Legalectric

With all this talk of Ukraine, and tRump going on and on about Hunter Biden and natural gas in Ukraine, isn’t a bit odd that there’s no talk of tRump and his administration’s dealings in natural gas in Ukraine?

Why has this been buried? Isn’t this the main reason for the Hunter Biden flap?

Profit, not politics: Trump allies sought Ukraine gas deal

From the article:

But the effort to install a friendlier management team at the helm of the gas company, Naftogaz, would soon be taken up with Ukraine’s new president by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whose slate of candidates included a fellow Texan who is one of Perry’s past political donors.

It’s unclear if Perry’s attempts to replace board members at Naftogaz were coordinated with the Giuliani allies pushing for a similar outcome, and no one has alleged that there is criminal activity in any of these efforts. And it’s unclear what role, if any, Giuliani had in helping his clients push to get gas sales agreements with the state-owned company.

Trump’s fast-track for LNG by rail collides with LNG projects in Ukraine

And in Forbes on September 30, 2019:

LNG Is The American Aid Ukraine Really Needs

Note tRump’s energy policy isn’t about “independence,” it’s about “DOMINANCE!” Read it here, scroll on down to the very end… LNG!

American Energy Dominance

tRump at Cameron LNG:

Keystone XL Pipeline has been shut down by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation after it ruptured and covered part of North Dakota in oil.

Keystone pipeline oil leak

Keystone Pipeline Spill Hardens Landowner Opposition to Proposed Expansion

Well, DOH! Here’s the DOT’s Order:

Bottom line, it’s shut down, with a laundry list of issues to address:

Do note that they’ve only shut down a “segment” of it, the part between the Edinberg Pump Station and the Niagara Pump Station, in North Dakota. Without that segment, however, well, there’s not much happening on the pipeline…

DEEP BREATHE EVERYONE. This project hasn’t got a chance in hell!

Received a response from the DNR, and bottom line on the Empire Builder Investments/Progressive Rail project to draw water in Dakota County is:

Kinda says it all, don’t cha think?!?!

Here are the primary documents sent by the DNR, the quote above is from the Preliminary Assessment:

And the DNR Commissioner’s statement:

Inadequate — and REMANDED! Here’s the Appellate Court decision, just out:

Bottom line:
However, the commission acted in a manner unsupported by substantial evidence and arbitrary and capricious when it determined the FEIS adequate despite its failure to address the issue—raised during scoping and in public comments on the DEIS—of how an oil spill from Enbridge’s Line 3 project would impact Lake Superior and its watershed. Accordingly, we reverse the commission’s adequacy decision and remand for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

Love it when that happens…

There’s been a lot of speculation about the low wind production during the low-low temps at the end of January.  Turns out there’s an issue not anticipated by MISO that they’re going to have to deal with.  I heard it first from a little birdie who heard it while in a flock…

And now from a bigger birdie with primary info from the horse itself: Turbines apparently have a -22F degree or so automatic shutoff, so when it was way cold, they shut off.

Unidentified temperature cutoff thresholds challenged
wind forecasting in morning of Jan 30. Unexpected
shutoffs led to a large deviation from planned output.

Ummmmm, that’s a problem.  Here’s the MISO update on that:

20190207 MSC Item 04 Jan 30 Max Gen Event317407

And from my “good friends” at Center of the American Experiment, who got it twisted again:

Bitter Cold Shows Reliable Energy Sources Are Critical

Twisted?  What’s wrong with that?  Well, their focus is that it was an intermittency issue, which it was not.  As above, it was that shut-off at -22!  And note the part in their post about “unforeseen.”  And THAT is the problem, because the -22 cut-off was not integrated into the MISO modeling, plans, and that was a surprise, and they’re going to have to figure that one out.  It’s possible, probable, and now apparently likely that we will have another -22 degree spell in the foreseeable future.  So get with it, MISO!

And natural gas.  I keep thinking about that CenterPoint natural gas underground storage dome.  7 billion cubic feet at least.  There’s a lot of gas in storage.  Are they relying on pipelines, and does that reliance take into account the many newer natural gas plants?  Does Xcel share/buy from CenterPoint, take advantage of the storage?  What is the impact of so many electric generators fueled by natural gas?  They did recently do a lot of natural gas pipeline work on that primary north/south line running north from Waseca, was that a capacity expansion… upgrades or maintenance ??