Legalectric

…  showing up at a public meeting this week.  Yup, it was about a new proposed nuclear plant in Idaho.  He was told to leave and not to hand out pamphlets.  Jeez, I guess former Mayor Terry Lundgren is giving lessons.

Check the video here:

Anti-nuclear activist arrested

Yup, it’s getting hot in here…

I heard a report that something like 1/3 of Iowa is underwater. Can it be?

Here’s an update from Paul Fried who is in the zone:

A brief note/update for friends, relatives, neighbors:
We’ve been in the Washburn/Gilbertville Iowa area since Sunday morning. My mother-in-law’s basement had about 5 feet of water. The water has receeded, we’ve swept and shoveled water and mud, carried out furniture, boxes, wet carpeting, wood doors and debris. Some family members have been working to dry documents, slides and family films. We’re power-washing, and very tired when we go to bed at night. An electrician came and restored electricity today. It may be a while before we can drink city water again, but there’s plenty of bottled water for now. People have been kind. An Iowa foodshelf truck came by to drop off water, crackers and
pop-tarts. Life is good.
– Paul

And Christine Ziebold, M.D., remember her — co-author of this report:

Ex. 2 – Price of Pollution

Here’s a photo she took down in Iowa City, where she’s living now, this is the University of Iowa Burlington Ave Power Plant, all sandbagged:

And a large part of the population of Iowa City sandbagging to save campus buildings:

Iowa’s getting organized. If you’re interested in helping, they need it all, from trucking stuff around to website & data entry to animal feeding to meal delivery to medical care to doing laundry:

www.2008flood.org

Their Animal Shelters have moved to larger facilities to serve the animals:

Cedar Rapids Emergency Animal Shelter – Kirkwood Community College

Iowa City Pet Shelter – at Johnson County Fairgrounds

From Daily Kos, a reminder of how fragile it all is, and an argument for distributed generation of all sorts, decentrailzation:

How a Midwest Flood Can Drag Down a Nation

It’s all connected. As a truckdriver, I knew how vulnerable this country is, how dependent on the I-80 link between the costs, without it, the whole country would starve.

This is another one of those “HOW STUPID CAN THEY BE” posts, based on some searching today for what various regional gasbag groups are doing across the country. I was at the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord site, looking for geographic boundaries, and I stumbled on this in the Allowances Subgroup Conference Call Materials for June 3, 2008:

Carbon Sequestration Incentive

And now, here’s where I start my rant, this one point jumping out and hitting me over the head. First, let’s be really clear here — they’re talking about IGCC – Coal Gasification:

The goal of the program is too ease financing of a risky capital intensive technology.

Then, they go into CO2 Carbon Capture and Storage:

Federal Department of Energy (or appropriate agency) takes title to and liability for long-term storage of CO2 from selected projects.

DOESN’T ANYONE ON THIS COMMITTEE HAVE THE BRAINS OF A GNAT SUFFICIENT TO THINK ABOUT “TAKES TITLE TO AND LIABILITY FOR LONG-TERM STORAGE” AND THINK OF NUCLEAR WASTE?

For a while now, I’ve been saying that IGCC is the new nuclear, it’s a technology they want to build without experience, without all the questions answered, without the promoters and developers taking responsibility for what it is they’re promoting and building, and now, this hare-brained scheme? HOW STUPID CAN THEY BE?

If you want to know what happens with nuclear waste in this type of scenario:

NSP v. DOE – 224 F3d 1361

Short version? They don’t know what to do with nuclear waste and don’t know how to store it long term. In a CO2 context, it’s no different, they don’t know what to do with it and don’t know how to store it long term. Taking title and liability for long term storage does nothing for their inability to do it! We’re still left holding the bag. Recourse? Essentially none. Can’t make them store nuclear waste which they don’t know how to do and can’t do. Can’t make them store CO2 which they don’t know how to do and can’t do. And this does exactly what for global warming and greenhouse gas emissions?

HOW STUPID CAN WE BE? ARE THEY REALLY SERIOUS IN SUGGESTING THIS? WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS ANYWAY? In Minnesota, we should be hyperaware of this issue, and this is a “Midwestern” group. WHAT LUNACY…

HAVE I MADE MY POINT?

… sigh…

Here’s the text in full:

EIX calls for the creation of an incentive program to encourage existing and new players to invest in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology.

The goal of the program is too ease financing of a risky capital intensive technology.
Improve on bonus allowance allocations, by eliminating allowance price risk.
Build on the success of the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC).
Federal guarantee of revenue either as cash payments or a PTC.
10 year term of payment
Reduce financing cost through accelerated depreciation
Federal Department of Energy (or appropriate agency) takes title to and liability for long-term storage of CO2 from selected projects.

Auction revenues fund payment for CO2 captured and geologically sequestered.
Program size limited to funding stream created by Bingaman–Specter CCS bonus allowances
CCS Bonus allowances monetized in auction and used to back Federal payments
Incentive payment per ton is calculated using either a:
Regional marginal emission rate at a level that makes the CCS unit competitive, from a marginal cost standpoint, with a combined cycle natural gas generator.
Reverse auction where 10 year Federal fixed price contracts are awarded to the lowest offered cost of sequestration.

To Qualify:
Project put in service before 2035.
Project designed to capture and store not less than 65% of CO2 stack emissions
Sequestration facility certified by EPA/DOE.
EPA/DOE to establish certification criteria for geological sequestration facilities.

There’s a simple little survey on the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources – LCCMR page that you should fill out.  From the site, “the LCCMR is seeking ideas and advice on how future money from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund should be spent.” so here’s a chance to weigh in:

2008 Citizen Input Form

Always the party poop, I note that public participation is always important, but this is the place for LEADERSHIP and a Citizen Survey won’t exactly provide that!  I would think that anyone paying any attention should have a clue what people think!  But what do I know…

IGCC – coal gasification — it’s getting around…

There are some interesting posts on the majari blog from  “the #1 portal for Indonesian engineering students.”

IGCC: Technology Overview

IGCC: Major IGCC Sections (2)

I imagine there will be more.  These are well done, getting some of the major points, but overly optimistic about IGCC.  Given that IGCC is tanking in the US, I’m sensing a promotional effort by those in the US invested in IGCC to ship this pipedream technology overseas.  Why?  Because we know how they’ve been trying to infiltrate those IGCC tentacles all over the US — lots of advertising and promotion with zilch about the problems, zilch about the emissions, zilch about water usage and contamination, zilch about high and now skyrocketing costs.  And note this advertiser on the site, it’s the “Clean Coal, America’s Power” routine, with their classic image:

And there are others too.  The financing in the US was a creative scheme, putting together federal and state doles, cutting equity required of utilities/developers, and shifting the risks and burdens to the ratepayers.

William G. Rosenberg, Dwight C. Alpern, Michael R. Walker, Deploying IGCC In This Decade with 3Party Covenant Financing, Vol. I, May 2005 Revision, John F. Kennedy School of Government, particularly pps. 1-21.

So what I’m seeing is an unworkable technology chasing/making development opportunities overseas, where word may not have gotten out about the problems with IGCC.  And what an opportunity for World Bank!  And then there’s the Mesaba Project and Excelsior Energy’s Julie Jorgensen’s experience in World Bank:

Julie Jorgensen CV

A couple specific examples she provides:

• Founded a Latin American infrastructure development fund in partnership with the International Finance Corp., a World Bank affiliate, and another independent power producer.
• Advised foreign governments on energy policy in conjunction with World Bank and U.S.A.I.D. initiatives.  Participated as expert panelist in Baltic States energy policy conference sponsored by the U.S. Energy Association in Riga, Latvia.