Amy Harder at National Journal takes a look at executive salaries in the energy and environmental sector today, and finds that the nuclear industry’s chief officer is doing a lot better than his peers.
In 2008, the most recently available figures, the Nuclear Energy Institute paid president and CEO at that time Frank Bowman more than $3 million. Her post is part of the a larger survey of 514 executives from trade associations, professional societies, interest groups, think tanks, and unions that bring in more than $10 million in revenue each year. Bowman was the seventh-highest-paid executive out of the entire survey. That’s no small change, especially for an industry whose existence is almost entirely reliant on the federal government.
Here are the top-paid executives in the sector:
- Nuclear Energy Institute, $3.0 million
- American Petroleum Institute, $2.7 million
- Edison Electric Institute, $2.5 million
- National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, $2.0 million
- American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, $1.7 million
- American Iron and Steel Institute, $1.6 million
- American Gas Association, $1.4 million
- American Chemistry Council, $1.3 million
- Association of American Railroads, $1.1 million
- American Forest and Paper Association, $896,168
At the other end of the spectrum are the chiefs of the biggest environmental groups:
The Union of Concerned Scientists, Greenpeace, the National Wildlife Federation and the American Wind Energy Association were among seven groups paying their chiefs between $400,000 and $100,000. Greenpeace’s former executive director, John Passacantando, was the fifth-lowest-paid executive in the survey overall, making a (comparatively) paltry $103,624. The Environmental Defense Fund and World Wildlife Fund paid their executives the most of the green groups, at roughly $496,000 and $486,000, respectively.
It ain’t easy, or particularly well-paying, being green.
