Judge Rules Energy Future Can Auction its Oncor Holdings

A state bankruptcy court judge has ruled that Energy Future Holdings can begin accepting bids for its majority stake in Texas transmission company Oncor.

Energy Future, which has declared bankruptcy, is selling off its 80% share in Oncor, which has 120,000 miles of transmission lines and 3 million residential customers in Texas. The winning bidder will then have the right to own that equity when Energy Future exits bankruptcy.

According to Reuters, expected bidders include NextEra Energy, Hunt Consolidated of Dallas and CenterPoint Energy, also of Dallas. Energy Future’s stake is estimated to be worth about $18 billion.

More: Reuters

ILLINOIS

Fracking Rules to be Unveiled Soon, Permit Rush Expected to Follow

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules last week took a final step toward setting rules to govern fracking in the state.

The committee approved the regulations after months of public hearings, comments and committee work. The exact rules are expected to be released to the public Nov. 15. Until then, outside parties — environmental groups, energy companies and local governments — are in the dark.

“We don’t know if our concerns have been taken into account because we don’t know what changes were made,” said Jack Darin, director of the state chapter of the Sierra Club. The rules are likely to face legal challenges.

Unveiling the rules is expected to spur initial permit applications, local public hearings and test well drilling. The Department of Natural Resources has hired 32 people to help with the initial application process.

More: The Chicago Tribune (subscription required)

INDIANA

Commissioners Get Answers on IPL’s August Blasts, Blackout

Indianapolis Power and Light officials told state regulators last week that the utility will spend $15 million in the next three to five years to replace 137 aging underground circuit breakers that were linked to a network failure in August.

At a hearing held by the Utility Regulatory Commission, the utility said the sounds of a series of underground network disruptions that shook Indianapolis in August were not explosions but the sound of tripping circuit breakers. Those circuit breakers, some dating to the 1950s, were identified as a problem in 2011. Since then, IPL has replaced 10 of the 58 aging breakers that were shown to be susceptible to corrosion.

IPL said that within 30 days it would submit a plan to the IURC to replace 137 vulnerable breakers.

More: WISH-TV

MICHIGAN

Proposed Law Would Protect Large Wind Farm Operators

The state Senate is considering two bills that would limit nuisance lawsuits against operators of industrial wind turbines by exempting operations that are in compliance with state and local regulations. One measure would impose a “loser pay” requirement on plaintiffs who do not prevail.

“There are a number of lawsuits being filed and families being paid damages,” said state Sen. Howard Walker, author of the bills. “When that happens, the additional costs are passed on to the ratepayers. To me, this is a property rights issue. If someone is complying with local ordinances and state law, I believe they have the right to harvest wind energy on their property.”

Some wind opponents were displeased. “Wind development is becoming much harder to sell to rural communities,” said Kevon Martis of the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition. “Turbines are no longer a novelty. They are pervasive and wind developers are having a much harder time convincing people that 50- or 60-story tall turbines are scarcely noticeable in our quiet farming communities.”

More: Michigan Capitol Confidential

NEW JERSEY

Pipeline Company Threatens to Sue Homeowners Who Deny Access

A company planning to build a petroleum products pipeline through the state’s north is threatening property owners who deny access to surveyors, but some environmental groups say that Pilgrim Pipeline doesn’t have that right.

A homeowner in Parsippany received a letter from Pilgrim saying their representatives had the right to go on the property for surveys, and if refused access, Pilgrim would go to court to force the issue. The letter said that Pilgrim is a “pipeline company established under New Jersey law” with the “power to condemn private property.” Because of that, Pilgrim’s consultants have “the ability to enter on private land to perform surveys and investigations,” the letter read.

Not so fast, say environmental groups. “It’s wrong legally, it’s wrong factually,” said Aaron Kleinbaum, legal director of the Eastern Environmental Law Center. “They do not have the right to go onto private property without permission.” Pilgrim has proposed a 178-mile pipeline to carry refined products such as gasoline, diesel and heating oil from the New York Harbor to upstate New York.

More: NorthJersey.com

BPU Chief Counsel Joins McCarter & English

Tricia Caliguire, a former energy and environmental policy advisor to Gov. Chris Christie and the chief counsel for the Board of Public Utilities, is leaving government and returning to private law practice.

Caliguire, who has been with the BPU since 2012, will specialize in energy, utility and environmental matters as special counsel in McCarter & English’s Newark office. She started her law career with McCarter & English in 1987.

More: NJBiz

NORTH CAROLINA

Commission Proposes Surprise Inspections

A state Mining and Energy Commission report proposes allowing unannounced inspections at oil and gas drilling sites. It was just one of the recommendations culled from nearly 220,000 public comments on draft rules. The surprise inspection rule was developed to remove language that would have mandated notice to site operators.

The report, prepared by three of the 14 commission members, also suggested a minimum setback of 1,500 feet to each oil or gas well, tank, tank battery, pit or production facility from the edge of any waterway that leads to a drinking water supply.

The proposals will go to the full commission for a vote and then to the legislature during its January session.

More: News & Record

OHIO

Recycling Plant Partner in Default on Construction Payments

A private developer building a project to remove recyclable material from trash and to produce energy from landfill waste has defaulted on payments, putting the project in jeopardy.

The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio said Florida-based Team Gemini, which was to build a recyclables sorting and recovery facility at the Franklin County landfill, is more than $1.1 million behind in construction payments and hasn’t paid its $342,850 rent.

Team Gemini is under contract to complete the facility by June 2016. The plant would be powered by a generation station fueled by the landfill’s organic waste. The authority can pull out of the project if Team Gemini doesn’t come up with the payments within 60 days.

More: The Columbus Dispatch

3 out of 4 Towns Reject Anti-Fracking Laws

Voters in three of four towns rejected anti-fracking measures on their ballots in last week’s election.

About 58% of voters in Youngstown rejected a measure to ban oil and gas drilling, the fourth time an anti-fracking measure was rejected in the northeast city. The towns of Kent and Gates Mills also rejected anti-drilling measures.

Only voters in Athens, home of Ohio University, supported a measure prohibiting fracking for shale gas and oil. The  “Community Bill of Rights and Water Supply Protection Ordinance” passed with 78% of the vote. (See related story, GOP Majority Unlikely to Thwart EPA Carbon Plan.)

More: Midwest Energy News 

PENNSYLVANIA

PGW Sale to UIL Holdings May Still be Alive, Mayor Says

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration is still campaigning to keep alive a $1.86 billion sale of the city’s gas utility to UIL Holdings, despite the city council’s refusal to take up the measure.

“The mayor is ever an optimist and is hopeful that before the end of the year, we will have had a bill introduced, hearings and a vote from City Council on PGW [Philadelphia Gas Works] and the sale to UIL,” said Mark McDonald, Nutter’s press secretary. Council President Darrell L. Clarke announced abruptly on Oct. 27 that the city’s legislative body would not consider the proposal.

The mayor’s office released a document last week offering a point-by-point rebuttal of criticisms of the privatization. The deal expires by year’s end if not approved by council.

The Public Utility Commission will hold a hearing to discuss PGW’s future this week, and UIL CEO James P. Torgerson said his company will decide soon whether it will continue to pursue the deal, on which it has already spent $21.3 million. “We’re going to see how things go over the next few days, and then we’ll make some decisions on that,” he said during an analysts call.

More: Philadelphia Business Journal; The Philadelphia Inquirer

DEP Revises Rule to Require Use of RACT Systems

The state Department of Environmental Protection has revised a rule it proposed in April to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants that was widely criticized by environmental groups and deemed “too lax” by federal environmental regulators.

The new proposed final rule requires the state’s more than two dozen coal-fired power plants to install and operate Reasonably Available Control Technology to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

Critics said DEP’s April proposal would have allowed many of the power plants to operate without turning those controls on and emit up to 40% more pollutants.

More: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WEST VIRGINIA

Former Sen. Brooks McCabe Tapped for PSC Vacancy

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin picked state Sen. Brooks McCabe, who did not run for re-election this year, to one of three seats on the Public Service Commission.

McCabe, a Democrat, fills a vacancy on the three-member commission created when Ryan Palmer departed to join the Federal Communications Commission. McCabe must resign his Senate seat before joining the commission Nov. 15.

A veteran of the commercial and investment real estate industry, McCabe pursued economic growth and development for the state. He has served on the Senate Committees on Finance, Economic Development, Pensions, Banking and Insurance and Government Organization.

More: The State Journal

WISCONSIN

PSC Approves 83% Fixed Charge Increase for Wisconsin Public Service Customers

The Public Service Commission allowed Wisconsin Public Service to nearly double its fixed monthly customer fee, approving an approach that utilities are pursuing to get low-usage customers like those with solar panels to pay more of the costs of maintaining the distribution system.

The measure, approved by a 2-1 vote, will raise the fixed charge from $10.40 to $19 a month. The increase in the fixed charge is offset by a decrease in the energy charge, resulting in an overall hike of about 3%. Fixed charges go toward paying for a company’s fixed costs, such as poles, wires and substations.Consumer advocates and solar supporters criticized the PSC’s vote. “The decision takes the step that most helps utilities at the expense of customers,” said Kira Loehr, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board. “Increasing fixed charges hurts our most vulnerable low and fixed income households and frustrates residential and small business customers’ ability to lower their bills by using less energy.”

The commission has yet to rule on similar requests from other utilities. We Energies wants a 75% increase and Madison Gas & Electric is seeking an 82% jump.

More: Journal Sentinel