Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham is the Chairman of the Board of the U.S. branch of AREVA and uses his address book to promote the merits of this State-owned firm.
Spencer Abraham was the head of the Republican Party in Michigan before becoming U.S. Senator for Michigan from 1995 to 2001. When he lost his re-election bid, President George W. Bush named him Energy Secretary. He served from January 2001 to February 2005. One year after he left, Abraham became Chairman of the Board of AREVA Inc. – the U.S. branch of AREVA Group, the French nuclear power giant.
The vice president of communication at AREVA Inc., Laurence Pernot, says that they hired him because “he has a very good knowledge of energy issues so his expertise is very precious for us, and he is familiar with the energy landscape in the U.S. and its potential evolution… Spencer has also an aura of prestige and a very good address book.” She denies any potential conflicts of interest. “Mr Abraham took this job well after leaving his position at the DOE; we have been working with him for years, so I am sure that our opponents would have used this case if there was something to find out.”
Pernot acknowledges that AREVA was in touch with Abraham before he became Chairman of the Board, but “like we do today with the DOE, it is perfectly normal.” For example, “he visited our facilities in La Hague, in France, to educate himself and see the existing options to manage nuclear waste,” but it was just “an educational tour” and Abraham “did not help AREVA” to get some contracts with the DOE.
To the French firm, Abraham’s appointment was not connected to the fact that under the Bush administration he helped formulate the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was the first step toward the “nuclear renaissance” in the U.S. and very positive for nuclear power companies like AREVA. “You know this Energy Act changed with the new administration; Spencer Abraham is a Republican, and now it’s a democratic administration, but we continue to work with him,” Pernot says. (The Obama administration left in place Bush’s political appointee, Thomas P. D’Agostino, in charge of NNSA which is building the Shaw AREVA MOX fuel fabrication facility. D’Agostino worked with Abraham at DOE.)
The public relation officer assures that Abraham’s appointment was more “symbolic” than “powerful” because “he is just the non-executive Chairman of the Board of AREVA in North America, he is not a decision-maker within the company.” Nonetheless, his picture and resume appear on the website of AREVA Inc. at the top of the list of the “strong U.S. leadership,” above the CEO.
But according to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), even if his position is not illegal, it gives the appearance that he is making money from his government service. In a report published in 2009, the non-profit government watchdog organization points out that the companies affiliated with AREVA won “millions worth of contracts from the Department of Energy during Mr Abraham’s tenure.” For example, Cogema Inc. was awarded part of a $29.7 million contract for designing nuclear waste material handling systems while Transnuclear Inc. was granted a $16 million contract for work on an energy department site in Washington. According to CREW, AREVA continued to receive federal funding from DOE after Abraham joined as Chairman of the Board, earning over $639 million from fiscal year 2006 through 2008. Part of Abraham’s job as Chairman was “to guide AREVA in taking advantage of loan guarantees under the Energy Policy Act of 2005,” legislation he helped formulate and support when holding the top post at the Energy Department.
Since Abraham joined AREVA, the firm has registered to lobby DOE about energy appropriations, nuclear issues and to advocate for projects supportive of the nuclear sector. The former Secretary refused to reveal to the CREW how much he was compensated for his services, just saying it was “very modest by industry standards.”
When Abraham left DOE, he did not only focus on AREVA. The six-month CREW investigation reported that immediately after leaving DOE, Abraham began “advising” companies with energy interests like the Occidental Petroleum Company, where he serves on the board of directors and is chairman of its executive compensation and human resource committee. He also formed the Abraham Group LLC consulting firm, to focus on the international energy sector that offered “strategic advice” to U.S. and foreign companies.
Former top executive branch officials like Abraham are limited by federal law on the contacts they can have with their former colleagues, including a two-year ban on lobbying on any issue on which they worked during their final year in government. Abraham is quick to point out that he only advises on these issues, because there are no restrictions on former Cabinet Secretaries advising clients on the inner workings of their former departments, including how to secure government contracts and loan guarantees.
Politically, Abraham is a conservative. Of Lebanese descent, Abraham is one of the founders, in 1982, of the Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian legal group. The Federalist Society’s President, Eugene Meyer, acknowledges that some of their members are supporters of the Tea Party movement. He says, “For a populist movement, the Tea Party seems to be relatively responsible compared to others.” He says that Abraham keeps being “friendly involved” in the Federalist Society. Abraham, a Harvard Law School graduate, has co-chaired since 2005 the Committee for Justice which works to support the nomination and confirmation of conservative judges. In November 2005, the committee issued ads in support of the confirmation of the Supreme Court Justice nominee Samuel Alito, who is characterized by Democratic senators as a “hard right conservative.”
Many congressional conservatives and Tea Party leaders support government subsidies for private energy companies, especially the nuclear power industry, despite their overarching call for budget cuts because of record federal deficits.
On energy, Abraham is a strong supporter of the “nuclear renaissance” in the U.S. Last December, he co-signed an editorial in the newspaper Politico with the newly elected Chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton (R-Mich). The article praised the merits of the nuclear industry saying:
We have not licensed and built a nuclear power plant in decades. Ignoring advances made in nuclear safety and the deployment of nuclear plants in the rest of the world, U.S. policymakers have thwarted development of nuclear energy despite its obvious benefits. Nuclear plants are a terrific source of job creation and economic development. Expanding nuclear power could create thousands of good-paying permanent jobs and provide yet another domestic source of vitally needed energy.
Abraham did not disclose in the column that he was the current Chairman of the Board of Areva Inc. and only introduced himself as the former Energy Secretary. If he had, it would have given the appearance that he was promoting the nuclear revival for his own self-enrichment.
The MOX project and the other AREVA contracts made possible by the Energy Act help make Spencer Abraham a classic example of the self-dealing, Washington revolving door. He helps put in place government policy and money and then leaves government to reap the rewards.
