Ben Groff @BenjaminGroff

Public Affairs, Funk & Bolton | Maryland Policy & Politics | Communications | Media Production | [email protected] linkedin.com/in/bengroff Baltimore, MD Joined February 2009

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Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb

2 days ago

QUESTION on CHINA. It seems to me that China is libertarian for small entities, w/near complete laissez faire, compared to, say, Italy or France, where the small is overregulated and the large able to play the system. China's state control applies to large entities. CORRECT?

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Jane Flegal @JaneAFlegal

3 days ago

Big day at FERC, nerds. Gonna try to explain to normal ppl. The commission issued show cause orders to all 6 RTO/ISOs (regional grid operators) on large load interconnection. Basically, data centers have to pay fair share to connect, & grid operators need rules for that.

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Shanu Mathew @ShanuMathew93

4 days ago

Good thread. In short, FERC is moving to fix the slow and inconsistent rules that data centers face when they try to plug into the grid. Rather than write one single national rulebook over several years (which takes forever) it's telling each grid operator to fix its connection rules within months or justify them. The likely fixes: -the data center pays the full cost of the grid upgrades it triggers -has to put serious money down to prove it's real, and -gets a fast-track 60-day study if it agrees to dial its power use down when the grid is stressed (e.g, curtailment, DR, etc.). This fast lane +clearing out fake and speculative projects clogging the queue = where the real speed comes from. -study data center + power plant at same time Biggest winners are flexible data center operators who agree to throttle down (demand flexibility), companies pairing a data center with its own on-site power plant (clearer rules for BYOP/BYOC), and everyone supplying the buildout. One caveat: none of this is final until the actual order lands, and the real bottleneck is still steel in the ground and building generation T&D. But simplifying paperwork/procedures is always welcome!

Jeff Dennis @EnergyLawJeff

4 days ago

@FERC @ENERGY My guess? FERC is taking immediate action under FPA sec 206 to direct each of the RTOs to make changes to their large load interconnection agreements and practices. E-1 on the agenda (the ANOPR docket) could be a policy statement or other explanation of its directives (maybe). 3/

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Shanu Mathew @ShanuMathew93

3 days ago

Six tailored show-cause orders (agenda items E-7 through E-12) to PJM, MISO, SPP, CAISO, ISO-NE, and NYISO. Each must justify within 60 days why its tariff is still just and reasonable without clear large-load rules, or propose changes. FERC laid out five reform categories to address: efficient study processes (including alternative transmission tech like GETs and reconductoring), preventing cost-shifting with cost transparency, accommodating co-location and behind-the-meter generation, new transmission services for flexible loads, and a process to study generation serving nearby large loads. PJM co-location continues separately as E-2. Nothing intrudes on state's ability to select, site, and permit generation. Does not interrupt existing agreements.

Shanu Mathew @ShanuMathew93

4 days ago

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Inclusive Abundance @InclsvAbundance

5 days ago

As covered in @heatmap_news this morning, today we're releasing the results of the largest poll we've ever commissioned - nearly 20,000 likely 2026 voters, surveyed by @blueroseorg on energy costs and infrastructure. Findings below 🧵

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Chris Marquette @ChrisMarquette_

5 days ago

Senate EPW Chair Shelley Moore Capito said an extension for the highway bill may be on the table. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/0…

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The New Atlantis @tnajournal

a week ago

You've heard that walkable neighborhoods are illegal to build. The part you haven't heard: they're illegal to finance, too. The untold story, revealed here.

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MintyHawk @minty_hawk

2 weeks ago

In my estimation, the long running argument over whether Seattle is “dying” or “thriving” is the wrong fight. Both camps are reading their politics into a metric that has none. Let’s do something boring but perhaps more useful: read the building permits. /1

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Jeff Dennis @EnergyLawJeff

2 weeks ago

This is a good thread on something I've been thinking about a lot since it happened - PJM's decision to backtrack and return the Reliability Backstop Auction to September of this year. The urgency is completely understandable, but there are a bunch of risks to customers. 1/

Allison Wannop @allisonwannop

2 weeks ago

Having gone deep into the PJM Connect & Manage/Reliability Backstop Procurement, my current thinking is that to protect ratepayers and minimize risk, the auction really should happen later (~Dec '26) to maximize time to bilateral. Why:

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Rob Gramlich @RobGramlichDC

a month ago

Key insight from @daniel_wolf1 : the options can work together. You can get a more granular energy market (C) with state-overseen economic hedging (A). You can also find more and more interruptible loads of different flavors working with retail regulators (B).

Daniel Wolf @daniel_wolf1

a month ago

I just finished reading PJM’s seventy-page market design white paper (so now you don’t have to!) (Thread)

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Ben Groff @BenjaminGroff

3 weeks ago

Having knocked doors here throughout the 2010s this is long overdue and great to see!

BUILD MORE HOUSING! @Dartagan_Llore

3 weeks ago

The Baltimore comeback is real! 🦀🏗️🔥 O'Donnell Heights turned into Key's Pointe. $29 million+ mixed-income redevelopment called Key's Pointe, 900+ mixed-income townhomes and apartments, bringing new public roads, outdoor fitness circuits, and green spaces to the area.

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Secretary Jake Day @jacobrday

4 weeks ago

If you are wondering in a decade what happened to the economies of once prosperous northeast blue states, look back at this post. The more rapidly we transform our process for approving housing, the better chance we have of avoiding this future.

Jonathan Berk @berkie1

4 weeks ago

Over much of the past decade, the City of Austin permitted more housing annually than the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 2022 alone, Austin approved 24,227 new homes, roughly 1.5× the total number of housing units permitted statewide across Massachusetts that year.

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Justin Fenton @justin_fenton

a month ago

And now the state of Maryland discloses how much it settled its case with the now-criminally charged operator of the ship that struck the Key Bridge: $2.25 billion. Story to come

Justin Fenton @justin_fenton

a month ago

BREAKING: Feds level criminal charges in Key Bridge disaster, accusing company and 1 employee of improperly using flushing pumps — which can cause blackouts — and lying to investigators. W/ @HayesGardner thebanner.com/community/crim…

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PJM Interconnection @pjminterconnect

2 months ago

PJM Interconnection today announced that 811 new generation projects, capable of generating 220 gigawatts of electricity, have applied to connect to the grid through the first Cycle of PJM’s reformed interconnection process. This marks the first major intake under a redesigned approach focused on improving the certainty, speed and discipline of project review. More at insidelines.pjm.com/over-800-new-g…

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Hayden @the_transit_guy

2 months ago

While we've seen great transformation in Detroit, I'd like to point out that the number of vacant homes in Baltimore has decreased by 25% in the five years of Mayor Scott's tenure. Never bet against America's cities.

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Ben Groff @BenjaminGroff

2 months ago

Good and correct message from the Gov here

Wes Moore @iamwesmoore

2 months ago

Democrats don’t have a messaging problem. We have a results problem.

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Ben Groff @BenjaminGroff

2 months ago

A lot to be said for this

Hasan Nazar @hasannazar

2 months ago

My hot take: Democratic administrations have been too quick to bench practitioners out of a misplaced fear of the optics of regulatory capture. I’m unconvinced voters care — and in exchange, you forgo expertise that would materially improve implementation.

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Ben Groff @BenjaminGroff

2 months ago

Something that I think is happening, but have no way to prove, is that the proliferation of AI-written text is affecting how people write even if they themselves don't use AI. It's affecting the general voice that people model in professional communications.

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Liam Davis @LiamFD

2 months ago

I’m actively reviewing Baltimore City’s preliminary FY27 budget and one of the more striking datasets is the City’s income tax revenue grew north of 12% over the past year. That’s massive growth and nearly double the statewide average.

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Ben Groff @BenjaminGroff

2 months ago

@eric_hontz Do you think if we had Class A office space downtown we'd get some office tenants back? Or is residential the only way to go for these properties? I like residential just like seeing mixed uses too.