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America’s Military Now Run by Military Industrial Complex Lobbyists?

Fill the Swamp: Trump to Put Military Industrial Complex Lobbyist in Charge of the Army, Last Wednesday, it was reported that Donald Trump was moving to nominate Raytheon lobbyist Mark Esper for secretary of the Army. Raytheon is one of the “big five” defense contractors, and the president’s decision comes at a time when concerns are being raised over the idea of defense industry executives being placed in senior positions at the Pentagon.Daily Liberator, By:  James Holbrooks, 29 Aug 17 

This article first appeared at ANTIMEDIA……

The Washington Examiner, which broke the news in an exclusive after speaking with unnamed D.C. sources, reported that Pentagon officials “privately expressed confidence that Esper, with his military, Pentagon and Capitol Hill experience, will win quick Senate confirmation.”

That would be a change of pace. Esper’s nomination is Trump’s third attempt to fill the position of Army secretary.

A ROCKY ROAD

Trump’s first choice, New York billionaire and owner of the Florida Panthers hockey team, Vincent Viola, withdrew back in February over concerns about financial conflicts of interest……..

Assuming Mark Esper hangs in there and keeps his name in the running for Army secretary, he’ll need to pass vetting by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). That hearing isn’t expected to take place until September. But it was within that committee, back in June, that SASC chairman John McCain first voiced concern over members of the defense industry taking key positions at the Pentagon.

THE CHAIRMAN MAKES NOISE

In a hearing Defense News called “surprisingly contentious,” McCain threatened to block the SASC confirmation of Patrick Shanahan for deputy defense secretary, the number two spot at the Pentagon below defense secretary James Mattis. One of the reasons, the Arizona senator made clear, was Shanahan’s ties to industry contractors.

Shanahan had been with Boeing since 1986 before accepting Trump’s nomination. He was a member of the Boeing Executive Council and had even earned the nickname “Mr. Fix-it” within the corporation for his ability to turn around troubled projects.

At the hearing, McCain cited Shanahan’s industry past, saying he was “not overjoyed” that the would-be deputy secretary spent so much time at one of the big five defense contractors. He also said Shanahan’s ilk serving at the Pentagon was “not what our Founding Fathers had in mind.”

McCain, a Republican, went further weeks later, bluntly stating in a hallway interview in Congress that he “did not want people from the top five corporations” to fill positions at the Pentagon. Party politics aside, at least some lawmakers across the aisle appear to share his concern.

Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat who sits on the SASC, told Defense News in early July that “real concern about the concentration of these people” exists because decision-making processes may be “influenced by [their]prior employment.”

Similarly, Senator Richard Durbin, another Democrat, said the Trump administration has “turned a blind eye to the whole question of conflicts of interest from start to finish.”

Despite such criticisms, the SASC gave Shanahan the green light, and the Senate officially confirmed him last Tuesday. This means that right now, the two most powerful men at the Pentagon have significant past connections to the defense industry.

For those unaware, for years Secretary of Defense James Mattis was a board member of one of the big five contractors, General Dynamics, and up until the point of his nomination had nearly $600,000 in vested stock options with the corporation, according to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.

LUCKY BREAK

In a convenient bit of timing, John McCain was absent at Shanahan’s full Senate confirmation on July 18, as he was recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot, which ultimately revealed a brain tumor. The same could be said for Ellen Lord, who went through SASC vetting relatively unscathed on the very same day and now awaits the committee’s nod to move on to a full Senate vote.

Lord has been CEO of Textron Systems, a global aerospace and defense conglomerate, since 2012. As with what happened to Shanahan, Lord likely would have faced a harsh grilling from McCain. Commenting on Lord’s smooth sail through her SASC hearing, Defense News wrote:

“That may have been due to the absence of Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who chairs SASC. McCain, recuperating at home from a recent surgery, previously told Defense News he is concerned about the number of defense industry figures entering key Pentagon roles.”

The same good fortune was bestowed upon a former Lockheed Martin vice president on Thursday. Ryan McCarthy passed his SASC vetting for undersecretary of the Army, and if the Senate eventually confirms both him and Mark Esper, it would mean the top two Army positions at the Pentagon would be filled by defense industry executives.

It was speculated that former Lockheed Martin attorney David Ehrhart would come under heavy scrutiny at his SASC hearing for Air Force General Counsel, the department’s chief legal officer. The same would have surely gone for John Rood, Trump’s expected pick for undersecretary of defense for policy and current head of international sales at Lockheed.

But with the SASC confirming defense industry figures in McCain’s absence, it now appears the Arizona senator’s leeriness was the only substantive thing holding up the show.

DOWN A DARK PATH

Like Senator Richard Durbin and others in Congress who don’t like the emerging trend under Donald Trump, most in the mainstream media will only go so far as to highlight the myriad conflicts of interest between the Trump administration and the corporate world.

Right now, for example, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is catching fire for being the CEO of ExxonMobil when it violated sanctions on Russia back in 2014. The U.S. Treasury Department just hit Exxon with a $2 million fine for that move, and Exxon promptly filed a lawsuit against the government in response………http://www.thedailyliberator.com/fill-swamp-trump-put-military-industrial-complex-lobbyist-charge-army/

August 30, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties, weapons and war | Leave a comment

House Armed Services Committee member accuses Trump of rushing nuclear contracts

Armed Services Dem accuses Trump admin of rushing nuclear contracts, The Hill, BY ELLEN MITCHELL – 08/27/17 House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) on Sunday accused the Trump administration of rushing two major nuclear weapons programs.

“This week, the Air Force awarded four contracts worth nearly $2.5 billion to begin developing two new nuclear weapons. Yet this administration has not even completed its Nuclear Posture Review,” Smith said in a statement.

“We are rushing on autopilot to fund these programs.” The Pentagon in April officially began the nuclear posture review, which was ordered by President Trump in January. It’s the first review of the U.S. nuclear weapons policy since 2010, and won’t be done for several more months.

The Pentagon, however, has not waited for the review’s completion in moving ahead with two new nuclear weapons programs.

Last week the Defense Department awarded contracts for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, which will replace the current Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the Long Range Standoff (LRSO) weapon, the next nuclear-capable cruise missile to be fired from aircraft…..http://thehill.com/policy/defense/348197-armed-services-dem-accuses-trump-admin-of-rushing-nuclear-contracts

August 28, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, politics, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Duke Energy Wants to Cancel Planned South Carolina Nuclear Reactors

Duke Asks to Cancel Planned South Carolina Nuclear Reactors https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-25/duke-asks-to-cancel-planned-south-carolina-nuclear-reactors

By Jim Polson August 26, 2017, 
  • Utility cites Westinghouse bankruptcy in regulatory filing
  • Duke seeks $353 million in development costs from ratepayers

Duke Energy Corp. asked to cancel its planned nuclear plant in South Carolina, citing the bankruptcy of reactor manufacturer Westinghouse Electric Co.

North Carolina utility regulators should require customers of the company’s Duke Energy Carolinas unit to pay $353 million of pre-construction costs spent on the Lee Nuclear Station over the next dozen years, the Charlotte-based company said Friday in a state filing.

The decision is the latest blow to the U.S. nuclear industry in the wake of the Westinghouse bankruptcy. South Carolina utilities Scana Corp. and Santee Cooper pulled the plug on a half-finished plant earlier this month after delays and cost overruns, and Southern Co. is weighing whether to halt work on two Georgia reactors. Nuclear units that were operating for decades have shut, unable to compete with low-cost renewable energy and abundant supplies of natural gas from shale basins.

“Risks and uncertainties to initiating construction on the Lee Nuclear project have become too great and cancellation of the project is the best option for customers,” Duke said in a separate statement

A similar request will be made with South Carolina utility regulators in the future, Rick Rhodes, a company spokesman, said by phone Friday. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a construction and operating license for the plant last year and Duke will maintain that license “to build new nuclear at this site in the future if it is in the best interest of customers.”

NextEra Energy Inc. has said it’s decided to “pause” an expansion of its Turkey Point nuclear plant in Florida, but the company is still seeking approval to obtain and then maintain a federal license for two reactors there.

Duke shares rose 0.8 percent to $87.46 at 12:28 p.m. in New York.

August 26, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | 1 Comment

China marketing nuclear power to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia signs cooperation deals with China on nuclear energy, Gulf News, 24 Aug 17 

Kingdom launched a renewable energy programme this year, and winning bid for first utility-scale solar project is due in November

Khobar, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia and China are to cooperate on nuclear energy projects following discussions between the two countries this week on ways to support the kingdom’s nuclear energy programme, state news agency SPA reported.

Saudi Arabia has been for years trying to diversify its energy mix so that it can export more of its oil, rather than burning it at power and water desalination plants.

It launched a renewable energy programme this year with the announcement of the winning bid for its first utility-scale solar project due in November.

In addition to that programme, Riyadh is in the early stages of feasibility and design studies for its first two commercial nuclear reactors, which will total 2.8 gigawatts.

China’s leading state nuclear project developer China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) has now signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) to promote further existing cooperation between the two sides to explore and assess uranium and thorium resources, SPA said…….

Saudi Arabia has also set up a joint investment fund with China and on Thursday signed 11 deals worth $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) with China as part of an official visit of Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli to Saudi Arabia. http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/energy/saudi-arabia-signs-cooperation-deals-with-china-on-nuclear-energy-1.2079896

August 26, 2017 Posted by | China, marketing, Saudi Arabia | Leave a comment

Investment fund company Vanguard calls for climate change risk disclosures

Call for climate change risk disclosures, news.com.au AUGUST 25, 2017 Ross Kerber, Reuters Vanguard Group has urged companies to disclose how climate change could affect their business and asset valuations, reflecting how the environment has become a priority for the investment industry.

Under pressure from investors, Vanguard and other fund companies have pushed to pass several high-profile shareholder resolutions on climate risk at big energy firms like Exxon Mobil Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp during the northern Spring proxy season.

Vanguard manages about $US4 trillion ($A5.1 trillion) and is often the top shareholder in big US corporations through its massive index funds – giving it a major voice in setting corporate agendas.

Vanguard, the biggest US mutual fund firm by assets, had not supported climate activists on similar measures. But Glenn Booraem, Vanguard’s investment stewardship officer, said in a telephone interview on Monday the issue as well as shareholder proposals have evolved.

“Our support for these proposals is not a matter of ideology, it’s a matter of economics,” he said.

“To the extent there are significant risks to a company’s long-term value proposition, we want to make sure there is long-term disclosure of those risks to the market.”

Vanguard earlier this year changed its proxy voting policies to give more leeway to support resolutions tied to climate risk, but until now it has given few details about its thinking unlike rivals State Street Corp or BlackRock Inc……http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/breaking-news/call-for-climate-change-risk-disclosures/news-story/2577352981a4bd0ecab44c222cef7d37

August 26, 2017 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, climate change | Leave a comment

Lockheed, Raytheon winning companies to start USA’s $1.46 trillion missile spend-up

Lockheed, Raytheon Win Contracts for New Nuclear Cruise Missile, Bloomberg, By Anthony Capaccio, August 24, 2017 

  • Boeing left out in contest for successor to its weapon
  • Long-Range Standoff Missile seen valued at $10 billion

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. were picked by the U.S. Air Force to begin development of a new nuclear cruise missile for long-range bombers, while Boeing Co. was shut out of the effort to replace its aging weapon that’s in use today.

The initial contracts of about $900 million each are for a 54-month phase to refine designs and prove out technologies for the Long-Range Standoff missile, Captain Emily Grabowski, an Air Force spokeswoman, said in a statement Wednesday.

After that, the Air Force will pick one of the contractors for full production of as many as 1,000 missiles — not all of them topped by nuclear warheads — in an acquisition phase the service values at about $10 billion……

With this week’s awards, the outlines of the Pentagon’s long-range nuclear modernization program are emerging. The Defense Department published in May the first official cost report for the 12-vessel Columbia-class nuclear-missile submarines, estimated as a $127 billion acquisition program.

The Congressional Budget Office is working on its first 30-year look at the cost to develop, acquire and sustain a new nuclear arsenal. While lawmakers and analysts have estimated it’s a $1 trillion program, the Arms Control Association last week projected the potential cost through 2047 at as much as $1.46 trillion.

— With assistance by Nafeesa Syeed  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-23/lockheed-raytheon-win-contracts-for-new-nuclear-cruise-missile

August 25, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

The State, South Carolina, names the people who brought on the nuclear power fiasco

These are the people who brought us the SCE&G/Santee Cooper nuclear debacle http://www.thestate.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/cindi-ross-scoppe/article168891607.html, CINDI ROSS SCOPPE, Associate Editor, AUGUST 24, 2017 COLUMBIA, SC 

You want names? We’ve got names.

Names of the SC Public Service Commissioners, who have been acting on SCE&G’s rate requests and will decide how much more the utility can charge us for its unfinished nuclear reactors at the VC Summer nuclear facility.

Names of the commissioners who gave SCANA the initial go-ahead to start the project, back in 2008.

Names of SCANA’s management and board members.

Names of Santee Cooper’s management and board members.

 And a link to the names of legislators who approved the law that made it oh, so much easier for us to be charged already — and left holding the bag — for the failed project.

Public Service Commission

The links take you to contact and biographical information about them on the PSC website.

John E. “Butch” Howard, District 1*

Elliott F. Elam, Jr., District 2

Comer H. “Randy” Randall, Vice Chairman, District 3

Elizabeth B. “Lib” Fleming, District 4*

Swain E. Whitfield, Chairman District 5

Nikiya “Nikki” Hall, District 6

G. O’Neal Hamilton, District 7*

* Was serving on the commission in 2008, when the project was given its crucial, initial approval

PSC members in 2008, when the project was given initial approval

John E. “Butch” Howard, District 1, Charleston

David A. Wright, District 2, Columbia

Randy Mitchell, District 3, Saluda

Elizabeth B. “Lib” Fleming, District 4, Spartanburg

G. O’Neal Hamilton, chairman, District 5, Bennettsville

Mignon L. Clyburn, District 6, Charleston

C. Robert Moseley, vice chairman, at large, Irmo

SCANA Corp (parent of SCE&G)

Kevin Marsh, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Names and information about other corporate officers

Board of Directors

Gregory E. Aliff, Certified Public Accountant, Retired from Deloitte & Touche LLP, Reston, VA

James A. Bennett, South Carolina Central Area Executive, First Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Columbia, SC

John F.A.V. Cecil, President, Biltmore Farms, Asheville, NC

Sharon A. Decker, Chief Operating Officer, Tryon International Equestrian Center, Mill Spring, NC

D. Maybank Hagood, Chairman & CEO, Southern Diversified Distributors, Charleston, SC

Kevin B. Marsh, President & CEO, SCANA Corporation, Cayce, SC

Lynne M. Miller, Environmental Consultant, Great Falls, VA

James W. Roquemore, CEO and Chairman, Patten Seed Company, Orangeburg, SC

Alfredo Trujillo, President & COO, Georgia Tech Foundation, Atlanta, GA

Maceo K. Sloan, Chairman, President & CEO, Sloan Financial Group, Chairman & CEO, NCM Capital Management Group, Durham, NC

Santee Cooper

Lonnie N. Carter, President and Chief Executive Officer

Santee Cooper contact information

Names of other corporate officers

Board of Directors

W. Leighton Lord III, Chairman, Nexsen Pruet law firm, Columbia

William A. Finn, 1st Vice Chairman, chairman of AstenJohnson, a specialty textile company for the printing and papermaking industries based in Charleston

Barry Wynn, 2nd Vice Chairman, president of Colonial Trust Company, a private trust company specializing in investment management and estate services, Spartanburg

Kristofer Clark, broker with Easlan Capital and owner of Pristine Properties LLC., Easley

Merrell W. Floyd, retired staff coordinator at Horry Electric Cooperative, Conway

J. Calhoun Land IV, Land, Parker & Welch law firm, Manning

Stephen H. Mudge, co-founder, president and CEO of Serrus Capital Partners, a Greenville-based real estate investment firm

Peggy H. Pinnell, owner of the Peggy H. Pinnell Insurance Agency in Moncks Corner, a State Farm agency

Dan J. Ray, president of DR Capital Group, a Pawleys Island-based financial advisory and investment company

David F. Singleton, president of Singleton Properties, a real estate investment and sales firm, Myrtle Beach

Jack F. Wolfe Jr., past president and CEO of the Mid-Carolina Electric Cooperative in Lexington

Office of Regulatory Staff

Dukes Scott, executive director

You might also want to read these other pieces I’ve written

Here’s who voted to give SCE&G a blank check

How ‘waste not, want not’ became ‘spend more, profit more’

SCE&G nuclear fiasco: It’s complicated. Here are some explanations.

SCE&G law could cost you more than you imagine

This is what has to change after the SC nuclear meltdown

Ms. Scoppe writes editorials and columns for The State. Reach her at cscoppe@thestate.com or (803) 771-8571 or follow her on Twitter or like her on Facebook @CindiScoppe.

August 25, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, politics, USA | Leave a comment

Scott Pruitt has turned America’s Environment Protection Agency into a nerve-wracking mess

turning the agency into a hollow shell by whacking its budget, overturning rules based on bogus reports and keeping employees in the dark allows Pruitt and his allies to claim publicly that all they are doing is restricting the EPA to its original purpose, not demolishing it.

In fact, the damage that Pruitt is inflicting will take years to repair.

Scott Pruitt’s EPA Is Crazyland, Clean Technica , August 22nd, 2017 “…..By Meteor Blades     Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton at The New York Times report that Pruitt has injected a sense of paranoia at the agency, making career employees feel as if they are the enemy. Those staffers say floors at EPA HQ are frequently locked, and if they wish to see Pruitt, they must have an escort. They are often told to leave their cellphones behind and not to take notes in meetings with him:“Mr. Pruitt, according to the employees, who requested anonymity out of fear of losing their jobs, often makes important phone calls from other offices rather than use the phone in his office, and he is accompanied, even at E.P.A. headquarters, by armed guards, the first head of the agency to ever request round-the-clock security.

“A former Oklahoma attorney general who built his career suing the E.P.A., and whose LinkedIn profile still describes him as ‘a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda,’ Mr. Pruitt has made it clear that he sees his mission to be dismantling the agency’s policies — and even portions of the institution itself.

 “But as he works to roll back regulations, close offices and eliminate staff at the agency charged with protecting the nation’s environment and public health, Mr. Pruitt is taking extraordinary measures to conceal his actions, according to interviews with more than 20 current and former agency employees.”…….

Among the examples of Pruitt’s moves to undermine the agency’s mission is what was done to the analysis of the Waters of the United States rule put in place during the Obama administration to expand EPA’s oversight of large bodies of water to the streams and rivers that feed them. This attempt to preserve wetlands and clean up polluted tributaries was widely attacked by farmers, real estate developers, and rightist ideologues.

Pruitt was determined to dump the rule. So he ordered a rewrite of a lengthy analysis that had shown that the rule’s economic benefits far outweighed its costs. The EPA’s staffers dutifully complied, and when their report emerged, more than half a billion dollars in benefits from the rule had been erased:

“Jeffrey Ruchs, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an organization representing government employees in environmental fields, said the E.P.A. could not allow changes like this to take place, or expect its employees to follow such directives.

“‘This is a huge change, and they made it over a few days, with almost no record, no documentation,’ Mr. Ruchs said, adding, ‘It wasn’t so much cooking the books, it was throwing out the books.’ […]

“’The mere fact they are telling people not to write things down shows they are trying to keep things hidden,’ said Jeffrey Lubbers, a professor of administrative law at American University.”

The secrecy extends to the most mundane matters. Unlike previous agency administrators, he doesn’t post his schedule and makes it difficult for top staffers to even know where he is traveling on government business……

turning the agency into a hollow shell by whacking its budget, overturning rules based on bogus reports and keeping employees in the dark allows Pruitt and his allies to claim publicly that all they are doing is restricting the EPA to its original purpose, not demolishing it.

In fact, the damage that Pruitt is inflicting will take years to repair. https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/22/scott-pruitts-epa-crazyland/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

August 23, 2017 Posted by | employment, environment, politics, USA | 2 Comments

Before bailing out Three Mile Island – some facts to consider

 The real numbers behind Three Mile Island http://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/opinion/2017/08/22/oped-real-numbers-behind-three-mile-island/585291001/, Eric Epstein, Three Mile Island Alert, Inc. Aug. 22, 2017 Exelon has been targeting the media, elected officials and the public with doomsday predictions regarding the closure of Three Mile Island Unit-1.

Their numbers are misleading, don’t add up and fail to account for the $ 1.1 billion rate-payers were charged to build Three Mile Island, the $987 million rate-payers and taxpayers were billed to defuel TMI-2 and the $5.26 billion in stranded costs Exelon collected from rate-payers to bailout their nuclear fleet as a result of deregulation.

When considering more bailout money for Three Mile Island, please remember the following numbers:

  • Zero: The amount of taxes paid by TMI-2 annually.
  • Two: Number of unguarded entrances to TMI.
  • Five: Number of counties within 10 miles of Three Mile Island. The NRC does not require emergency planning for the cites of Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon or York.
  • Seven: Number of lobbying firms Exelon hired in Pennsylvania (2016) to convince legislators to support another bailout.
  • 10 percent: Exelon announced it would eliminate about 1,900 positions — 10 percent of its workforce — by 2006 as part of its restructuring. Exelon cut 1,200 additional positions in 2004 and another 700 in 2006.
  • 30 metric tons: Amount of high-level radioactive waste generated annually and stored onsite.
  • 90: Number of days TMI-2 operated before the meltdown.
  • 200+: Number of job losses at TMI-1 since Exelon bought TMI in 1999.
  • 520: The “Top 50” list published by the Patriot News on July 2, 2006, reported Exelon’s staffing numbers were 520.
  • 525: Number of jobs at Exelon reported to the NRC in their license renewal application for Three Mile Island.
  • 600 tons: Amount of of additional high-level radioactive garbage TMI-1 will produce from 2014 to 2034.
  • 804: Numbers of employees working at TMI in 1998.
  • 1999: The Better Business Bureau determined, “The process currently used to produce at least some, if not most, of the uranium-enriched fuels that are necessary to power nuclear energy plants emits substantial amounts of environmentally harmful greenhouse gases.” (May 13, 1999).
  • 2,000: Exelon Vice President and CFO, Robert Shappard, speaking in New York to the Deutsche Bank energy conference on June 22, 2004, boasted that Exelon “can cut 2,000 heads from our head count by the year 2006.”
  • $11,843: The amount of money Exelon spent to provide “gifts, hospitality, transportation and lodging for state officials” in Pennsylvania in 2016. (Source: “The Caucus,” March 21, 2017).
  • 69,468: Number of clean-energy jobs in Pennsylvania as of 2016. Lancaster and York combined for 4,684 energy efficiency and renewable-energy jobs. (Environmental Entrepreneurs).
  • $490,207: The amount Exelon spent to lobby candidates in Pennsylvania in 2016.
  • $1,111,840: The amount the Exelon PAC spent to fund candidates in Pennsylvania in 2016.
  • 2.3 million gallons: Amount of accident-generated, radioactive water TMI evaporated directly into the atmosphere.
  • $4.6 billion: Rate-payers spent $1.1 billion to build Unit-1 and Unit-2. Taxpayers and rate-payers were charged almost $1 billion to remove damaged fuel from TMI-2. The cost to decontaminate and decommission both reactors is more than $2.5 billion. These costs are not factored in another bailout.

 — Eric Epstein is chairman of TMI-Alert, Inc., a “safe-energy organization” based in Harrisburg, Pa. and founded in 1977. It monitors Peach Bottom, Susquehanna, and Three Mile Island nuclear generating stations. Online at www.tmia.com.

August 23, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Santee Cooper: Offers to Revive Summer Nuclear Expansion Not Viable

 http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2017/08/santee-cooper-offers-to-revive-summer-nuclear-expansion-not-viable.html, Aug 22, 2017   Editors of Power Engineering

Two companies have offered to buy into the currently-abandoned Summer nuclear expansion, though Santee Cooper CEO Lonnie Carter said neither are viable.

Carter said neither of the parties that made an offer has the assets to undertake the massive and expensive project. In fact, one company is “somehow trying to get into the nuclear business in this country so it can actually build power plants in the Mideast,” The Post and Courierreported. He did not identify the companies.

Santee Cooper has set a September 15 deadline for potential buyers.

The offers came after Carter sent a letter seeking buyers for its 45 percent share in the plant to dozens of power companies earlier this month. SCANA Corp. owns the remaining 55 percent.

Estimates from both companies indicated the final cost of the two new nuclear reactors would be $21 billion, or nearly double the original estimate.

Additionally, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has initiated his own search for a buyer, and has reached out to officials at Duke Energy, Dominion Energy and Southern Power.

August 23, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

America’s nuclear lobby waking up to the industry’s monumental failure?

Nuclear’s Fork in the Road Atomic Insights, August 19, 2017 By Jim Little
Would you be willing to continue investing in an established business with flat revenues, increasing costs while competing against an agile field of competitors who enjoy a market advantage of lower costs, quicker deployment schedules and the support of government subsidies and favorable public opinion? Should you stay the course and focus on addressing those challenges or divest? This is the stark choice facing the nuclear power industry today……

Will nuclear generation continue or decline? Will the nuclear industry turn its attention away from new plant builds and extended-life operation activities and rather focus on decommissioning as evidenced by the plethora of recent conferences focused on decommissioning as the new market opportunity?…..

With revenues remaining flat, cost increases are significantly squeezing the profit margins of these operations. The financial outlook for nuclear utilities is bleak in an investment environment which rewards growth in revenues and profits. A number of utilities with nuclear units in merchant markets have recently announced decisions to decommission those units which are no longer able to sustain profitability. Utilities with units in regulated markets are likewise feeling similar financial pressures.

This situation was recently described to me by one nuclear utility executive: “From a shareholder perspective, how can I justify a recommendation to continue to invest in a facility when facing a forecast of declining returns while there may be other more profitable uses of capital?” So, should the default decision be to retire that unit and fund those efforts through its decommissioning fund; i.e. a “Nuclear 401(k)”?There are no easy choices. While the logic may seem straightforward, abandoning even a single unit could have cascading effects and far reaching implications. This same executive explained his concerns further: “How does one retain and attract talent going forward when there is a signal that nuclear may not enjoy full support going forward?” The inability to offset talent loss due to retirements in the workforce can affect performance on the remaining operations, increase costs, and further accelerate the departure away from nuclear. With a downturn in the industry there are other outcomes such as the reluctance of students to enter the nuclear field, university decisions to pursue other programs of study, research budgets reduced and grant applications no longer being sought. There are a number of other issues; the loss of existing, stable baseload generation and economic impacts such as those being experienced in host communities such as Zion, Illinois, and Vernon, Vermont. From a national policy perspective, it directly impacts the largest source of carbon-free generation in the United States, currently 63% of the nation’s total carbon-free generation.

Lastly, for the industry, the departure from nuclear is likely irreversible once made in the U.S. as the current talent and knowledge base is the result of over 50 years of investment and development. The situation may best be described by Stephen Wright, a comedian who is a master of the art of irony: “I live in a house halfway down a dead end street. It’s one way.”……..https://atomicinsights.com/nuclears-fork-road/

August 21, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

SCE&G customers ripped off in SCANA nuclear power boondoggle

The State 19th Aug 2017, SCE&G customers have already paid $1.4 billion for the SCANA nuclear power
plants boondoggle. That comes out to an average of $2,000 paid by each of
the 700,000 customers from the nine rate hikes to date.

With $27 of the average person’s power bill going to the now-abandoned project, if SCE&G
does not change this rate, that will cost the average customer an
additional $19,440 over the next 60 years — giving SCE&G a total of $13.6
billion to recover the balance of $4.9 billion it spent on the failed
project.

For the total of $21,440 that customers would pay on average for
this abandoned project, they could have purchased solar panels, thereby
reducing power consumption and obviating a need for increased generating
capacity while lowering their utility bills considerably.  http://www.thestate.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article167996422.html

August 21, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

Despite the financial fiasco, nuclear executives busily planning for more bonuses

Even after nuclear catastrophe, SCANA execs eye bonuses, Post and Courier, BY STEVE BAILEY, 20Aug 17

So with consumers yelling for heads to roll, what is South Carolina Electric & Gas planning next? The largest stock buyback in the company’s history, which will help shareholders and bolster executive bonuses.   Kevin Marsh, chief executive officer of SCANA Corp., SCE&G’s parent company, has told us that he is “deeply disappointed and sorry” the utility has decided to abandon two nuclear reactors after spending $9 billion with its partner, state-owned Santee Cooper. The company says it wants to use its share of a $2.2 billion settlement with its bankrupt contractor’s parent to avoid more rate increases….
But SCANA has said almost nothing about its plan for a big stock buyback that will be important to growth in its earning per share. And earnings per share, or EPS, will be important to Marsh and about 250 other managers if they are to keep those bonuses coming……

At the end of June, SCANA had only $91 million in cash, company reports show. Thus, the utility must generate more than $1.1 billion in excess cash over five years to complete the buyback. This cash would be generated on the backs of customers, or ratepayers, and will reward shareholders without providing any rate relief.

The buyout needs no regulatory approval, unlike the $4.9 billion SCANA is seeking to recoup for the failed reactors.

Under SCANA’s plan, ratepayers will be paying for others’ mistakes for 60 years, but earnings will be unaffected, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Addison told the analysts. ….

critics say buybacks promote short-term thinking over long-term investment in the business. Executives use buybacks to increase stock prices and boost their pay, they say.

“Combined with pressure from Wall Street, stock-based incentives make senior executives extremely motivated to do buybacks on a colossal and systemic scale,” William Lazonick, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, wrote in a ground-breaking Harvard Business Review article, “Profits Without Prosperity,” in 2014

Take SCANA. According to the company’s proxy statement, half of executives’ incentive pay is based on earnings per share. In 2016, for instance, Marsh and his top executives got 130 percent of their bonuses pegged to EPS because the company exceeded its target by 16 cents a share. They also got 100 percent of their bonuses tied to their personal goals, including “oversight” of the Fairfield reactors.

This is not a joke — it is right there in black and white…..

The cost of the V.C. Summer reactors has doubled, and construction is years behind schedule. Executives typically get fired for this kind of stuff, not bonuses.

But Marsh still has his job because he has protected his bosses — the shareholders — from the costs of the company’s mistakes and shifted them to customers.

He has gotten paid handsomely for the job he has done — and the buyback will help keep the good times rolling.http://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/even-after-nuclear-catastrophe-scana-execs-eye-bonuses/article_59d69b5a-8449-11e7-b1c0-f3ce1d623067.html

August 21, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | 2 Comments

V. C. Summer former nuclear workers filing lawsuits against nuclear plant employers

Attorneys filing lawsuits against nuclear plant employers, http://wach.com/news/local/attorneys-filing-lawsuits-against-nuclear-plant-employers, by Michelle Zhu, 18 Aug 17, 

It’s been three weeks since the V. C. Summer nuclear plant shutdown and former workers are seeking legal action. A New York-based employment firm is responding and investigating. A federal law was violated and they’re using that as a their claim to get legal justice.

It’s called the WARN Act, which stands for Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification. It requires employers of more than 100 workers to provide 60 day advance notice of mass layoffs. In response, Attorney Jack Raisner and his partners filed lawsuits against both Westinghouse and SCANA at the beginning of August.

At this point, complaints have been filed and the Outten and Golden firm is waiting for an answer. Attorney Raisner says they can’t guarantee an outcome but they feel confident something will come out of the case. If the plaintiffs win, all employees will receive up to eight weeks of lost pay, plus benefits. The process could take as little as a few months or up to several years.

August 19, 2017 Posted by | employment, Legal, USA | Leave a comment

Inquiry into Millstone nuclear station’s financial situation

Inquiry opens into fiscal condition of Millstone nuclear station, The ct mirror, By: MARK PAZNIOKAS | August 17, 2017 “….. Dominion was non-committal Thursday about whether it will provide the financial data sought by two state agencies tasked by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy with assessing by Feb. 1 whether the state needs to change the rules for how electricity is bought and sold to ensure the financial viability of Millstone.

Dominion offered no testimony Thursday as the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority formally opened the assessment with a public hearing in Hartford, the first of several public sessions. Several of its competitors urged the two agencies to grant no relief unless Dominion proves its case…..

At issue is how much longer Millstone will remain profitable. Dominion disputes portions of the MIT study, as well as an assessment prepared in April for the Electric Power Supply Association that concluded the plant is profitable and will remain so for five years…….

Dominion and its opponents, both competitors and consumer advocates like AARP, spent heavily on lobbying during the legislative session to resolve the issue politically. Tom Swan of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group said Dominion hardly was eschewing politics.

“They’re looking to change the rules for them to get a special deal without the expectaton of being treated as a regulated utility, where their return is based on a cost of service,” Swan said during the hearing. “It is unfathomable to me that we would consider doing this.”https://ctmirror.org/2017/08/17/inquiry-opens-into-fiscal-condition-of-millstone-nuclear-station/

August 19, 2017 Posted by | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

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