A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld FERC Order 1000 after Oklahoma Gas & Electric and other utilities challenged the landmark rule’s elimination of incumbent transmission owners’ right of first refusal to develop transmission projects.
OG&E sued FERC in December 2014, arguing that when it agreed to join SPP, it gave up some transmission planning rights in return for the right of first refusal. The utility said FERC couldn’t meet a higher legal burden to negate that part of the membership agreement, which predated Order 1000.
The utility has not yet decided whether it will appeal the decision to the full court. SPP supported OG&E’s case, which was also joined by Southwestern Public Service, ITC Great Plains, Xcel Energy Services, Mid-Kansas Electric and Sunflower Electric Power.
More: The Oklahoman
GAO Audit: DOE not Protecting Whistle-blowers
The Department of Energy has failed to protect whistle-blowers at its nuclear plants from retaliation, a Government Accountability Office audit found.
The report said the department has issued only two violation notices in the past 20 years against contractors who created chilled work environments at nuclear sites. Employees who try to use the department’s whistle-blower protection program find it difficult to navigate without legal help, the report says.
The report was requested in 2014 by three Democratic senators in response to reports of retaliation against whistle-blowers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state. The audit broadened to the handling of 87 contractor employee complaints at 10 of the department’s largest nuclear facilities.
More: McClatchyDC
FERC Allows BG&E to Recover $1.2M from Scrapped MAPP
Baltimore Gas and Electric may recover nearly $1.2 million it spent on the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP) project, which was canceled by the PJM Board of Managers in 2012, under a settlement between the company and the Maryland Public Service commission that FERC approved earlier this month.
The MAPP involved a 230-mile 500-kV transmission line from Virginia to New Jersey intended to “relieve load deliverability criteria violations” expected to occur on the Delmarva Peninsula. In canceling the project, PJM said that its “reliability drivers no longer existed.”
FERC had granted BGE incentives effective May 29, 2009, allowing it to recover costs if the project were abandoned. The commission has previously approved settlements between others state regulators and utilities that had contributed to the project.
More: ER15-2331
Entergy Asks NRC for More Time for Upgrades
Entergy has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for more time to meet post-Fukushima upgrade requirements at its Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, which is set to close by June 2019.
The company asked for a deadline of Dec. 31, 2019, in order to avoid making permanent modifications before the closure. Instead, it wants to use a FLEX strategy, so called because it uses portable equipment.
“The plant does have a limited operational timeframe going forward, but our mandate is to make sure that the public is going to be adequately protected,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.
More: CapeCod.com
FERC Gives Go Ahead for Bosher Dam Study in Va.
FERC has approved an application to conduct a feasibility study for an 8-MW hydro facility outside of Richmond, Va., at the existing Bosher Dam on the James River. The proposed project would use the existing 12-foot-high dam and create a 1,000-acre impoundment area, with new intakes, a new tailrace and four 2-MW turbines, along with a new powerhouse and substation.
The Richmond Department of Public Works, along with the James River Association and others, questioned the need for the facility during the public comment period, but FERC said the feasibility study was necessary to determine the validity of any opposition concerns.
The project is being proposed by Energy Resources USA.
More: GenerationHub.com
Pipeline Projects Get Positive Draft EIS
Two jointly proposed pipeline projects to move Marcellus and Utica shale gas in Ohio to the Midwest and Canada received a favorable draft environmental impact statement from FERC.
DTE Energy and Spectra Energy’s 260-mile Nexus Gas Transmission pipeline would move 1.5 Bcf/d. It is being developed along with the Texas Eastern Appalachian Lease project, which would expand Spectra subsidiary Texas Eastern Transmission’s system by 950,000 dekatherms/day to accommodate the new pipeline.
FERC noted some “adverse environmental impacts, but impacts would be reduced to less-than-significant levels” with mitigation efforts. Public comment is open until Aug. 29. The commission said the final EIS should be ready by Nov. 30.
More: Natural Gas Intelligence
DOE Approves $15M for Algae-Based Fuels Efforts
The Department of Energy is providing $15 million for algae-based biofuel projects in California and Florida. The grants are aimed at furthering the commercialization of biofuels as a renewable, affordable fossil fuel replacement, it said.
Three companies and their research partners will receive the funds. Global Algae Innovations in California is working on cultivation and preprocessing technology to produce algal oil. MicroBio Engineering, also based in California, is researching wastewater treatment and carbon-dioxide mitigation to produce useable oils. Finally, Florida-based Algenol Biotech is working to devise ways to use cyanobacteria to produce algal oil.
More: Biofuels International
House Passes Funding Bill For Interior Department, EPA
The House passed a $32.1 billion funding bill for the Interior Department and EPA, about $1 billion less than what the Obama administration requested, and a $64 million cut over current spending levels. The bill includes a number of riders intended to block EPA water, power plant and coal mining regulations.
“There is a great deal of concern over the number of regulatory actions being pursued by the EPA in the absence of legislation and without clear congressional direction,” Rep. Ken Cavert (R-Calif.) said. “For this reason, the bill includes a number of provisions to stop unnecessary and damaging regulatory overreach by the agency.”
The bill passed 231-196, with most Democrats opposing it. The White House has threatened to veto it.
More: The Hill; House Appropriations Committee
Report: Green Energy Funding Down 23% from Last Year
A report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows that renewable energy funding has fallen 23% for the first six months of the year compared to last year. It said investments globally were about $116.4 billion for the first half of the year. Second-quarter investments were $61.5 billion, 12% higher than the first quarter, but still 32% lower than the $90 billion for the same period last year.
“It is now looking almost certain that the global investment total for this year will fail to match 2015’s runaway record,” Michael Liebreich, chairman of the advisory board at BNEF, said in a statement accompanying the report.
More: USA TODAY
Cook Nuclear Plant Back Online After Steam Leak
Unit 2 at the Donald C. Cook nuclear plant in Berrien County, Mich., returned to service last week after being shut down for six days because of a steam leak.
Plant spokesman Bill Schalk attributed the July 6 steam line rupture to “vibration-induced metal fatigue” of an expansion joint. He said the rupture also damaged the wall of the turbine building.
Vendors fabricated new parts for the line and repaired it. The plant came back online July 12. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will analyze the plant crew’s response to the incident.
More: The Herald-Palladium
TVA Closer to Taking Watts Bar Commercial
The first new U.S. nuclear plant to be built in two decades is closer to being deployed after the Tennessee Valley Authority last week completed a key performance test on the reactor.
The unit, which has been operating at 30% of its 1,150-MW capacity, was raised to 50% so operators could perform load rejection tests, in which power is rapidly lowered and raised to simulate a storm-induced loss of load or other accident.
“All of the tests went like clockwork,” a TVA spokesman said. The corporation expects to bring the Watts Bar Unit 2 to full power later this summer.
More: Times Free Press
