BPF researches and shares educational information encouraging Mississippi’s Economic Freedom while discouraging Crony Capitalism to increase Mississippi’s Economic Growth. BPF focuses on Education, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Federal Government & Agencies, Mississippi State Government & Agencies and Regulatory Abuses & Reforms.

Featured Work

PSC Tilts the Scales Toward the Consumer
Report

A Conversation Starter

Changing Mississippi's Regulation of Utilities

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See Consumer Advocate Project
Kemper County Lignite Plant
Project

The Kemper Plant

The Kemper clean lignite project is a cancer in Mississippi’s economy.

Bigger Pie Forum

Recent Commentary

BPF Intervenor Filing on Integrated Resource Planning Rule 2018-AD-64

Jun 7, 2018 | Energy | By BPF

Bigger Pie Forum was approved Friday to participate in a docket with the Mississippi Public Service Commission that will decide how the commission reviews the future generation needs and capacity of the state's two investor-owned utilities, Mississippi Power and Entergy.
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Southern Company Shedding Assets to Cover Kemper Plant Losses

Jun 5, 2018 | Energy | By BPF

Now that regulators have ruled in favor of ratepayers in Mississippi, the Southern Company needs some cash to cover its losses.
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Legalizing Sports Betting

Jun 5, 2018 | Economic Growth | By BPF

Mississippi could be a national trendsetter thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows states to legalize sports betting.
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PSC Starts Conducting Rate Case Audits of Entergy and Mississippi Power

May 24, 2018 | Regulatory Reforms | By BPF

The PSC will now hire outside firms to audit Entergy and Mississippi Power whenever they come before the commission with a rate case to make sure the company is spending its money prudently on capital costs, salaries and other expenses. 
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Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Entergy Coming to Trial in November

May 24, 2018 | Energy | By BPF

A lawsuit filed by Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and an aging generation capacity could amount to a serious headache for Entergy's Mississippi subsidiary.
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Tip of a Mudberg

May 17, 2018 | Environment | By Kelley Williams

The Titanic ran into an iceberg.  And sank.  The US Army Corps of Engineers has run into a “Mudberg.”  And its reputation is sinking.  Mudberg is a thirty-foot-high mound of sediments in the Mississippi River above Baton Rouge that restricts its flow.  It slows the discharge to the Gulf of what were beneficial short, spring rises on the river.  And makes them long, destructive floods.
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ms-river-flood-home-publication

Mississippi River Flooding Charts

Publications

Charts indicating the frequency for flooding in pre- and post-1973 at various points along the Mississippi River.

Bigger Pie Forum

Bigger Pie Forum

Friday June 22nd, 2018

Bigger Pie Forum

Every year, the Mississippi Legislature approves more local taxes on hotels and restaurants, which are renewed with little to no opposition. The governor has signed 78% of all reauthorization bills in the last five legislative sessions. Is that money being well spent?

The money is supposed to fund tourism promotion in the cities and counties where the taxes are levied. The Mississippi Department of Revenue has collected an average of $3.2 million since 2004 for the city’s 1 percent tax on hotels and restaurants for the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Jackson CVB has 23 employees, 19 of them full time. In 2017, the agency spent 37 percent of its more than $3 million budget on personnel. Fifty-four percent of that total went to promotion. The Mississippi Development Authority has 14 positions for its tourism promotion office for the entire state, with two of them open at present.

biggerpieforum.org/mississippi-state-government/city-and-county-tourism-taxes-part-ii-is-money-be... ... See MoreSee Less

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