The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave NorthWestern Corp. its blessing Thursday to issue up to $950 million in securities over the next two years.
The securities include $250 million in equity, $300 million in secured debt and $400 million in unsecured debt. NorthWestern said that the funds received from the issuance would go toward refinancing $150 million in first mortgage bonds in Montana in addition to paying for normal business activities.
FERC approved the issuance although NorthWestern’s 1.73 interest coverage ratio fell below the commission’s 2.0 benchmark. NorthWestern explained that this was because the analysis included interest expenses from $450 million of debt it issued in November 2014 to finance its purchase of 11 hydroelectric plants from PPL Montana but not a corresponding rate increase approved by the Montana Public Service Commission.
More: ES15-14
Duke Pleads Guilty to Coal Ash Charges, Fined $102 Million
Duke Energy pleaded guilty in federal court last week to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act for polluting four major rivers with toxic coal ash. U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard accepted the guilty pleas and fined the company $102 million.
The violations stem from coal ash spills or leaches into four rivers from five power plants in North Carolina, including a massive spill into the Dan River last year.
Federal attorneys and company officials reached a plea agreement after negotiations earlier this year, and the pleas and fines signal the end of federal action against the company. Duke still faces charges and fines from North Carolina environmental officials, as well as a shareholder suit filed against it in Chancery Court in Delaware.
More: Los Angeles Times
Suit Alleges Duke Board Members Leaned on NC Regulators on Ash Issue
A shareholder suit against Duke Energy alleges that the company’s board of directors lobbied North Carolina environmental regulators to limit the company’s legal exposure from coal ash spills. The suit has been sealed in an agreement between both the shareholder filing the suit, Judy Mesirov of Philadelphia, and the company. But according to some of the unsealed documents, Mesirov alleges that some Duke executives and board members exposed the company to billions of dollars in liability because of their actions.
Duke has been battling legal claims since a massive coal ash spill polluted the Dan River last year. The company reached a $102 million settlement with federal authorities related to the incident but faces state charges related to groundwater contamination stemming from other ash spills.
More: Charlotte Business Journal
FirstEnergy Looking for Coal Ash Disposal Site
FirstEnergy is closing the largest coal ash dump in the U.S. — Little Blue Run in Beaver County, Pa. — and is now looking for a place to dispose of the 2.5 million tons of coal ash produced by its Bruce Mansfield plant in nearby Shippingport, Pa.
It has two sites selected so far, but both require transportation of the ash by barge on the Ohio River. FirstEnergy is seeking permits from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to let it use a now-closed ash dump at the retired Hatfield’s Ferry coal plant as an interim measure.
The company is under a consent order to close the Little Blue Run site by the end of 2016, partly because of toxins leaching out of the site and into ground and surface water.
More: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear One Garners Lowest Marks in NRC Review
Entergy’s Arkansas Nuclear One in Russellville was ranked near the bottom in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual operations safety review, the agency said recently. The ranking was the result of “a significant decline in plant performance,” NRC said.
That included a fatal accident in 2013 and a series of flaws with the plant’s flood-control systems that turned up during an NRC inspection.
The commission has allowed the plant to continue operations because it has seen improvement, an NRC official said. “The NRC does believe that the plant can operate safely and therefore they have not been asked to shut down. They have demonstrated sustained improvement so far with making corrective action to some of these issues that we’ve discussed.”
More: THV11
North Dakota Co-op Gets $12.5 Million for Tx Lines
The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Slope Electric Cooperative a $12.5 million loan to expand its electrical transmission system in western North Dakota. The money will go toward building 66 miles of power lines in Adam, Bowman, Hettinger and Slope counties. The co-op also received a $431,600 grant for smart grid projects.
More: Bismarck Tribune
We Energies’ Plan to Invest More in Coal Plant Draws Criticism
We Energies has applied to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to spend about $100 million to upgrade coal handling and storage at its Oak Creek coal-fired station, saying it could save customers $16 million to $25 million a year. The upgrades would allow the 10-year-old plant to use softer, cheaper Wisconsin-mined coal, leading to fuel savings that would be passed on to customers.
The Citizens Utility Board and Clean Wisconsin objected, saying the softer coal would produce more emissions.
“At a time when the state of Wisconsin must develop a plan for cost-effective carbon dioxide emission reductions, We Energies is proposing to significantly increase CO2 emissions,” said Katie Nekola of Clean Wisconsin. “In its short-sighted pursuit of fuel cost savings, the utility ignores the long-term costs of increasing CO2 output, both to ratepayers and the environment.”
More: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Consumers Energy Retiring ‘Classic Seven’ Coal Plants
Consumers Energy is retiring 32% of its generation fleet by April 2016 in an effort to reduce emissions and increase sustainability. “These plants, which we call our ‘Classic Seven,’ have provided reliable, affordable energy for Michigan residents for decades, but it doesn’t make economic sense to spend more to keep them running,” said David Mengebier, Consumers Energy’s senior vice president for governmental and public affairs.
The company announced the plant retirements in its Accountability Report, in which it says that since 1998 it has reduced particulate emissions at its plants by 91%, nitrous oxide by 78%, sulfur dioxide by 53%, mercury by 28% and carbon by 13%. The only U.S. utility closing more coal plants is AEP Ohio.
More: Fierce Energy; Consumers Energy
Allete Buying 100-MW Wind Farm in Pennsylvania from AES
Allete Clean Energy is buying a 100-MW wind farm in Troy, Pa., from AES for $108 million, plus an undisclosed amount of existing debt. Armenia Mountain Wind is near the New York-Pennsylvania border and has 67 1.5-MW turbines that were installed in 2009. The facility’s output is sold through power purchase agreements that expire in 2025. Allete, which owns six wind farms, bought three of them from AES. Armenia Mountain is the largest in its portfolio.
More: PennEnergy
DTE Building 1.1-MW Solar Array Outside Ann Arbor
DTE Energy is building Michigan’s largest solar panel array outside of Ann Arbor. The 1.1-MW facility, with 4,000 photovoltaic panels, will produce enough electricity to power 185 homes, according to the company.
DTE has already received approval from Ann Arbor Township to build on the 8-acre site. When completed later this year, it will join nearly 9 MW of solar generation the company has in 22 sites in the state. The company is investing in renewable energy as a result of a state mandate to obtain 10% of its energy from renewable sources by 2015.
More: MLive