Savvy energy veteran Phil Sharp views US policy landscape, sees mythology
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08 May 2013
By Kennedy Maize
Phil Sharp, head of the Washington environment and economics think tank Resources for the Future and a former chairman of a key House of Representatives energy subcommittee, says much of the buzz over “energy policy” over the past four decades has been based on mythology.
In an interview with Electricity Daily last week, Sharp looked at the past 40 years of discussion over energy and the federal government, starting with the Arab oil embargo of October 1973. “There is a myth about what we mean by ‘energy policy’ in the general discussion,” he said. “Some people talk as if the government should be smart enough and have enough control to set the pattern for the country going forward.”
PSC judges oppose Fortis’s buy of Central Hudson, citing public uproar
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08 May 2013
The planned takeover by Canada’s Fortis Inc. of New York’s Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. is in big trouble, as two New York Public Service Commission administration law judges recommended against the deal largely on the grounds of “intense” public opposition. The ALJ’s concluded that “the proposed transaction has generated an extraordinarily intense degree of public opposition to a change of Central Hudson’s ownership among customers, their elected officials, and labor representatives and other public organizations in the service territory.” The ALJ’s found that the benefits of the merger “are outweighed by the detriments remaining after mitigation.” In response, Fortis, based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, said it will continue to work to persuade the commission of the value of the $1.5 billion deal.
Read about the impact of public opinion on takeover of a small New York State utility.
CAISO says California can get through the summer without San Onofre nuke
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08 May 2013
Anticipating that Southern California Edison won’t be able to bring one of its downed San Onofre nuclear units up to 70% power for the peak summer season, as the utility has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow it to do, the California Independent System Operator says it will be able to meet demand this summer, according to the Los Angeles Times. While supply could be tight – mostly because of changes in the dispatch order of two gas-fired units at Huntington Beach – the grid operator says it should have enough generating margin at 6% to avoid the prospect of localized outages. But acts of nature – such as summer wildfires taking out north-south transmission – could change that picture, says the ISO.
See how California hopes to skate by this summer.
Obama to back LNG gas exports?
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08 May 2013
Has President Obama tipped his hand on the issue of exporting US natural gas? That’s the take of the U.K.’s Financial Times, which reports in it Sunday edition that Obama comments on a trip to Costa Rica over the weekend signal his support for gas exports. Export licenses are now on the Department of Energy’s desk for approval or rejection. The gas industry is pressing for the ability to export liquefied natural gas to foreign markets, where it can sell for three or four times the domestic price of gas. US users, including the chemical industry, want to keep the gas in the US to prevent upward pressure on all prices. The FT reported that Obama said over the weekend that “the US was likely to be a net gas exporter by 2020, the strongest sign yet that the president is swinging his support behind higher energy sales overseas.”
See the advance word on LNG exports.
Entergy shareholders nix New York’s spent fuel proposal for Indian Point
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08 May 2013
Entergy Corp. shareholders have thumbed their noses at a request by New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli that the utility move more spent nuclear fuel from the fuel pool at its Indian Point reactor and into dry cask storage. DiNapoli made the motion at Entergy’s annual shareholders meeting. New York owns over 700,000 shares of Entergy through its state pension fund. About 78% of the shareholders voted against DiNapoli’s motion, with about 5% voting in favor and the remainder not voting at the annual meeting Little Rock, Ark., last Friday. An Entergy spokesman said, “We continue to move used fuel from the pools to dry cask storage at Indian Point and already have over 700 fuel assemblies in dry storage.” Both technologies are safe, said Entergy.
Here’s the story on Indian Point dry cask storage
