Today's Times:

As California moves to license dozens of huge solar power plants to meet the state's renewable energy goals, some developers contend they are being pressured to sign agreements pledging to use union labor. If they refuse, they say, they can count on the union group to demand costly environmental studies and deliver hostile testimony at public hearings.

If they commit at the outset to use union labor, they say, the environmental objections never materialize.

"This does stress the limits of credibility to some extent," the California energy commissioner, Jeffrey Byron, said at one contentious hearing, "when an attorney representing a labor union is so focused on the potential impact of a solar power plant on birds."

It seems Bob Balgenorth, chairman of the labor group accused of exploiting the environmental laws this way, "has cultivated strong ties with conservation groups". I wonder whether there's a tie-in with the Sierra Club's and NRDC's endorsement of EFCA? Further thoughts from Carter @ ShopFloor.