Xcel transmission — Opposition anyone???
January 27th, 2009
Poor Xcel, getting picked on… a City of Minneapolis resolution to delay the route application for the Hiawatha Project transmission line, and a unanimous preference for undergrounding if it should be built. SNORT!
LET’S SEE THE SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS LOAD SERVING STUDY (which the Hiawatha Project is supposedly based on) and the SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS ELECTRIC RELIABILITY PROJECT STUDY which is shooting in a 345kV line from Hwy. 280 to the new Hiawatha substation… “100 MW need” my ass…
Here are 16 questions posed by Midtown Greenway to Xcel and 9 answers:
Piecing together studies found on line, here’s what I think Xcel is up to:
Take your transmission line and go home, Xcel…
EPA objects to Big Stone II air permit
January 23rd, 2009
EEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAA! A big stake in its slimy little heart…
Hot off the press from Sierra Club and Clean Water Action, who have been working tirelessly against Otter Tail Power’s Big Stone II coal plant, the Big Stone II air permit is upende
Here’s their press release in toto:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Virginia Cramer, Sierra Club 804-519-8449
Darrell Gerber, Clean Water Action 612-802-5372Date: January 23, 2009
Big Stone II Sent Back to the Drawing Board
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Concerned About Pollution, Global WarmingWashington, DC – Less than three days after the Bush Administration left office, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has overturned the State of South Dakota’s approval of the massive Big Stone II coal-fired power plant. The EPA’s decision comes after the state failed to require state-of-the-art pollution controls for the coal plant that would address concerns about harmful soot, smog and global warming pollution.
“This is a great day not only for clean energy and people’s health, it’s a victory for the rule of law,” said Bruce Nilles, Director of the Sierra Club’s Move Beyond Coal Campaign. “EPA is signaling that it is back to enforcing longstanding legal requirements fairly and consistently nationwide,” added Nilles.
As the first major coal plant decision by the EPA since President Obama took office, this decision signals that the dozens of other coal plant proposals currently in permitting processes nationwide will face a new level of federal scrutiny. Sierra Club and Clean Water Action have been working to stop the Big Stone II project and ramp up clean energy investments in for more than three years.
“Today EPA took the first step toward restoring science and integrity to its work and recognizing the very real need to reduce air pollution from coal-fired power plants,” said Darrell Gerber, Clean Water Action Program Coordinator. “Downwind residents and the region’s natural resources will be better protected.”
This decision likely spells the end of Otter Tail Power’s Big Stone II coal plant. While for the past eight years the Bush Administration has refused to regulate global warming pollution, even after being ordered to do so by the US Supreme Court, President Obama has pledged that the US will cut global warming pollution and do its part to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. With coal-fired power plants accounting for almost 30% of our nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, burning less coal and investing in clean energy such as wind and solar instead is a common sense approach to helping meet global warming pollution reduction goals. The proposed Big Stone II 500-megawatt coal plant would have emitted more than 4 million tons of global pollution annually.
At a minimum, Otter Tail Power will have to go back to the drawing board and redesign the project to incorporate the best and maximum available control technology for pollution like soot and smog. Sierra Club and Clean Water Action will be pushing for EPA to set limits also for carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming.
“Otter Tail Power will now have to be responsible for the cost of its pollution,” said Nilles. “We hope that this increasing cost of coal will encourage Otter Tail Power, along with Governors Pawlenty and Rounds, to harness the clean and affordable wind resources available in the region. Minnesota and South Dakota should be leaders on the path to renewable energy independence, not laggards proposing 19th century coal plants.”
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Now, can we get them to end Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project?
Gas in wells in Dimock Twp. PA
January 22nd, 2009
A while back, in Dimock, PA, a woman’s well blew up just a little down the road from where they were doing gas drilling… funny how that works. Now it seems they’re admitting a relationship between the two, and are giving people water, those who took their water, shook it up, and LIT IT! They “just felt unsafe,” yeah, I guess… It seems it’s taking a LONG time for anything to happen here.
From: Wells tested, cause of explosion sought in gas exploration in Susquehanna County
Yeah, just a bit of an understatement…
Breaking news: Gas mining company provides water after methane found in private wells
Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009 12:47 PM EST
“We felt it best to take a step back and take a comprehensive look,” he said.
Delmarva Power to hold transmission line meetings
January 22nd, 2009
MID-ATLANTIC POWER PATHWAY?
JUST SAY NO TO TRANSMISSION FOR COAL AND NUCLEAR.
Delmarva Power will be hosting three meetings in Sussex County on the MAPP transmission line, no not MAPP of “MAPP map” fame, but Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway, a big line designed to bring coal generated electricity through Delaware, and take Delaware’s Indian River coal generation north east into New Jersey.
Times, dates and locations for community meetings:
Tuesday, January 27
Delmar Fire Hall
Bi-State Blvd. & Grove St.
Delmar, Del.
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Thursday, January 29
Gumboro Fire Hall
37030 Millsboro Highway
Gumboro, Del.
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Wednesday, February 4
Millsboro Civic Center
322 Wilson Highway
Millsboro, Del.
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Delaware is way behind in transmission regulation. Unlike most states, Delaware does NOTHING at all to regulate transmission — there’s no Certificate of Need or Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity required, they do NOT have to demonstrate that the line is needed. And there’s no PSC routing proceeding either. In most states, they DO have to demonstrate need or the line cannot be built, and the line must be for a public purpose. For the MAPP line, which is bulk power transfer, MARKET TRANSACTIONS, there’s no public purpose here, just private purpose, corporate profit. There’s nothing in it for Delaware. Well, it does enable NRG to move its coal generation around more easily.
You may hear claims “it’s for wind” and that is a crock. You may have heard Jeremy Firestone say that this line is designed for coal and nuclear, but could be designed to help wind development in Delaware — Jeremy Firestone may be the wind guru, but Firestone’s outside his area of expertise and his failure to say “SHUT DOWN INDIAN RIVER” comes through loud and clear. Here’s Firestone and Kempton’s comments about MAPP from Bluewater Term Sheet comments:
NO NO NO, that only enables coal and nuclear. Whatever are you thinking?
Delaware Electric Cooperative has said that it wants to build a NEW North Anna nuclear plant — is that still DEC’s plan? If so, the MAPP line would get that nuclear power there, and all DEC customers would be participating in nuclear expansion. Is that what you want? This is an issue for Sussex county to weigh in on now!
Shutting down NRG’s Indian River Generating Plant is the logical step to help wind development in Delaware, both in market development and transmission access. And of course it’s the logical step to reduce toxic emissions in Delaware — the Indian River Generating Plant is the largest point-source polluter in Delaware. To quote Muller: DELAWARE NEEDS TO STOP BURNING COAL.
How would shutting down the Indian River plant enable wind? Indian River’s two smallest plants will be shut down in 2009, and removal of that generation leaves enough transmission infrastructure generation and reservations for the Bluewater Wind project. If Indian River was completely shut down, there’s room for a lot more off-shore-wind generated electricity than Bluewater plans — several times the MW of the Bluewater Project. Let’s get to it — shut down Indian River now — and if NRG’s bid for gas generation to back up wind is approved, that would be sited there — just the right place back up wind and provide reactive power for the system.
And a little sidebar — though many Renewable Energy Standards passed, ALL have a fatal flaw — not a single one is linked to any shut down of fossil fuel generation. So for a 25% RES, we’re looking at adding that above current generation, not cutting generation, so the numbers look like this: 100% demand + 25% RES = 125% rather than 100% demand -25% fossil fuel + 25% RES = 100%. That may seem simple… so why are all RES’s missing this important connection?
What this MAPP line does is enable coal generation from the other end of the line and coal generation at Indian River to continue, and to be sold on the market, so that even if Delaware does not use the generation, they can sell it elsewhere. Even if CO2 externalities add to the cost, on the spot market they can sell it anywhere and still make a lot of money. Yeah, good idea.
Once more with feeling — Two points here:
1) SHUT DOWN ALL OF NRG’S INDIAN RIVER COAL GENERATING PLANT AND MAKE ROOM FOR WIND!
2) JUST SAY NO TO TRANSMISSION FOR COAL!
Here’s Delmarva’s blurb published nearly verbatim in the Sussex Countian:
Here’s the Delmarva from a PR service:
Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway Meetings Scheduled for Sussex County, Del.
Times, dates and locations for community meetings:
Tuesday, January 27
Delmar Fire Hall
Bi-State Blvd. & Grove St.
Delmar, Del.
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Thursday, January 29
Gumboro Fire Hall
37030 Millsboro Highway
Gumboro, Del.
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Wednesday, February 4
Millsboro Civic Center
322 Wilson Highway
Millsboro, Del.
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
President Obama… what more is there to say?
January 20th, 2009
Well, a lot.
TOMORROW, get on the horn to the White House and tell them “NO NEW COAL” and “NO COAL” and while you’re at it, tell them to spend this “stimulus” money on wind and solar, and tell them to forget transmission — it’s just enabling business as usual, more coal, and it will make it harder for truly renewable to get on line when the rules dictate that all comers must be served with transmission whether it’s renewable or not. Yup, that’s a mouthful, but have at it:
202-456-1414
And someone explain how on earth she got through the day in those shoes!
Got that: 202-456-1414
Manana!