Dive Summary:

• Southern Company boasts one of the biggest utility lobbies in the nation with 53 registered lobbyists and $6.3 million spent so far in 2013, far more than Duke Energy's 21 lobbyists and American Electric Power's 10. Since last year, Southern Co. has been throwing its big lobbying muscle to fight President Obama's call for stronger carbon emissions regulations.
• The news should come as no surprise as Southern Co. operates more than 30 coal plants in Georgia and across the South. Southern Co.'s CEO Tom Fanning has warned about the possibility that energy demand will outstrip supply, which could impair reliability if the utility phases out its coal fleet.
• The company claims its vision supports "clean, safe, reliable, affordable" energy but environmental critics are tired of "affordable" outweighing "clean." Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, says Southern is an aggressive defender of coal generation: "Southern tends to stake out what I would call the worst of the environmental positions generally. Therefore they tend to represent the sort of retro, laggard end of the spectrum."

From the article:

Experts say Southern has had success lobbying Congress because its theme -- the importance of affordable electricity -- resonates with the consumers who put lawmakers in office. It may be harder to make that case before EPA officials, whose mandate is clean air.

Fanning argues that handing the issue to the EPA was a mistake. "When I think about the regulatory arena, I think what they are doing is largely well-intentioned -- well-intentioned, leave off the 'largely' -- but only Congress can balance all the competing objectives," Fanning said.