Nuclear plant temporarily shuts down due to system problem http://www.dailyprogress.com/nuclear-plant-temporarily-shuts-down-due-to-system-problem/article_2d1f2c37-a7a1-5bc8-bb6f-e1421c989e6b.html LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — The nation’s oldest operating nuclear plant has been temporarily shut down due to a fault in the turbine control system.
But officials with the Oyster Creek plant say it won’t have any impact on the electrical service it provides.
The plant automatically shut down without incident at 3:42 a.m. Sunday when the fault was detected. The turbine control system is located on the plant’s non-nuclear side, and technicians were working to repair and test it before the system was returned to service.
Oyster Creek is located about 60 miles east of Philadelphia. It generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes, or roughly all the homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined.
The plant’s operators have said it will close in 2019. The final refueling outage is planned for 2018.
November 21, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, USA |
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Pilgrim: Baker pressed to name independent nuclear inspector Cape Cod Times, Nov 19, 2016 PLYMOUTH — Critics of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station are frustrated by the silence coming from the governor’s office concerning their request for a state-appointed nuclear engineer to accompany the federal inspection team set to take a sweeping look at the plant’s systems and staff, beginning Nov. 28.
More than a month ago, Mary Lampert, a Duxbury resident and director of Pilgrim Watch, contacted both the governor’s office and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the request for an outside expert who would represent the interests of the public.
Others have followed Lampert’s lead with their own emails.
The upcoming site visit marks the third and final inspection in a three-phase process that began in January as part of the effort by federal regulators to increase oversight at the 44-year-old, problem-plagued plant. A year ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission categorized Pilgrim among the three worst performers in the nation — one step from mandatory shutdown.
Entergy Corp. owns all three of the reactors in that lowest category.
While federal regulations allow the governor’s office to appoint a representative to tag along, during past inspections the state has used its longtime appointed liaison with the NRC, John Giarrusso, a Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency employee, whose background is limited to site security at nuclear plants.
MEMA spokesman Christopher Besse said the agency has been contacted and plans to send Giarrusso.
“MEMA stresses that it has neither been invited to participate as an active participant in the inspection process, nor does it have the requisite expertise or experience in nuclear power plant operations to inspect and evaluate plant operations and capabilities,” Besse wrote in an email. “MEMA’s expertise is on off-site emergency preparedness and coordinating response operations.”
Giarrusso’s presence doesn’t fill the need for an independent nuclear engineer, Lampert said. “The role taken by state engineers is to have a dialogue with the inspectors to represent the interests of the public,” she said. “This is not an examination of emergency planning.”
Gov. Charlie Baker’s office has not responded to requests from Lampert and other nuclear watchdogs looking for some knowledgeable and independent eyes watching out for their safety.
After phone calls and emails from the Times, Brendan Moss, the governor’s spokesman, simply wrote back Thursday: “We haven’t made a decision on the role yet.” Moss did not respond to requests Friday for further information.
The NRC has been given no indication on whether a state-appointed nuclear engineer is being considered by Baker, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.
Time for action is running out…….
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has assigned 20 inspectors from around the country to the Plymouth plant for the upcoming inspection. In his response to Lampert, Raymond Lorson, the NRC’s director of reactor safety for the Northeast, said the inspection would be thorough and unbiased.
But Heather Lightner, president of Concerned Neighbors of Pilgrim, said watchdogs want someone outside of the federal team.
“The request for an independent observer to join the NRC on its upcoming inspection of Pilgrim was made because the public does not trust the NRC,” Lightner said. “Allowing an individual to accompany the NRC could be seen as an admission that the NRC’s credibility is in question; perhaps that is why the governor’s office has been slow to make the appointment.”…..
Lampert said Massachusetts should have a nuclear engineer, both while Pilgrim remains operating and after it shuts down in 2019. “The fact we don’t have a nuclear engineer is absurd,” Lampert said. “Where has been the voice of the Commonwealth through all the problems we’ve had?” http://www.capecodtimes.com/news/20161118/pilgrim-baker-pressed-to-name-independent-nuclear-inspector
November 21, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
safety, USA |
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Optimists are hoping for a Trump makeover. They cling to his brief victory remarks suggesting that he wants to be the “president of all the people.” In his 60 Minutes interview following the election Trump said that the protestors were out in the streets because “they do not know me.” They recall his statement some months ago that he had to say outlandish things in order to get greater media attention and reach more people than his Republican primary competitors.
Character and personality are not prone to change in most people. Especially in the case of Trump, who sees these campaign tactics as reasons for his “successes.” However, the assumption to exalted, higher offices of public trust and power sometimes brings out the better angels.
So far, though, the signs are foreboding. Trump values loyalty, and people like Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich stuck with him at his lowest points earlier this year. Trump knows very little about the awesome job given him by that dead hand from the past – the Electoral College – which has once again caused a plurality of voters to see their chosen candidate lose (Even Trump acknowledged its unfairness on CBS’s 60 Minutes after the election).
Lack of knowhow coupled with blind loyalty brings Trump to rely heavily on these old hands behind the worsening corporate state and military belligerence.
His transition appointments are delighting the corporatists. The man chosen to oversee the changes in the Environmental Protection Agency denies that climate change is man-made and scowls at regulation of harmful pollutants. Trump has opened the door to the big oil and gas lobbyists to control the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior. Wall Streeters are smacking their lips over Trump cavorting with opponents of regulating that giant gambling casino.
His military advisers do not come from the ranks of prudent retired officials who see perpetual war for what it is – a mechanism for national insecurity, authoritarianism and profits for the military-industrial complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about in his 1961 farewell address. To the contrary, many of Trump’s military advisors have been quick to embrace an Empire mentality and its warfare state.
One can imagine how a major stateless terrorist attack on the U.S. during his administration could provoke Trump into a heavy-handed retaliation with dangerous and unforeseen consequences. This is exactly what these adversaries want him to do in order to further spread their propaganda campaign against the U.S. Meanwhile, our civil liberties, and the domestic necessities of the people are shoved aside.
His first two major assistants – Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon – have called for corporate tax reductions and elimination of the estate tax on the rich (the only ones who pay it). Despite the “small government” façade, they are not likely to challenge the deficit-swelling combination of a larger military budget, decreased revenue and continuation of the bailouts, subsidies and giveaways known as crony capitalism that have enriched Trump and his plutocratic allies over the years.
Intrigue and internal fighting inside the White House and top Cabinet levels are likely if Trump insists on giving powerful roles to his three children and son-in-law (albeit without pay). Nepotism and conflicts of interest are acidic cocktails and undermine the integrity and transparency of public office.
Then there is the explosive crackdown on immigrants – many of whom benefit millions of Americans by working in low-wage jobs – that can produce daily turmoil, not to mention the exorbitant human cost of breaking up families in communities across the country.
In past Republican Party electoral victories, there was always a modicum of checks and balances to slow their plutocratic greed and power grabs. As of January 21, 2017 the Republican Party controls the Executive Branch, the Congress, the Supreme Court and most likely 33 governorships and 32 state legislatures. The anti-democratic Electoral College is the cause this November of giving the GOP control over the White House and, by extension, the Supreme Court (see nationalpopularvote.com).
Other than an unlikely vigorous and fearless free press, not just in Washington but also back in the localities, or a self-destructive Trump implosion, the redeeming power of the people can only come from the grass roots.
Our country is in an extraordinarily high-risk condition, given who possesses the reins of power. Self-described conservatives and liberals can curb that power if they form alliances back in the Congressional districts around the major initiatives on which they agree (See my book Unstoppable: The Emerging Left/Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State). Such alliances have occurred with success in the past.
With the power brokers employing their divide-and-rule tactics, such potent political alliances will require citizen action and adequate funding in all Congressional districts with focused and sustained intensity on their Senators and Representatives. Congress, with only 535 lawmakers, is the most accessible of the checks and balances reachable by the people back home.
How many enlightened billionaires, serious citizen-patriots and advocates for transforming elections and governance step up?
November 19, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
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Trump begins filling environmental posts with clowns http://www.skepticalscience.com/trump-environmental-posts-clowns.html 17 November 2016 by John Abraham Come on, you can admit it. I admit it. I admit that after Trump’s election victory, I secretly hoped and even though that his rhetoric was worse than its bite. He only said those crazy things during the campaign to get elected. He wouldn’t really follow through on his plans to completely gut the US commitment to keeping the Earth habitable. Oh how naive we were. Trump’s plan to fill positions in his administration shows things are worse than we could have ever feared.
According to recent reports, Trump has picked long-time climate denier and spokesperson for the fossil fuel industry Myron Ebell to head the Environmental Protection Agency transition. This basically means the EPA will either cease to function or cease to exist. It also appears that the US will pull out of any agreements to limit greenhouse emissions.
It means we have missed our last off-ramp on the road to catastrophic climate change. That may sound hyperbolic, but I study the rate that climate change is happening – the amount of heat accumulating in the Earth’s system. We didn’t have any time to waste in implementing Obama’s aggressive plans, and Trump will result in a decade of time lost.
So who is Myron Ebell? He is a director at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and chair of the Cooler Heads Coalition. Where did he get his PhD in science? Nowhere. In fact, he isn’t a scientist at all, but he does have a degree in economics. Yeah!
Is there any conflict that Ebell’s Competitive Enterprise Institute is funded by companies such as ExxonMobil and groups such as the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation? Surely not.
Myron Ebell is not new to obstructing action on climate change. Years ago, it was reported that he favored editing Bush-era scientists’ reports on climate change.
It isn’t just Ebell. Trump has other insiders, some of who represent fossil fuel companies, working on the transition.
What this selection also tells us about Trump is that he is surrounding himself with people who are not knowledgeable in a topic and will not effectively educate him. Not that educating Trump was ever possible. But there was always the outside chance he would take his contrarian streak to a new level and be contrarian to the contrarians. We now see that is not going to happen. If Trump listens to anyone, it will be people who think like he does and represent special interests who would be most affected by his policies. We have a fox guarding the hen house.
I know Trump won’t listen, but I have a wager for him. I could randomly pull an Earth scientist’s name out of a hat and any name I pulled would be better than Myron Ebell. I challenge Trump and his administration to actually include real scientists in forming legislation and action on environmental issues. And I am not talking about scientists that are connected to rightwing thinktank groups. I am talking about independent unaffiliated scientists. Cripes, just go down to the neighborhood university, pick anyone – they will be better than what you have now.
Or Trump could attend the world’s largest geophysics meeting, which occurs in just a few weeks (American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting).
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November 19, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
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Donald Trump Offers Hope of Less Hostile Policy toward China, Huffington Post, 11/18/2016
U.S.-China relations are likely to benefit from the election of Donald Trump as president. Hillary Clinton’s policy toward China emphasized confrontation. In a leaked email she was quoted as privately threatening to “ring China with missile defense” if Beijing didn’t bring North Korea to heel. She also said Americans should “put more of our fleet in the area.”
While Trump primarily emphasized trade issues, Clinton’s approach would have risked a military confrontation while adding new tensions to U.S.-China relations. This approach also would have driven Beijing closer to the ever provocative Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The DPRK’s nuclear program has become Northeast Asia’s biggest security challenge. Today the North is believed to have enough nuclear materials for up to 20 nuclear weapons. By 2020 Pyongyang could have at least 50 and perhaps as many as 100 nukes.
Marry such an arsenal to accurate long-range missiles and Pyongyang’s mischief-making ability would expand dramatically. China understands the dangers and wants to keep the Korean peninsula nuclear-free……..
America, usually through its secretary state, including Clinton, has made a practice of simply telling the PRC what the U.S. desires and complaining when China does not deliver. Alas, the time, if it ever really existed, when Washington could simply dictate to others has passed. Even more, the time when anyone could dictate to Beijing has passed……..
American policymakers understandably are frustrated by China’s continuing support for North Korea. However, threats like that advocated by Clinton almost certainly would be counter-productive. The U.S. is unlikely to apply pressure sufficient to coerce Beijing into acting against its interest. But the attempt would make China less willing to cooperate in the future.
Instead, Washington needs to relearn the art of diplomacy and seek to persuade rather than dictate. Doing so might not be as satisfying as making demands. But such a course would be more likely to succeed. Which should be everyone’s objective in dealing with North Korea. Ironically, despite his bluster, incoming President Donald Trump may be more open to such an approach than would have been a President Hillary Clinton. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/donald-trump-offers-hope_b_13071974.html
November 19, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics international, USA |
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Judge Won’t Dismiss Youth Climate Lawsuit; Stage Set for Historic Trial ,17 November 2016 By Dana Drugmand, Truthout | Report As global temperature continues to rise — with 2016 slated to set a new high for the third consecutive year — young climate activists are rising to the occasion and breaking new legal ground. Finally, a landmark youth-led climate change lawsuit may move forward to trial.
On November 10, 2016, US District Court Judge Ann Aiken ruled in favor of 21 youth plaintiffs suing the federal government over its inadequate action to prevent anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD).
“It’s clear Judge Aiken gets what’s at stake for us,” said 17-year-old plaintiff Victoria Barrett, from White Plains, New York. “Our planet and our generation don’t have time to waste. If we continue on our current path, my school in Manhattan will be underwater in 50 years.”
Judge Aiken rejected defendants’ motion to dismiss the case, following the recommendation made by magistrate judge Thomas Coffin last April. Judge Coffin determined that the youths had standing and had potential constitutional and public trust claims.
The youth plaintiffs (who range from nine to 20 years old) and the nonprofit Our Children’s Trust claim violation of the public trust doctrine, and most prominently, violation of their constitutional rights to life, liberty and property due to climate instability. Federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are the main defendants, supported by the fossil fuel industry as interveners in the case. The plaintiffs allege that the government has known about the dangers of climate change for decades, yet deliberately pursued policies that enabled a fossil-fuel-based energy system and locked in dangerous levels of warming that may be irreversible.
Plaintiffs seek relief in the form of a court mandate that the US develop a climate recovery plan based on the current science……
Although this was not a decision on the merits, Judge Aiken acknowledged the substantive argument that the conventional policy response to the climate crisis has failed to prevent harm.
“This action is of a different order than the typical environmental case,” she wrote in her decision. “It alleges that defendants’ actions and inactions — whether or not they violate any specific statutory duty — have so profoundly damaged our home planet that they threaten plaintiffs’ fundamental constitutional rights to life and liberty.”
In seeking appeal, the government will ask the judge for certification that raises a jurisdictional question, but Vermont Law School professor Patrick Parenteau said she will likely deny this request, thus sending the case to trial.
“I think the case has a lot of moral force and a lot of rhetorical force, regardless of what its ultimate fate may be,” Parenteau told Truthout, adding that it will hopefully capture public attention and remind people that elections have consequences, particularly for younger generations……..http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38405-judge-won-t-dismiss-youth-climate-lawsuit-stage-set-for-historic-trial
November 19, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change, Legal, USA |
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Act now for nuclear future, US Senate committee told http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NP-Act-now-for-nuclear-future-US-Senate-committee-told-1811167.html 18 November 2016 The USA must take action now if it wants to have a “nuclear energy option” by 2030, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee was told on 16 November.
John Deutch, chairman of the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board (SEAB), presented the results from a task force study on the future of nuclear power to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, at the second of two oversight hearings on the future of nuclear power in the USA.
The task force was asked by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to describe an initiative leading to a revitalised US nuclear industry of a scale able to deploy 5000 to 10,000 MWe of nuclear power annually, between 2030 and 2050. The report was approved by the full SEAB in September.
“If the country is going to have a nuclear [energy] option in 2030, it must an initiative of the scope and size that this committee [the Task Force] describes,” Deutch said. “If you do not undertake a major initiative now, it is inevitable that in 2030 the country will not have a nuclear option,” he said. Any such initiative would require time, significant public resources, a redesign of electricity markets, and “sustained and skilled” management. “There is no shortcut to doing this,” he said.
The task force called for market restructuring to avoid the premature retirement of nuclear power plants as a prerequisite for the success of any nuclear power initiative. It called for the carbon free nature of nuclear to be recognised in order to diminish the “cost disparity” between new nuclear – with high overnight capital costs of $5000 per kWe – and natural gas-fired generating capacity – with overnight costs of $1000 per kWe. This could be achieved through either a direct production payment proportional to the cost of carbon avoided – recommended by the task force as 2.7 cents per kilowatt-hour – or by the imposition of a carbon charge on the emissions from gas-fired generation.
Two-part program for new reactors
The task force recommended the USA pursues a two-stranded program to support the development of new plants. Reactors based on proven light-water reactor (LWR) technology would not need any additional federal support beyond the proposed 2.7 cents per kilowatt-hour production payment, although Department of Energy assistance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing and possibly siting early reactors on federally-owned sites “would be appropriate and helpful”, it said.
For advanced reactors based on new technology, the task force recommended a four-part program to bring a reactor from early concept to construction of commercial plant. It estimated such a program, including technology selection and construction of a first-of-a-kind commercial plant, would take up to 25 years and about $11.5 billion. The cost would be shared equally between the government and the private sector entity undertaking the project, with the government’s contribution coming in the earlier phases of the program.
The task force recommended the creation of an independent quasi-public corporation to manage the proposed advanced reactor initiative. It underscored the importance of addressing fuel cycle and waste management as part of the proposed initiative, noting that advanced reactors will raise different issues from LWRs for the front and back end of the fuel cycle. Deutch said committee staff had suggested a single entity could be created to manage both the advanced nuclear initiative and the implementation of the nuclear waste plans from the 2012 Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.
The NRC should develop a staged approach for the licensing of advanced reactors, in consideration of the time and cost associated with obtaining construction and operation licences. The regulator already has the authority to proceed “and should do so now”, although it may require more budgetary support to do so, Deutch said. New advanced reactors constructed and licensed abroad would still require a full NRC review, he added.
The SEAB provides advice and recommendations to the secretary of energy on the department’s basic and applied research and development activities, economic and national security policy, educational issues, operational issues and any other departmental activities and operations as the secretary may direct. The duties of the board are solely advisory.
November 19, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
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Texas City Moves To 100 Percent Renewable Energy Spurred By Federal Plan That New Administration Is Expected To Spurn, Fronteras, By Lorne Matalon November 17, 2016 GEORGETOWN, Texas — Donald Trump’s victory and the impending Republican majority in Congress means the Obama administration’s initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Clean Power Plan, is almost certainly in jeopardy.
The plan is currently before a federal appeals court, under challenge by 24 states. But the new administration is expected to spike the plan before the court rules.
One conservative Texas city has decided to do what the plan was meant to help promote. It’s going 100 percent renewable, wind and solar, in a state largely defined by oil and gas.
There are environmental benefits to the switch, but the decision is all about the money.
In the central Texas city of Georgetown, the droning sound of natural gas powered industrial air conditioning represents unpredictability. Natural gas prices are low now, but historically that market fluctuates.
This city of 55,000 is on the cusp of joining Burlington, Vermont, population 42,000, as the country’s only sizable cities buying 100 percent power from renewable energy. Liberal Burlington is a far cry ideologically from fiercely conservative Georgetown. But they’re fellow travelers in energy.
“So we begin the conversations of what the future might look like,” said Georgetown’s utility chief Jim Briggs.
The city had been buying power from a utility that was expanding its coal-fired power plants. But when the Obama administration began pushing back against new coal plants, Briggs decided to go all green. And it had nothing to do with the environment.
“It was regulation and legislation coming out of Washington,” he said. Then there was the money. “We wanted the least risk, most cost effective option we could get for the community.”
In Texas, the country’s leading wind generation state, wind is now competitive with fossil fuels. But unlike oil and gas, costs don’t fluctuate.
Fred Beach, assistant director for energy and technology policy at University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute, explained the economics of renewables.
“You’re locking in that rate and ten years from now, wind and solar many be even less yet,” Beach said. “But if you’re happy with locking in today’s rate for the next 20 years with certainty, that’s an unbelievably powerful hedging opportunity.”
Now Briggs can tell customers, both businesses and residential, about that hedge, about a price that’s fixed……..
Wind is economical here because the state has invested in transmission lines to bring wind power from sparsely populated west Texas to cities like Georgetown in the center of the state.
History’s full of examples of sending resources across large distances, from Roman Empire aqueducts to the Hoover Dam. The dam sends power from Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border to Los Angeles.
Texas has taken a page from that playbook, deploying $7 billion of taxpayer money on those transmission lines.
“We’ve done this kind off stuff in the past but now it’s like, oh well, you’re doing that for environmental reasons, you’re doing it for tree-hugger reasons,” Beach said. But now there’s a strong economic rationale. “It’s not going to cost more tomorrow, or five years or 10 years from now, we’ll lock it for 20 years.”
The city will be powered exclusively by wind and/or solar in 2017 said Chris Foster, Georgetown’s Manager of Resource Planning and Integration.
“As you add more renewables to the grid, eventually those renewable plants get paid off. And once they’re done being paid off, they have an operating margin of almost zero,” Foster said. “So if you can own these assets super longterm, you see the cost of power should be continuing to decline.” http://www.fronterasdesk.org/content/10488/texas-city-moves-100-percent-renewable-energy-spurred-federal-plan-new-administration
November 19, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
renewable, USA |
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Bill to save Exelon nuclear plants proposes vast rewrite of Ill. law Jeffrey Tomich, E&E News reporter EnergyWire: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 The Illinois Legislature’s six-day veto session opened yesterday with the thud of a sprawling 446-page bill that represents the most significant rewrite of state energy law in almost a decade.
The centerpiece of S.B. 2814, as expected, is a New York-style plan to subsidize two Exelon Corp. nuclear plants that will otherwise be shut down over the next two years.
While Exelon’s nuclear emergency provides the impetus for cash-strapped Illinois to cram through a complex energy bill in the span of a few days, the measure would go much further and remake virtually every aspect of the state’s electricity market for years to come………
the most controversial element in the bill remains a provision to subsidize two Exelon nuclear plants.
Exelon announced this spring that the Clinton plant northeast of Springfield and the Quad Cities plant on the Iowa border would be prematurely closed on June 1, 2017, and June 1, 2018, respectively (EnergyWire, June 3). The plants, which have lost a combined $800 million over the last seven years, continue to bleed red ink as cheap natural gas, increasing wind penetration and declining energy demand depress wholesale power prices.
The new bill is the third try to win support for the plants. The company proposed legislation creating a low-carbon portfolio standard in March 2015 that would have benefited all of its six nuclear plants. Earlier this year, Exelon took a bill to Springfield called the “Next Generation Energy Plan,” which would have provided more targeted aid to the Clinton and Quad Cities plants.
The provision in the bill was inspired by Exelon’s success in winning support for its New York nuclear units. The New York Public Service Commission in August approved a plan to provide payments to three upstate nuclear plants based on the federal government’s social cost of carbon (EnergyWire, Aug. 10).
The latest Illinois proposal would require utilities ComEd and Ameren to purchase zero-emission credits from the nuclear plants at a price based on the social cost of carbon. The price would be adjusted for changes in energy markets. Increases on retail electricity rates would be capped at about 2 percent a year…….
rooftop solar companies warned that the measure would kill residential solar in Illinois before the market gets off the ground. There are currently fewer than 1,000 rooftop solar installations in the state. They said the new rate structure authorized in the bill would make residential solar projects economically infeasible. And the group doesn’t see rebates being dangled by ComEd as a good substitute for the state’s net-metering law, which credits solar generators for excess generation put back on the grid.
“This radical rate design would eliminate solar as an option for Illinois residents to help lower and manage their energy bills, and it would put solar installers out of business in the process,” Amy Heart, a Midwest-based public policy manager for Sunrun Inc., an alliance member, said during a news conference yesterday morning in Springfield……..
unpredictability of demand-based rates would stymie rooftop solar growth in Illinois, said Rebecca Stanfield, a Chicago-based vice president of policy and electricity markets for SolarCity.
“It’s a nightmare for anyone in the distributed energy business” if customers can’t easily compute the payback time on an investment, Stanfield said in an interview.
The demand charge proposal is the main source of opposition from AARP, which said the impact of the change would disproportionately fall on low- and fixed-income residents.
“It’s going to have a major impact on the quality of life in Illinois,” said Julie Vahling, associate state director for the group. She said the bill creates an end run around the Illinois Commerce Commission, the state agency tasked with deciding utility rate structure. http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060045842
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Legal, USA |
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John Kerry: We will fight to keep US in the Paris climate deal
Secretary of state says the outgoing Obama administration is determined to prevent Trump withdrawing the US from the landmark deal, Guardian, Arthur Neslen in Marrakech and Fiona Harvey, 17 Nov 16, John Kerry has signalled that the outgoing Obama administration is preparing a fight to ensure that Donald Trump does not withdraw the US from the landmark Paris agreement, to prevent catastrophic climate change.
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
climate change, USA |
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Exelon’s Illinois energy bill greeted by vociferous opposition, Utility Dive, Peter Maloney@TopFloorPower Nov. 17, 2016
Dive Brief:
Illinois lawmakers have introduced a massive energy bill backed by Exelon that would implement a sweeping restructuring of utility bills in the state to pay for a variety of incentives and programs, including subsidies to keep two nuclear power plants scheduled for closure operating, media sources report.
The bill also includes capacity charges for coal plants in the south of the state, as well as provisions for utility energy efficiency programs, utility microgrids and community solar projects. It would also institute mandatory residential demand charges while replacing net metering with a one-time rebate.
The bill was introduced into the General Assembly’s shortened “veto session,” which runs for three days this week and three days the week after Thanksgiving, and has attracted vocal criticism from a variety of constituencies.
Dive Insight: The day it was introduced, opponents of the Future Energy Jobs Bill spoke out in opposition to the proposed legislation.
“This is going to be the largest rate hike in U.S. history,” Dave Lundy, head of the BEST Coalition, a business group opposed to the bill, said at a press conference shortly after the bill was introduced.
Lundy was objecting to the subsidies the bill would provide to not only Exelon nuclear plants, but to southern Illinois coal plants as well. He said that Illinois generates 41% more electricity than the state needs, so payments to the coal and nuclear plants would be subsidizing rates for customers in other states.
Abe Scarr, director of Illinois Public Interest Research Group, called the mandatory demand charges in the bill “an end run around the Illinois Commerce Commission.”
Sheila Garland, with National Nurses United, said the charges would who would harm low-income and minority residents.
Solar advocates spoke out as well, decrying the demand charge and net metering reform they said would kill rooftop solar in the state.
“With the radical demand charges and elimination of net metering, [lawmakers] are also eliminating the options for residents to do anything about the rate hike,” Amy Heart, director of public policy at Sunrun, told Midwest Energy News. …..http://www.utilitydive.com/news/exelons-illinois-energy-bill-greeted-by-vociferous-opposition/430590/
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
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Exelon’s nuclear plant posturing includes massive rate hike http://rockrivertimes.com/2016/11/15/exelons-nuclear-plant-posturing-includes-massive-rate-hike/ The latest opposition to Exelon’s proposal to save its power plants in Clinton and the Quad Cities has little to do with the two nuclear plants. Instead, a number of consumer and business groups are fighting what they call the largest utility rate hike ever proposed.
Exelon’s latest request from Illinois lawmakers is a 450-page proposal the company says will that’d save its the two endangered nuclear plants by classifying nuclear power as “carbon-friendly.” They would then qualify for government funds that they would use to modernize the two stations.
Without it, Exelon says the Clinton Power Station in Clinton, Ill., will close on June 1, 2017, and the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova, Ill., will close on June 1, 2018. The two plants have lost $800 million in the last seven years, according to the company.
The proposal would also offer credits for coal-fired power plants as a peace offering to Texas-based Dynegy, which owns coal-fired plants in southern Illinois and opposes the bill, and allow Exelon to increase rates.
Dave Lundy with the BEST Coalition, which represents a number of business and consumer groups, said Exelon’s proposal will cost around a billion dollars a year until 2044. “This is going to be the largest rate hike in U.S. history,” Lundy said. “This legislation is going to cost $24 billion.”
The legislation would allow Exelon to move to “demand rate” pricing.
Demand rates would charge customers based on the peak price of their usage the month before. Julie Volin with AARP said that means if customers use their washing machine in the middle of the day, it could spike their power bill.
“The demand rate structure is going to limit people’s ability to actually live in their homes from 9 a.m. til 9 p.m.,” Volin said.
Volin says the Illinois Commerce Commission, which approves utility rate hikes should decide how much people pay for power, not lawmakers.
Exelon says the legislation is a way to guarantee about 1,500 jobs at the plants in Clinton and the Quad Cities and ensure their own viability into the future.
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
business and costs, USA |
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Illinois needs to invest in energy efficiency programs, State Journal Register, Jason Vogelbaugh, Nov 16, 2016 . Concluding a yearlong debate, lawmakers appear ready to consider legislation addressing Illinois energy policy as they return to Springfield this month. To create jobs, save energy and improve air quality, members of the General Assembly must act now to create a stronger energy future for Illinois.
Back in 2007, Illinois leapt ahead of many other states, pioneering energy efficiency legislation that plays a key role to this day in providing Illinois consumers and industrial users with the lowest electricity rates in the Midwest.
But after a decade of inaction, other states have moved ahead of Illinois, seizing private investment and creating jobs that should have come here instead. Last year alone, Illinois lost more than 500 jobs in wind and solar combined, while dozens of other states registered significant gains in these sectors. At the same time, Exelon says that nuclear plants in two communities, the Quad Cities and Clinton, are at risk of closure barring quick action by the Legislature.
To maximize economic and environmental goals, this legislation should not simply address questions about the type of energy we use, it should also address the amount of energy we use by reducing demand through energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency has a proven track record in Illinois, saving money and putting people to work. Since Illinois energy efficiency standards were passed in 2007, customers have saved more than $1 billion on their electric bills. Today 86,000 people statewide work in this field, weatherizing or insulating buildings, designing efficiency measures and upgrading appliances…….
Proponents of the Illinois Clean Jobs Bill (HB 2607/SB 1485) have called for boosting energy efficiency standards statewide and fixing limits that artificially cap investments that utilities can make to save customers money. A bill from ComEd and its parent company Exelon (SB 1585) would expand these programs to save customers in ComEd’s Northern Illinois service area up to $4 billion over the next decade and create thousands of new jobs.
A bill that melds these ideas to expand energy efficiency would be a boon to Illinois customers.
Now that that these parties have put forward a strong energy efficiency initiative, we strongly encourage Ameren Illinois to join them. Central and Southern Illinois customers should not left behind while those in Northern Illinois reap the benefits of lower costs and thousands of new jobs created by expanding energy efficiency.
Programs ensuring that energy efficiency programs are targeted at low-income communities are also under consideration, helping unlock savings for customers who need them most, while accelerating employment opportunities in these areas of Illinois.
Every day wasted by not acting on clean energy is a day Illinois loses out on good-paying jobs. Energy efficiency programs represent the best path to ensure that these jobs — along with big savings — are available to people in every corner of the state. http://www.sj-r.com/opinion/20161116/guest-column-illinois-needs-to-invest-in-energy-efficiency-programs
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
ENERGY, USA |
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Iran deal critics to Trump: Please don’t rip it up, They hated the nuclear agreement. But now they’re urging Trump not to kill it. Politico, By NAHAL TOOSI, 11/16/16
President-elect Donald Trump spent much of his campaign railing against the Iran nuclear deal, even raising the possibility of scrapping the agreement immediately upon taking office.
But many of the deal’s most ardent critics are now saying: “Slow down.”
As the reality of Donald Trump’s White House win sinks in among nuclear deal opponents, some are insisting that pulling out of the agreement is unwise. Instead, they say, Trump should step up enforcement of the deal, look for ways to renegotiate it, and pursue measures to punish Iran for its non-nuclear misbehavior. Such a multi-pronged, get-tough approach may even give Trump cover to fend off any criticism he may get for keeping the deal.
It’s a remarkable moment for the anti-deal crowd, which includes Israel’s prime minister, Saudi princes and Republican lawmakers. Many tried to keep the deal from ever being reached, accused outgoing President Barack Obama of appeasing an enemy and used the agreement to knock Democrats during the 2016 campaign. Now that they have a shot at scuttling the deal they hate so much, they are urging caution.
GOP Sen. Bob Corker, who opposed the deal as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke out against immediately discarding the deal in interviews with cable channels on both Wednesday and Tuesday. The problem is that, as part of the agreement, Iran already has accessed billions of dollars in once-frozen assets, Corker said. Plus, the U.S. is just one of seven countries involved in the deal, in which the United Nations and the European Union also play a role.
“We gave up … all of our leverage on the front end when we gave away the moneys that were stashed in various countries around the world and so now the leverage is with them,” Corker told MSNBC on Tuesday. “I think the beginning point is for us to cause them to strictly adhere [to the deal]. And I think that what we have to remember is, we have to keep the Europeans and others with us in this process.”
The July 2015 nuclear deal is not a treaty. It is a political arrangement put into force largely through presidential executive orders that suspended nuclear-related sanctions on Iran. In exchange for the lifting of such sanctions by the U.S., the EU and the U.N., Iran has dismantled its nuclear infrastructure………
“You don’t want all the blame for the deal falling apart to land on the U.S.,” argued David Ibsen, president of United Against Nuclear Iran, a group that has spent months trying to persuade companies around the world not to invest in Iran despite the lifting of sanctions.
Ibsen and others said Trump can still save face on Iran by making it clear he is serious about enforcing the nuclear deal while also cracking down on Tehran’s nefarious activities…. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/donald-trump-iran-nuclear-deal-231419
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, USA |
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EPA to test areas in Bridgeton for radioactive contamination St Louis Public Radio, 17 Nov 16 The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to test areas in Bridgeton for radioactive contamination.
Federal officials are responding to allegations made by residents near the West Lake Landfill. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday against against landfill owner Republic Services, Michael and Robbin Dailey claimed contamination from the Superfund site was found in their home.
According to a
letter from an EPA lawyer, the agency plans to sample dust and soils at the home and other areas in Bridgeton.
EPA officials have previously said there is no evidence that radioactive material has migrated away from the site.
Original story from Nov. 15 —Residents in Bridgeton have filed a lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, alleging that radioactive waste was found at a home near the West Lake Landfill.
The lawsuit names nine companies, including landfill owner Republic Services, the Cotter Corporation and Mallinckrodt Inc. as defendants. The plaintiffs are Michael and Robbin Dailey, who live in the Spanish Village subdivision. According to the lawsuit, sampling conducted at their property last summer found “high levels of uranium decay products, including thorium, lead, radon” in the kitchen, basement and yard. Exposure to such substances can increase the risk to cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
It also claims that dust inside their home contained levels of the radioactive element Thorium-230 that were at least 200 times higher than background levels.
The Daileys have lived in Spanish Village since 1999. Robbin Dailey has long been concerned that exposure to nuclear waste from the Superfund site has adversely affected their health. ……
The West Lake Landfill, a federally listed Superfund site, contains World War II-era nuclear waste that was illegally dumped there in the 1970s. It sits approximately 600 feet from an underground smoldering fire under the Bridgeton Landfill……
Area activists have long pressed for a voluntary buyout for residents living near the landfill. A news release from the group Just Moms STL has called on the EPA and Gov. Jay Nixon to relocate families immediately. ……http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/epa-test-areas-bridgeton-radioactive-contamination#stream/0
November 18, 2016
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Legal, USA |
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