Details here and here. Other states are also struggling to determine how long aging nuclear facilities can safely and efficiently provide prower. See here.
Energy
Archived Posts from this Category
November 8, 2010
Another Leak Temporarily Shuts Down Vermont Yankee
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Consumption, Energy, EnvironmentLeave a Comment
November 5, 2010
The Future of Vermont Yankee?
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Energy, EnvironmentLeave a Comment
Two interesting items from the past few days:
- Vermont Yankee is for sale.
- Vermont Yankee might shut down even sooner that we might think. In the article, “An Uncertain Nuclear Countdown,” the Times reports:
If the clock is ticking on the lifetime of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, when will it actually close? As I write in Friday’s Times, Entergy, which bought the plant in 2002, is looking for a buyer because the state Legislature has refused to give the company permission to run it after Vermont Yankee’s initial 40-year license expires in March 2012. (What is more, one of its top opponents in the Legislature was elected governor on Tuesday.) But if the Legislature does not relent, it may not last even that long. “No nuclear plant has ever operated to the end of its license,” said John Reed, an investment banker who specializes in nuclear plants and helped organize the auction under which Vermont Yankee was sold by its builders eight years ago.“You get to the point where you say, if all I’ve got is six months or a year to recover incremental capital, I’ll just shut now.’’
November 4, 2010
Unbelievable: “State halts work on high speed rail line”
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Energy, Environment, Politics, Transportation[2] Comments
I reported on Tuesday that high speed rail was going forward in Wisconsin. I reported yesterday that the GOP was going to try to stop it. Now the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
The state Department of Transportation has told contractors on the high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee to stop work on the federally funded project “for a few days,” in the wake of rail opponent Scott Walker’s victory in the governor’s race, Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said Thursday.
November 4, 2010
Will the new Congress block Obama’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act?
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Law, Politics, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mass. v. EPA and absent new federal climate legislation, the EPA has begun to create rules to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Now Greenwire is reporting that the new Congress may attempt to block EPA climate rules pursued under the Clean Air Act. The article states:
For the Republicans, the first order of business could be legislation to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Supporters of measures to block EPA’s climate regulations say it is a foregone conclusion that the Republican-controlled House will pass such a bill during the next session. And in the Senate, where Democrats have spent the past two years bemoaning the rule requiring 60 votes to defeat a filibuster, that threshold appears to be the only thing that could stop such a measure from passing.
The article then provides this useful table. The key question is whether the Dems have 40 votes and the intestinal fortitude to use at least 40 votes to filibuster any attempts to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.
| From Greenwire:
Counting the ‘Ayes’ |
| Based on previous stances and the results of yesterday’s election, a measure to prevent EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act would be likely garner at least 57 votes in the Senate during the next session, close observers say. That number includes the entire bloc of 47 Republican senators, the eventual winner of the Senate race in Alaska and at least 9 Democrats who have already pledged their support for one or more proposal. They are: |
| Voted for Murkowski resolution (4) |
| Mary Landrieu (D-La.) Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) |
| Co-sponsored Rockefeller bill (6) |
| Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Jim Webb (D-Va.) |
| Critical newcomers (1) |
| Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) |
November 3, 2010
What’s so scary about trains? The future of high speed rail in WI
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under China, Climate Change, Energy, Transportation[4] Comments
Despite my post yesterday, it seems the GOP-elects in WI are still determined to stop high speed rail in the state. I’m just going to say it: This is short-sighted. Mass transit, especially high speed rail, is a key component to energy independence, ending addiction to fossil fuels, and improving the nation’s infrastructure and economy. China, for example, is spending signifiant resources on high speed rail across the country.
UPDATE: For more about here, see http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/a-high-speed-derailment/.
November 3, 2010
Politics and Climate Change
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Politics1 Comment
This could get ugly fast. Reports Marc Ambinder via Political Wire: “The GOP plans to hold high profile hearings examining the alleged ‘scientific fraud’ behind global warming, a sleeper issue in this election that motivated the base quite a bit.”
November 2, 2010
Great News for High Speed Rail in Wisconsin
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Energy, Environment, Transportation[4] Comments
‘Rail deal quietly locked in‘ reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Just days before an election that could decide the fate of a planned high-speed rail line, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal to commit the state to spending all $810 million of the federal stimulus cash allocated to the Milwaukee-to-Madison route, transportation officials confirmed Monday.
The unannounced weekend agreement frees outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration to sign contracts for much if not all of the work. That could hamstring efforts by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans to kill the project and spend the money on something else if they take control of the governor’s office and either or both chambers of the state Legislature and Congress on Tuesday.
October 26, 2010
Senator Harry Reid and Nuclear Waste at Yucca Mountain
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Energy, Environment, Natural Resources, PoliticsLeave a Comment
Control of the U.S. Senate is not the only thing at stake in the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Harry Reid (D) and the challenger Sharron Angle (R). With Nevada in play, so is the issue of whether nuclear waste will eventually be stored in Yucca Mountain, despite the President’s opposition to Yucca Mountain as a waste storage facility.
Writes Greenwire:
Nevada leaders hoping to stop the federal government from building a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain say they are counting on the re-election of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to keep pushing their case.
Reid is by far the most powerful and experienced member of the Nevada delegation opposing Yucca, said Bruce Breslow, the executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Breslow said the delegation “had no clout until Senator Reid became majority leader.” Without Reid, “other states would have built an expressway to Yucca Mountain.”
October 24, 2010
Vermont Law LLM Fellow Sparks Debate: China’s Energy Goals as Circus or Savior?
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under China, Climate Change, Energy, Environment1 Comment
I’m thrilled to see that Vermont Law School’s own Adam Moser, our LLM Fellow in the US-China Partnership in Environmental Law, has sparked a blog post by Alex Wang, NRDC’s China program director, that has been picked up on Huffington Post. In response to a post by Moser that compared arguably divergent views on China’s actions (circus v. savior), Wang suggested there are two distinct issues in evaluating China’s efforts. “First, what is China doing to address its contribution to global climate change? Second, are these efforts achieving the reported levels of success?” I would suggest that there is a third question. Even if China’s efforts are achieving reported levels of success, given China’s rate of development and economic growth, might China’s greenhouse gases emission alone have the potential to lead to catastrophic climate events? If so, does this and should this influence our views about China’s energy efficiency efforts?
October 14, 2010
15% Ethanol Gas Approved by EPA
Posted by Jason J. Czarnezki under Energy, Environment, LawLeave a Comment
See here. The article states,
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved boosting the amount of ethanol in gasoline for newer vehicles, a victory for grain farmers but a concern for others who worry the corn-based fuel additive could damage some engines and even raise food prices.
JASON J. CZARNEZKI 