Ameren Transmission Co. slaps MO Counties
October 11th, 2016
Ameren Transmission Company (ATXI) has filed lawsuits in two Missouri counties, Adair and Marion, challenging the county decisions to reject the “Mark Twain” transmission line (isn’t there some copyright or defamation law preventing use of Samuel Clemens’ “name” that way?).
What exactly did the counties do? Well, the counties need to approve or deny the Mark Twain transmission project, a condition of the Missouri PSC permit for the project, under the terms of the permit:
Adair and Marion Counties said NO! Ameren Transmission Company seems to think they have no right to say NO!
The actions of the counties sounds reasonable… and Ameren’s pleadings are mostly repeated whining that they were not invited, not notified, and that County Commissioners oppose the Mark Twain transmission line. GASP! They even attended a PSC meeting and opposed the line:
Ameren’s position seems to be, “How dare they!” Ameren, it might be wise to consider who it is that these Missouri County Commissioners represent. They’re elected officials, and Ameren was not elected to office, and they Commissioners’ job is not to represent Ameren! DOH! What a concept!
Here are the pleadings filed by Ameren in Adair and Marion Counties:
Kudos to the County Commissioners for standing up! And a big thanks to attorney Paul Henry for the heads up and forwarding the primary documents — it sure helps to know the whole story!!!
Drumpf — the beginning of the end
October 11th, 2016
Like wow… look at the change in October, from 538. Can it be? Sure hope so… just 28 days to go ’til this election, and it can’t be over soon enough.
In the STrib:
And elsewhere:
Glenn Beck: Electing Hillary Clinton ‘Is a Moral, Ethical Choice’
Trump, time to withdraw
October 8th, 2016
from Reuters
In the New York Times, Why Republicans Are Probably Stuck with Donald Trump, but I don’t agree with the headline, under the rules, he can “decline,” and should “decline” now:
… the Republican Party did not have a mechanism to replace a nominee just because it wants to. The party’s rules state that “the Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for president of the United States.”
Not that Drumpf is capable of withdrawal, but it is time. He never should have been in a position to be nominated as candidate, he never should have been nominated — this is not new information — but it is beyond time to act on what we’ve know for so long. Donald J. Trump is not fit, is not qualified, to be President of the U.S.
Thursday’s Xcel IRP meeting at PUC
October 8th, 2016
It was a long, long day. Bottom line? Based on the record, and based on acknowledgement of Xcel’s peak demand history, we can shut down Sherco 1 & 2 now without missing it, and by 2025 or so, shut down Prairie Island and not have to pay for significant rehab to keep it running.
Here is the PUC webcast:
Here is my handout, noting the 700-788MW overstatement of peak demand forecast.
If you start with Xcel’s 2015 actual peak demand, and extrapolate using the 0.3% annual increase out to 2030, here’s what it looks like (click for larger view):
These are the charts that they’re using, starting with inflated forecasts of 9,409 and 9,442MW for 2016, note how far off the resulting 2030 “forecast” is — it’s 800 – 1,234 MW off!
With the “forecast” that much off, it’s as absurd as the CapX 2020 2.49% annual increase. Staff questioned the forecasts in the Briefing Papers, Commissioner Lange raised forecasts right off the bat, and Commissioner Schuerger claimed it was at least 300 MW off (don’t know where that 300 MW came from). These discrepancies havce been noted, and they should dig deeper, because the numbers used by Xcel do not add up. Were they lying in the SEC filings or are they lying now? Why isn’t Commerce challenging this, given admissions of the existing surplus? This forecast overstatement, plus admission of under-utilization of grid (meaning grid has been overbuilt, DOH, CapX 2020 and MVP projects are not “needed” in any sense) raises a few issues:
1) This misrepresentation is NOW equivalent to at least one coal plant, and by the end of 2030, or by the time presumed for shut down of Sherco 1 and 2, it’s much more than that.
2) This misrepresentation avoids consideration of shut down of Sherco 1 & 2 NOW, and shutdown of Prairie Island at the 2024-2026 time frame, and avoidance of $600-900 million in capital costs, or more, for Prairie Island.
3) This misrepresentation circumvents discussion of the admitted surplus now existing, even Dr. Rakow admitted to that at least twice in Thursday’s discussion. Where there is surplus, they can sell it elsewhere, and that is, after all, the purpose of CapX 2020 and MVP transmission.
Got that? We can shut down Sherco 1 & 2 now without missing it, and by 2025 or so, shut down Prairie Island and not have to pay for significant rehab to keep it running. This is not rocket science. It’s as simple as using actual peak demand as a starting point and not making up numbers as they have been doing.
Donald J. Trump Foundation
October 5th, 2016
Trump Foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF (Private Foundation) shows that he gives a “little” here and a “little” there (oh, say $2-25,000), but gives $100,000 to the Citizens United Foundation. A little light reading from the Donald J. Trump Foundation as we approach election day — Clinton Foundation is next. These three are the only available on GuideStar:
2014 IRS Form 990-PF Trump Foundation