Tag Archives: gov-

$1.9 billion wind project coming to Iowa

by f45 Posted on May 10, 2013

$1.9 billion wind project coming to Iowa

By John Upton

Shutterstock

/ David LeeThis wind turbine in Iowa is going to get a lot more company.

America’s wind energy boom is about to deliver the biggest economic investment in Iowa’s history — and blow a whole lot of cheap, clean electricity into the appliances and lightbulbs of the state’s residents.

Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Co. announced it would spend $1.9 billion building new wind turbines in the state, increasing the amount of wind energy generated in Iowa to about 6,000 megawatts, up from 5,000 megawatts today, according to a report in the Des Moines Register. The state aims to have 10,000 megawatts of wind operating by 2020. From the article:

The company said the project would “be built at no net cost to the company’s customers.” The added wind generation is expected to cut consumer rates by $3.3 million in 2015 and grows to $10 million annually by 2017, the company said. “This is real money back in the pockets of Iowans,” [Lt. Gov. Kim] Reynolds [R] said. …

[Gov. Terry] Branstad [R] and [Midamerican CEO] William Fehrman said green energy has been critical to attracting companies like Facebook, the social networking giant that last month announced it would build a $300 million data center in Altoona. State leaders expect Facebook to push its investment to nearly $1 billion over six years.

Facebook has pledged to get 25 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2015. …

Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, said he felt everything about MidAmerican’s announcement was positive for Iowa’s economy and for future job growth. “This is home-grown energy coming from right here in Iowa. It is renewable, it is clean, and that is all a good thing for Iowans,” he said.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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blogs about ecology

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$1.9 billion wind project coming to Iowa

Posted in Anchor, ATTRA, Citizen, FF, G & F, GE, green energy, LG, ONA, Pines, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, wind energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on $1.9 billion wind project coming to Iowa

Wyoming and energy companies can keep fracking chemicals secret, court rules

by Aaren Smith Posted on March 26, 2013

Wyoming and energy companies can keep fracking chemicals secret, court rules

By John Upton

Shutterstock

/ Julie LubickWyoming, where the government knows what’s in fracking fluid but won’t tell you.

Halliburton and other companies are pumping chemicals into the ground beneath Wyoming to lubricate cracks created during fracking, which allows sand to slide in and hold the cracks open so natural gas can be extracted. Many residents, property owners, and environmentalists would like to know what mixture of chemicals is being used. The state of Wyoming knows, thanks to a 2010 rule requiring companies to disclose the information to the state government, but officials refuse to release that information to the public.

And now a county judge has weighed in, ruling against the public and in favor of energy company secrecy. From the AP:

A judge in Casper has sided with the state of Wyoming and ruled against environmentalists who sought to obtain lists of the ingredients that go into hydraulic fracturing fluids.

Environmental groups had requested the ingredient lists from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, arguing that the public needs to know what chemicals companies are putting underground.

They were denied on the grounds that the lists are trade secrets that may be withheld under Wyoming’s open records law. Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking has upheld the denial, ruling that the state official who withheld the information acted reasonably.

Environmentalists are mulling appealing this to a higher court. Meanwhile, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) couldn’t be happier with the news that his constituents will remain ignorant of the chemicals that have already seeped into their groundwater.

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

“This decision recognizes the importance of a state-based approach to regulating hydraulic fracturing — one that balances this important method for producing energy with environmental protection,” [Mead] said in a prepared statement Monday.

Which is particularly sad news given that the judge agreed that the environmentalists’ arguments had “substantial merit,” but wrote in her ruling that “the court feels these competing concerns are best addressed through legislative action, or further rule promulgation and are not properly within the court’s purview.”

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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blogs about ecology

. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants:

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Wyoming and energy companies can keep fracking chemicals secret, court rules

Posted in alo, ALPHA, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, PUR, solar, solar panels, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Wyoming and energy companies can keep fracking chemicals secret, court rules

Are municipal utilities more resilient during disasters?

by Sylvesterax6 Posted on March 15, 2013

Are municipal utilities more resilient during disasters?

By Susie Cagle

Boulder, Colo., wants to dump its investor-owned utility and start up a publicly owned one that’s more in line with the city’s pinko-commie agenda aggressive environmental goals, as Grist’s David Roberts has written about (twice). But even cities and towns without pinko-commie tendencies are looking to switch to municipal utilities in order to lower rates and get faster responses to outages caused by our new extreme weather.

Not everyone agrees, though, that public utilities are better capable of getting their act together in an emergency. The New York Times reports:

In Massachusetts after Hurricane Irene in 2011, for instance, municipal utilities in some of the hardest-hit areas were able to restore power in one or two days, while investor-owned companies like NStar and National Grid took roughly a week for some customers. According to an advocacy group called Massachusetts Alliance for Municipal Electric Choice, government-owned utilities on average employ more linemen per 10,000 customers than the private companies. …

But supporters of investor-owned utilities say that restoration speeds vary among government-owned and private utilities. The large electric companies, they say, are often in a better position to muster resources after storms like Sandy and Irene because they can call on extra staff from other companies and regions.

“Very few utilities can really maintain the full complement of crews and equipment that they may need — it’s not economic,” said James P. Fama, vice president of energy delivery at the Edison Electric Institute, which represents private utilities. “Municipal budgets are under pressure, just as investor-owned utility budgets are under pressure because state commissions are hesitant to pass through rate increases.” …

[I]n New York, where the Long Island Power Authority was harshly criticized for its failures after Hurricane Sandy, a commission handpicked by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended privatizing the public authority, created under his father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, as a successor to the Long Island Lighting Company and its Shoreham nuclear plant.

But the push for local utility control is spreading nonetheless. Even if folks aren’t worried about monster storms, they’re concerned about big bills. This New York Times map shows how much more or less private utilities cost than public utilities. In most of the country, the private utilities charge higher rates. (Hawaii is apparently frolicking in the sunshine off the grid. Who knows what Nebraska is doing.)

The New York Times

Click to embiggen.

When it comes to superstorm stability, though, the solution may be less in the ownership and more in the tech. Your repair-people are nice, municipal utility, but hyperlocal and supercute microgrids could isolate problems from the start. Uh-oh, does that make them job killers? Well, at least your power might be cheaper …

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Are municipal utilities more resilient during disasters?

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Fort Collins, Colo., passes fracking ban; state and gas industry threaten to sue

by BakenKesselring341 Posted on March 6, 2013

Fort Collins, Colo., passes fracking ban; state and gas industry threaten to sue

By John Upton

Shutterstock /

Barbara Tripp

Lovely Fort Collins, where frackers are not welcome.

The city council of Fort Collins, Colo., voted Tuesday to ban fracking within city limits. The move has strong support from residents, but it makes the city the target of lawsuits from the state government and the oil and gas industry.

The new regulations [PDF] will block gas and oil exploration and ban the storage of hazardous fracking chemicals within the city, which is 65 miles north of Denver and home to 150,000 people.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) said last week that the fracking ban would constitute an illegal “taking” of mineral rights. He said he doesn’t want to sue Fort Collins, but that his principled approach to his job obliges him to do so. “Bans like the one under consideration in Fort Collins violate state law,” his spokesman said. “The governor takes no joy in suing local government. He respects local planning and control.”

The council voted to keep frackers away from the city anyway. From the Fort Collins Coloradoan:

Mayor pro tem Kelly Ohlson said state regulators have no credibility with him, nor does Gov. John Hickenlooper, who said last week the state would sue the city if it passed a ban.

“I believe the governor should spend his time protecting the health and safety and welfare of citizens of Colorado rather than acting like the chief lobbyist for the oil and gas industry,” he said. “In fact, I think he should literally quit drinking the fracking Kool-Aid.”

That was a reference to Hickenlooper drinking a cup of fracking fluid given to him by none other than Halliburton.

Also planning to sue Fort Collins: the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. This same organization submitted a petition to the city council two weeks ago with signatures showing 55 local businesses opposed the ban. But many of the signatures were apparently faked, and the association attempted to retract the petition after the deception was revealed by the Coloradoan.

John Upton is a science aficionado and green news junkie who

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, posts articles to

Facebook

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blogs about ecology

. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants:

johnupton@gmail.com

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Fort Collins, Colo., passes fracking ban; state and gas industry threaten to sue

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Marcellus, N.Y., namesake of the Marcellus shale formation, bans fracking

by sreg2 Posted on January 17, 2013

Marcellus, N.Y., namesake of the Marcellus shale formation, bans fracking

By Philip Bump

Wikipedia

The eponymous Marcellus shale outcropping.

The ongoing debate over hydraulic fracturing in New York focuses on the Marcellus shale, a geological formation that runs from New York through Pennsylvania to West Virginia. Energy companies are salivating at the prospect of  fracking in the state. But no matter what New York Gov. Cuomo decides on the existing fracking ban, there’s one place that no one will be able to frack: Marcellus, N.Y. — the town for which the formation is named.

From Syracuse.com:

The Marcellus town board voted unanimously Monday to ban the exploration and production of natural gas and petroleum in the town.

By a 5-0 vote, the board passed a local law amending its zoning codes to prevent “ all exploration and production of natural gas and petroleum in the town,” Supervisor Daniel J. Ross said this morning. …

There are still a lot of unanswered environmental questions, as well as concerns about fracking’s effect on public and private water supplies, [Ross] said.

Marcellus also banned the industry based on land use. A 2002 comprehensive plan adopted by the town prohibits all heavy industry, Ross said.

This reminds me of that time Meth, Ky., cracked down on drug abuse.

Hat-tip: Ben Smith.

Source

Marcellus bans gas and petroleum exploration in town, Syracuse.com

Philip Bump writes about the news for Gristmill. He also uses Twitter a whole lot.

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Marcellus, N.Y., namesake of the Marcellus shale formation, bans fracking

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