Report Advocates a More Aggressive RGGI
A new Acadia Center report suggests the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) should adopt more aggressive emissions targets aligning it more closely with those of some member states. The climate-change advocacy organization also recommends extending the RGGI caps to 2031 to coincide with the proposed federal Clean Power Plan.
“RGGI continues to prove itself as an effective means of reducing carbon emissions and supporting economic growth,” said Daniel L. Sosland, Acadia Center president. “Now, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have an opportunity to build on RGGI’s success and lead the country by taking the steps necessary to meet state and federal climate requirements.”
RGGI states have committed to reducing emissions by about 40% across their economies by 2030. In addition, eight of the nine participating states have established 2050 requirements for 80% reductions.
More: Acadia Center
Del. Officials Say W.Va. Plant is Polluting Their Air
Delaware officials are asking federal regulators to take action against a coal-fired West Virginia plant they say is contributing to pollution in the First State.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control says emissions from the Harrison Power Station near Haywood exceed federal standards. The plant is 245 miles west of the Delaware border.
The move is the latest effort by state officials to battle emissions produced in Maryland, Pennsylvania and other states that they say are making it impossible for Delaware to meet EPA air quality standards.
More: Delaware Online
CALIFORNIA
Watchdog Says Energy Companies Influenced California Democrats
A public interest group said Gov. Jerry Brown and California Democrats have received more than $9.8 million in campaign contributions from energy companies during the past eight years.
In a report titled “Brown’s Dirty Hands,” Consumer Watchdog alleges that the donations coincided with the companies’ winning political favors — including a deal between Southern California Edison and the state’s Public Utilities Commission that allowed the utility to charge ratepayers with most of the cost of shutting down the San Onofre nuclear generating station.
“The report really paints a troubling picture,” said Jamie Court, the group’s president. A spokesman for the governor called the report “cuckoo.”
More: Pasadena Star-News
Pilot Program to Generate Power from California Highways
The California Energy Commission is initiating a series of pilot programs next year that will attempt to generate electricity from sensors in the roadway triggered by cars driving along the state’s freeways.
The project will rely on piezoelectric technology, which involves installing tiny sensors beneath the road surface to capture energy produced by vibrations of passing cars. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, to fund the project, but the commission expressed interest in the technology shortly after.
“As an engineer, I could just see that vision of all these people driving down the roads and all that energy that’s sitting there and goes nowhere,” said Michael Gravely, a commission deputy division chief.
More: KCRA
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
OPC Takes Exelon Merger to Appeals Court
The Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) is asking the D.C. Court of Appeals to examine the Public Service Commission’s order approving the Pepco/Exelon merger. (See Exelon Closes Pepco Merger Following OK from DC PSC.)
“Judicial review is critical not only because the decision impacts this case but all cases going forward in terms of the process and procedures the commission uses in making its decisions,” said Sandra Mattavous-Frye of the OPC. “It concerns the amount of process, or lack thereof, afforded to all parties, and the manner in which settlements are decided.”
Mattavous-Frye said the OPC also is opposing Pepco’s $85 million rate increase request.
More: Office of People’s Counsel
ILLINOIS
Lawmakers Urged to Follow NY’s Lead
A group of pro-nuclear Illinois mayors and community leaders have urged Illinois lawmakers to follow the lead of New York State policymakers, who arranged a nuclear bailout, expediting Exelon’s decision to buy and operate Entergy’s James A. FitzPatrick nuclear station.
In a letter sent to Gov. Bruce Rauner and lawmakers, the local leaders praised New York’s Clean Energy Standard, which includes subsidies for nuclear stations. “New York’s Clean Energy Standard is a road map for effective policy in Illinois,” said Tim Followell, city administrator of Clinton, Ill., which is home to one of the two nuclear stations Exelon says it will be closing because it is losing money due to low wholesale prices.
Followell and others have been pushing for passage of an Illinois version of a bill that would provide credits for nuclear stations. Critics have tagged that proposal, called the Next Generation Plan, a bailout.
More: Quad-City Times
AG Settles Case with Ethical Electric
Attorney General Lisa Madigan has reached a settlement with competitive retail energy supplier Ethical Electric requiring the company to refund up to $3 million for misleading customers.
Ethical Electric touted its power as being generated exclusively by renewable energy sources, when, in fact, it was sourced from a variety of generators paired with renewable energy certificates.
It also falsely promoted its fees as comparable with Commonwealth Edison’s rates, when they were more expensive.
More: Energy Manager Today
IOWA
Landowners File Yet Another Motion Against Dakota Access
A group of 14 landowners has filed a motion in Polk County District Court seeking to halt construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the court to review the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) ruling that the pipeline could use eminent domain.
“The landowners believe that Dakota Access is not a public utility and should not have the ability to use eminent domain to forcibly access Iowa landowners’ property to build a private pipeline,” Bill Hanigan, an attorney for the property owners, argued in a motion. He said the IUB misinterpreted Iowa law in calling the pipeline a public utility.
The 1,168-mile pipeline, parts of which are already under construction, will carry Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois.
More: The Gazette
KANSAS
Regulators Outline Standards for Upcoming Acquisition Dockets
The Corporation Commission said last week its members will consider whether Great Plains Energy’s proposed acquisition of Westar Energy will “promote the public interest” when it votes on the deal next year. Commissioners adopted merger standards for the Westar/Great Plains union and two other unrelated mergers to ensure the KCC takes a “consistent approach.”
The criteria the commission will consider include the merger’s effects on consumers, the environment and state and local economies and to the utilities’ communities.
The KCC is expected to hear the Westar Energy and Great Plains acquisition docket sometime between Jan. 3 and March 30. The two other acquisitions in front of the KCC are the purchase of Empire District Electric Co., of Joplin, Mo., by Liberty Utilities (Central) Co., a subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., and a proposal for ITC Holdings to become an indirect, majority-owned subsidiary of FortisUS with minority ownership by GIC Ventures.
More: The Topeka Capital-Journal (Kan.)
KENTUCKY
LG&E Awarded Customer Charge for Clean Up
The Kentucky Public Service Commission has approved a request by Louisville Gas & Electric Co. (LG&E) to assess a new monthly charge for customers to pay for the cleanup of coal ash ponds. The commission approved the charge of 30 cents a month for this year for the typical residential customer, which will increase to $2.08 a month in 2024.
The commission approved a similar charge for LG&E’s sister company, Kentucky Utilities (KU), which was set at 30 cents per month and will later increase to $3.12 a month. The charges were approved after the two companies requested $994 million to meet new federal coal-ash cleanup rules. LG&E said it will spend more than $300 million in cleanup efforts. KU said it will spend about $675 million.
More: Louisville Courier-Journal
MICHIGAN
State Preps for Higher Rates In Face of Supply Shortage
Some consumers in the state are expecting electricity price increases in the coming years because of DTE Energy’s decision earlier this year to shut down seven coal-fired plants.
The Public Service Commission’s five-year outlook anticipates electric supply shortfalls through summers 2017 and 2020. The Lower Peninsula is expected to see a 270-MW shortage next year, an improvement over the 520-MW shortage that the PSC previously predicted. MISO’s Midwest region is predicted to fall short of the reserve margin requirement by 2018.
Tim Arends, executive director of Traverse City Light & Power, said the municipal utility’s annual power prices nearly doubled to $850,000 this year. The utility recovers the cost through a user fee.
More: Traverse City Record-Eagle
Consumers Installing More Safety Buoys Near Hydroelectric Dams
Consumers Energy in installing more safety buoys across rivers below its Michigan hydroelectric dams to warn swimmers and boaters of the dangers of swirling water released from impoundments.
The utility is working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to keep swimmers and boaters out of “potentially unsafe areas immediately downstream of hydroelectric dams.” Consumers will place buoys at 10 dams on five rivers statewide during the year.
Last year, Consumers installed buoys at three dams on two northern Michigan rivers.
More: Post-Bulletin
MISSOURI
PSC Could Quash Westar-KCP&L Merger
The Public Service Commission’s claims of jurisdiction over the $12.2 billion acquisition of a Kansas utility by Great Plains Energy could have significant impact on the deal. Commission staff says job cuts and possible outsourcing spurred by the proposed acquisition could harm existing customers of Great Plains’ subsidiary, Kansas City Power & Light.
The staff claims Great Plains violated a 2001 agreement with the commission, in which it agreed not to acquire any public utilities without commission approval.
Great Plains argues that combining Westar and KCP&L would benefit customers on both sides of the state line. Moreover, it says the commission’s complaint is a moot point because Westar isn’t a public utility under state law, and, therefore, Great Plains doesn’t need the state’s approval to buy Westar.
More: The Wichita Eagle (Kan.)
NEW MEXICO
Regulatory Examiner Recommends 67% Slash to PNM Rate Increase
A state hearing examiner has recommended a 67% reduction to Public Service Company of New Mexico’s (PNM) rate increase request, from $123.5 million a year to $41.3 million a year. The recommendation would result in a 6.4% increase for the average customer, compared to 14.4% under PNM’s request.
The hearing examiner rejected the $152.8 million PNM spent to purchase power from the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona, which was disputed in a separate commission matter. The examiner also disallowed a $52 million investment in pollution controls at the San Juan Generation Station, which PNM did at the behest of the EPA, but some felt it was unnecessary. The examiner also reduced PNM’s requested rate of return from 10.5% to 9.575%.
PNM can file exceptions to the examiner’s findings, after which the regulatory commission’s general counsel will present a draft order to the Public Regulation Commission (PRC). According to the current schedule, the PRC must make a final ruling in the case by Aug. 31.
More: Albuquerque Journal (N.M.)
NEW YORK
Storage Provider Demand Energy Wins Load Relief Auction
Demand Energy was a successful bidder in Consolidated Edison’s first-ever auction to provide load relief on peak power days in New York City.
Demand Energy will soon begin installing several megawatts of energy storage in Brooklyn and Queens, controlled by the company’s Distributed Energy Network Optimization System (DEN.OS) intelligent software. The project is part of Con Ed’s Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management program.
The energy storage project, which will come online in 2017, will delay the need for a new $1.2 billion substation. The program will use demand-side resources such as energy storage, energy efficiency and demand response. The project is a prototype for New York State’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative to encourage the use of more distributed resources.
More: Demand Energy
NORTH DAKOTA
Tribe Blocks Access to Dakota Access Crews
Members of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe blocked crews working on the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline that is to carry crude oil from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois.
Although the pipeline developers have received the necessary permits from state and regulatory agencies, they face continuing legal and political challenges. One was by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which sued federal regulators in July, claiming the pipeline runs too close to sacred land and the tribe’s drinking water supplies. Tribe members blocked a road near their 2.3-million-acre reservation, backing up a line of 45 construction vehicles.
Work has already started on the 1,168-mile pipeline in other places in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois.
More: Associated Press
OKLAHOMA
Drop in Number of Earthquakes Could be Result of Regulation
Oklahoma has experienced a decline in earthquakes compared to last year, and some geophysicists believe that more stringent regulation of underground injection of wastewater from oil and gas drilling operations may deserve some of the credit.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Oklahoma experienced 448 magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes as of Aug. 10, compared to 558 for the same period last year. Robert Williams, with USGS, said the increased restrictions on wastewater injection and disposal could be one reason for the decrease, as well as the drop in oil and natural gas exploration.
More: USA Today
City Tests Smart Meters Before Making the Switch
City of Edmond officials in Oklahoma are conducting a pilot program to help determine whether the city should install smart meters for all 35,000 electric customers and 32,000 water customers. The pilot program could last from six months to a year before a decision is made.
In a 2011 feasibility study, consultants told city officials a total system, with all the possible extras, could cost $36 million over 15 years.
About 1.7 million smart meters were installed across Oklahoma in 2014.
More: The Oklahoman
PENNSYLVANIA
PUC Reliability Report Dings Penelec
A report by the Public Utility Commission says Penelec customers saw more power failures last year compared with consumers of electricity from other large companies in the state.
The report relies on data from quarterly and annual reliability reports submitted by electric distribution companies and details four benchmarks.
Penelec failed to meet any of the benchmarks but expects to improve reliability by 2018.
More: The Bradford Era