This trade group of investor-owned electric utilities has pressured Congress to go slow on electric deregulation. It also has sought to ensure that consumers are forced to bail out utilities for bad investments in nuclear power plants that cannot compete in a deregulated market. Kuhn was among the invitees to a 2000 meeting in which executives of polluting industries huddled with officials of states that face sanctions for flunking federal air standards. The meeting, organized by Pioneer Michigan Gov. John Engler’s top environmental appointee, explored how federal air standards might be relaxed if Bush becomes president. Kuhn hosted a ’99 meeting of the “Air Quality Standards Coalition,” an industry front group devising ways to sabotage proposed EPA rules to cut air pollution in national parks. Kuhn also circulated a ’99 fundraising letter that reveals that Bush is putting a competitive squeeze on business supporters by carefully tracking how much it gets from different industries. Bush campaign fundraisers “have stressed the importance of having our industry incorporate the #1178 tracking number in your fundraising efforts,” Kuhn wrote. “It does ensure that our industry is credited, and that your progress is listed among the other business/industry sectors.”