Readers of the Dallas Morning News were treated to a Texas-sized smackdown yesterday morning.
The backstory: TXU is trying to build 11 new ginormous coal-fired power plants in the state, and Gov. Perry is doing his damndest to jam them through in advance of carbon-capping legislation. The hurry is fueled by knowledge that any existing sources will have their emissions grandfathered into new legislation, at enormous competitive advantage.
That was the thinking, anyway. In an op-ed, Senators Boxer and Bingaman put those dreams of cashing in on carbon credits at the expense of the earth's future to rest, and did so in a way that can only be described as ... well, I'll let you choose the best adjective. But it rhymes with itchslap.
As the new Senate committee chairs engaged in the fight against global warming, we think it is important for investors to understand that there is little chance that the majority of such allowances will be allocated without cost and exclusively to large emitters of greenhouse gases.
In fact, companies that appear to be inflating their emissions right before legislation is passed are likely to find themselves in a position of having to make even larger emissions reductions than companies that do not attempt this strategy.
And in case TXU was still unclear on the message:
Any company planning to spend billions of dollars on new coal-fired power plants, and any investor in such a company, should think carefully about how to spend their funds so as to be part of the solution to climate change, not a part of the problem.
Read the whole thing. It just made my weekend.
Comments
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meander Posted 4:32 am
20 Jan 2007
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Sam Wells Posted 6:56 am
20 Jan 2007
Meanwhile, some sneaky weasels want to over-build the electric utility generating system in Texas using coal (not the transmission system, mind you).
The permitting authorities cannot take into consideration whether somebody is generating too much electricity, other than the air permit is being "fast tracked" and there was a Notice of Intent to Sue over Governor Perry's initiative. Beyond that, I fail to see why Senator Barbara Boxer and some other legislative lush would have anything to say at this point in time.
Finally, is would want to strip carbon dioxide from the exhaust fue gases and inject it into the ground, that would work for any kind of fossil fuel or process (e.g., syn-gas).
Onward through the fog
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JMG Posted 8:18 am
20 Jan 2007
The Oregon PUC just denied PacifiCorp/ MidAmerican's request for approval of its RFP to build 2 coal plants to serve its 6-state service territory. This isn't the end of the road, but it's a pretty big victory along the way. Most notably, in addition to finding that the utility didn't adequately justify the need for new baseload power and didn't adequately examine other strategies (peak-shaving, DSM, distributed generation, renewables), they found that the utility did not adequately consider the risk to customers of future global warming regulation.
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Read a well-written intro to the problem of "peak oil" here http://www.energybulletin.net/primer.php
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Sam Wells Posted 12:38 pm
21 Jan 2007
To have 11 new coal plants in Texas without shutting down Big Brown and other grandfather offenders is a major oversight. Unfortunately, air permiting does not take in this comprehensive view, and all are judged on their individual merits rather than a regional perspective.
It's the Bush thang, mon.
Onward through the fog
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wavey Posted 2:22 pm
21 Jan 2007
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wavey Posted 2:58 pm
21 Jan 2007
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