Mirant's Coal Combustion Waste Landfill Challenged By State

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) filed a complaint in March in U.S. District Court against Mirant Maryland Ash Management, charging thta its Brandywine Coal Combustion Waste Landfill is polluting local waterways. MDE claimed it found high levels of pollutants, including arsenic, cadmium and selenium, in ponds that eventually discharge into the Mataponi Creek. The creek flows into the Merkle Wildlife Sanctuary, which then flows into the Patuxent River. MDE also argued in its complaint that Mirant not only violated its permit by allowing pollutants to discharge at high levels, but also failed to disclose many of the pollutants involved in its discharge permit applications.

Mirant filed a motion June 21 to dismiss charges it violated the federal Clean Water Act, arguing that:

MDE failed to provide enough proof of Mirant's alleged pollution to merit charges,
The company was and still is in compliance with its permits,
The company did disclose all of the pollutants,
MDE failed to follow the proper procedures for filing a lawsuit under the Clean Water Act.
MDE failed to meet its burden by not specifying when most of the alleged illegal discharging took place, where and how it happened, and at what levels.

MDE plans to file a response by the July 21 deadline set by the court; a federal judge is scheduled to rule on Mirant's motion September 8.

The Brandywine landfill stores the waste byproducts of coal combustion from Mirant's Chalk Point Generating Plant in Aquasco, Maryland. Coal combustion waste byproducts have been stored at the landfill since 1970. The landfill features four disposal sites for waste byproducts; three were constructed before Mirant bought the site and do not have special liners to prevent pollutants from seeping into groundwater, according to MDE's complaint. The fourth disposal site is the only one still in use and does have the protective liner.

MDE is pursuing its case against Mirant with assistance from several environmental advocacy groups, including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Defenders of Wildlife, EarthReports Inc., Patuxent Riverkeeper and Sierra Club. (Gazette.net, 7/2/2010)

EPA Approves Arch Coal Pine Creek Surface Mine

The Obama administration has approved a new mountaintop removal permit with the condition that the operator protects downstream water quality. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed off on federal Army Corps of Engineers issuance of a Clean Water Act permit for Arch Coal Inc. subsidiary Coal-Mac Inc.'s Pine Creek Surface Mine near Omar, West Virginia in Logan County.

The Center opposes mountaintop removal.

EPA officials instructed Coal-Mac to build its valley fill waste piles one (of three) at a time. Waiting to start the next one until the previous one is finished allows monitoring of each fill prior to initial construction of subsequent fills, ensuring that predicted water quality outcomes are achieved.

The permit involves a 760-acre mountaintop removal operation that was among the mining applications receiving additional scrutiny from the EPA under the Obama administration's effort to reduce impacts from Appalachian strip mining. (The Charleston Gazette, 6/29/2010)

EPA Guidance on Mountaintop Removal

Surface Mining

Steny Hoyer Touts Loan Guarantee for Calvert Cliffs

According to House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Constellation Energy Group’s joint venture with Electricite de France (EdF) to build a new nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs is now “first in line” for a federal loan guarantee. Hoyer, left, believes the Calvert Cliffs project is further along in the loan-guarantee process than competing projects in Texas and South Carolina.

The Department of Energy has only enough loan authority to offer one more project a federal guarantee. Plant Vogtle in Georgia received the first loan guarantee of $8.3 billion for the $14 billion plant. Just like plant Vogtle, Calvert Cliffs has two existing nuclear units. Hoyer is pushing very hard to get an approval of loan guarantees from the Department of Energy for Constellation's third plant.

Under the federal program, the U.S. government agrees to repay the loans for nuclear plant construction if a company defaults on the debt. The Department of Energy has $18.5 billion in loan guarantee authority for 2010. President Obama has requested an additional $35.5 billion in his 2011 budget in order to provide guarantees for more nuclear plants. (The Baltimore Sun, 7/1/2010)

Petitions & Lawsuits Against EPA 'Endangerment Finding'

Ten administrative petitions have been filed asking EPA to reconsider its Endangerment Finding, and lawsuits have been consolidated. The lawsuits and petitions were filed by industry groups, states, and lawmakers challenging the Endangerment Finding, EPA’s new mobile and stationary source rules, and EPA’s reconsideration of the [Steven] Johnson Memo. On June 18th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that 17 consolidated appeals, Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will be held in abeyance until EPA resolves pending petitions to reconsider its December 2009 Endangerment Finding. The Endangerment Finding forms the legal cornerstone of EPA’s recent greenhouse gas regulations, including newly-enacted emission limitations for cars and light trucks and large stationary sources.

The arguments raised in the petitions for reconsideration and lawsuits target the scientific underpinnings of the Endangerment Finding. In particular, they are likely to focus on electronic mail messages and documents by climatologists at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia that were disclosed last year. Challengers contend that those correspondences cast doubt on the reliability of the data relied on by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and ultimately EPA.

EPA has indicated that it will issue its reconsideration of the Endangerment Finding by the end of July, but there has been no indication from the agency that it will alter its findings. Therefore, it is likely that the legal challenges to the Endangerment Finding will be revived later this summer, in any event no later than the August 16, 2010, deadline set by the D.C. Circuit. If petitioners succeed on the merits of their challenges, EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act will be severely compromised and the vehicle standards and permitting requirements for stationary sources that it has put in place could be delayed or derailed.

MORE (Marten Law)

EPA Administrator Makes Sixth Trip to Gulf Region

To Oversee Response to the BP Spill

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson returns to the gulf coast to monitor EPA’s on-the-ground response to the BP oil spill, meet with federal responders and BP representatives, and speak with residents about ongoing federal efforts to mitigate the spill’s impact on the region. She will travel to New Orleans and Pensacola, Florida.

During the trip, she will be briefed by EPA and Coast Guard officials on the latest response updates and monitoring data, and oversee beach clean up efforts in the region. The administrator will also meet with EPA scientists in Gulf Breeze, Fla., for a briefing on ongoing dispersant testing. Administrator Jackson and EPA continue to work closely with National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen, who is leading the administration-wide response and directing all interagency activities.

For more information on EPA’s efforts in the gulf and for the latest air, water, sediment and underwater dispersant monitoring data.

FRIDAY, JULY 2

10:00 a.m. CENTRAL Briefing with Local Officials

1:00 p.m. CENTRAL Town Hall Meeting: “Expanding the Environmental Conversation” Ernest N. Morial Convention Center 900 Convention Center Blvd New Orleans, La.

3:00 p.m. CENTRAL Meeting with Environmental Groups

SATURDAY, JULY 3

10:30 a.m. CENTRAL Tour of EPA’s Gulf Breeze Lab and Pensacola Beach Operations Lab Gulf Breeze and Pensacola, Florida.

1:15 p.m. CENTRAL Stakeholder Meeting Gulf Breeze, Florida.

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Threaten Energy Efficiency Programs

Under the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs, local government borrow money through bonds or other means and then uses it to make loans to homeowners to cover the upfront costs of solar installations or other energy improvements. Each owner repays the loan over 20 years through a special property tax assessment, which stays with the home even if it is sold.

Twenty-two states have authorized PACE programs, which are intended to make it easier and cheaper for homeowners to invest in energy efficiency. So far, only a few thousand people have used them. But the Energy Department wants to promote the programs — and give an economic boost to companies that install solar panel and other energy improvement systems — through the $150 million in stimulus funds, which are intended to help communities cover setup and administrative costs.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government entities that guarantee more than half of the residential mortgages in the United States, believe taxpayers will end up as losers if a homeowner defaults on a mortgage on a home that uses such creative financing. Typically, property taxes must be paid first from any proceeds on a foreclosed home.

In letters sent to mortgage lenders on May 5, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stated that energy-efficiency liens could not take priority over a mortgage. The purpose of the industry letter was to remind seller/servicers that an energy-related lien may not be senior to any mortgage delivered to Freddie Mac. However, the agencies did not offer guidance to mortgage lenders on how to handle properties that carry the energy liens. Backers of the programs fear that mortgage lenders, who depend on Fannie and Freddie to buy their home loans, will now start demanding that the entire lien be paid off before issuing a new loan. The letters have had a devastating impact on PACE programs in California, placing at risk millions of dollars of federal stimulus funding, millions of dollars of state, local and private funding, and impacting efforts to promote green jobs and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

The mixed messages have alarmed state officials and prompted many local governments to freeze their programs, which have been hailed as an innovative way to help homeowners afford the retrofitting of a house with solar panels, which can cost $30,000 or more before incentives.

Local and state officials say that the energy liens are no different than other types of special property taxes, like those used to finance sidewalks and underground utilities. None of those have raised alarms at Fannie and Freddie. (NYT, 6/30/2010)

3 Judge NRC Panel Says DOE Cannot Drop Yucca Application

Administration Cannot Drop Bid for Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada, Panel Finds
Center President Norris McDonald at Yucca Mountain in 2003
In a 47-page decision, a three-member panel of administrative judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled on Tuesday that the Energy Department could not withdraw its application to open a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. They said the Energy Department lacked the authority to drop the petition because it would flout a law passed by Congress. The decision on Tuesday could be overruled by the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission itself. President Obama had promised in his election campaign to drop the Yucca Mountain plans if he were elected. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) also opposes Yucca Mountain.

In the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, Congress directed the Energy Department to file the application and the commission to consider it and:

“issue a final, merits-based decision approving or disapproving the construction. Unless Congress directs otherwise, DOE may not single-handedly derail the legislated decision-making process.”

Congress would have to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the Energy Department to pursue the application. But the president’s budget for next year proposes no money at all.

The three-judge panel noted that the Energy Department was not claiming that Yucca was unsafe or that there was anything wrong with the 86,000-page application, but was saying only that the site was “not a workable option.”

The Energy Department’s waste program has been mostly financed by electricity consumers, who pay one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour into a nuclear waste fund. About $10 billion has been spent so far. (NYT, 6/29/2010)

Constellation Energy Group Invests in NC Smart Grid Company

BGE Parent Invests $17.7 Million In Consert Inc

Constellation Energy Group has invested in Raleigh, N.C.-based Consert Inc., a "smart grid" technology provider. Consert on Tuesday announced the $17.7 million investment by Constellation, GE Energy Financial Services, Qualcomm Inc.,, Verizon Ventures and others.

The investment by Constellation, the corporate parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric, comes as Maryland regulators have denied the utility's smart grid proposal because of up-front costs to consumers. The technology allows consumers to track their electricity use in real time and enables two-way communication between customers and the utility. (The Baltimore Sun, 6/29/2010)

EPA Releases Draft Strategic Plan for Public Comment

The Draft FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan is now available for public review and comment. The Agency’s Strategic Plan identifies the measurable environmental and human health outcomes the public can expect over the next five years and describes how the EPA intends to achieve those results.

EPA welcomes comments from all stakeholders. To read and comment on the Draft Strategic Plan. EPA will use stakeholder feedback to prepare the final FY 2011-2015 EPA Strategic Plan, which will be released by September 30, 2010. Comments must be received on or before July 30, 2010 for consideration.

EPA has also established a Discussion Forum to engage with the public on the cross-cutting fundamental strategies and actions the Agency can take to tangibly change the way we work.

Additional information about the Agency’s Strategic Plan and the public review and comment on the Draft Strategic Plan.

First Uranium Mill in 25 Years Proposed In Colorado

Western Colorado's Paradox Valley
A proposal to build the nation's first uranium mill in 25 years could transform Paradox, Colorado into the a principle source of uranium milling for the nuclear fuel industry. The mill would process ore from 41 nearby mills and could provide up to 85 jobs paying $45,000 to $75,000 per year, according to mill operator Energy Fuels Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of a Canadian corporation of the same name. A county study showed the mill could increase county housing demand by 31 percent and generate up to 564 additional long-term jobs in the county in sectors like construction, retail, and mining.

The demolished company milling town of Uravan, 16 miles from Naturita, shows the other side of uranium. Originally a radium mining site in the early 1900s, it became a company town in 1935, when U.S. Vanadium Corp. built a mill and expanded the mine. Its output fueled the Manhattan Project and the Cold War's nuclear arms race. But few measures were in place to protect workers, residents or the environment from uranium's harm, and the town was evacuated in 1984 due to extensive radioactive contamination.

After becoming a federal Superfund clean-up site in 1986, the site was reclaimed in 2008 at a cost of $127 million, paid for Vanadium Corp.'s owner, Union Carbide Corporation. In August 2009, a federal appeals court ruled against past residents of the mill town who sought compensation for their illnesses, siding with Union Carbide. Mill supporters discount that history, arguing that regulations have drastically improved since Uravan, with multiple government agencies now overseeing milling and mining operations.

The company will have to post a $12 million bond upfront for clean-up of the site should the company go bankrupt, according to application documents. The mill would use about 150 gallons per minute to process uranium ore. (The Daily Climate, 6/29/2010)

Oil Imports For the United States of America

Total Imports of Petroleum

(Top 15 Countries)

(Thousand Barrels per Day)

(As of April 2010)

Country


CANADA - 2,486

MEXICO - 1,276

SAUDI ARABIA - 1,257

NIGERIA - 1,125

VENEZUELA - 950

RUSSIA - 587

ANGOLA - 508

IRAQ - 490

ALGERIA - 464

COLOMBIA - 423

VIRGIN ISLANDS - 316

BRAZIL - 307

UNITED KINGDOM - 304

KUWAIT - 278

ECUADOR - 179

[OPEC Countries in bold]

OPEC

The founding members are Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Later members include Algeria, Ecuador, Indonesia, Libya, Qatar, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates

OPEC has twelve member countries: six in the Middle East, four in Africa, and two in South America.

(EIA-DOE, Wiki)

EPA's GHG Reporting Requirements For 4 Sources

EPA Issues Greenhouse Gas Reporting Requirements for Four Emissions Sources
Agency Also To Consider Data Confidentiality

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing requirements under its national mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program for:

1) underground coal mines,

2) industrial wastewater treatment systems,

3) industrial waste landfills and

4) magnesium production facilities.

The data from these sectors will provide a better understanding of GHG emissions and will help EPA and businesses develop effective policies and programs to reduce them.

Methane is the primary GHG emitted from coal mines, industrial wastewater treatment systems and industrial landfills and is more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. The main fluorinated GHG emitted from magnesium production is sulfur hexafluoride, which has an even greater warming potential than methane, and can stay in the atmosphere for thousands of years.

These source categories will begin collecting emissions data on January 1, 2011, with the first annual reports submitted to EPA on March 31, 2012.

In a separate proposed rule, EPA is requesting public comment on which industry related GHG information would be made publicly available and which would be considered confidential. Under the Clean Air Act, all emission data are public. Some non-emission data, however, may be considered confidential, because it relates to specific information which, if made public, could harm a business’s competitiveness. Examples of data considered confidential under this proposal include certain information reported by fossil fuel and industrial gas suppliers related to production quantities and raw materials. EPA is committed to providing the public with as much information as possible while following the law.

The GHG reporting program requires suppliers of fossil fuels or industrial GHGs and large direct emitters of greenhouse gases to report to EPA. Collecting this data will allow businesses to track emissions and identify cost effective ways to reduce emissions. EPA is preparing to provide data to the public after the first annual GHG reports are submitted in March 2011.

There will be a 60-day public comment period on the proposed rules that will begin upon publication in the federal register.

More information on the final rule to add reporting requirements for four source categories

More information on the proposal on data confidentiality

Supreme Court Reasserts Standard for Injunctive Relief in NEPA Cases

The United States Supreme Court reiterated the four-part standard for injunctive relief it announced in 2008, confirming that this same standard applies in cases arising under NEPA. In a 7-1 opinion delivered by Justice Alito in Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms (Monsanto), the Court relied on its earlier opinions in Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, and eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., holding that showings of:

1) irreparable injury,

2) inadequacy of legal remedies,

3) a balance of hardships tipping in favor of the party seeking the injunction and

4) consideration of the public interest

are all necessary before an injunction may issue.

More: Marten Law

ACEEE to Release Smart Meter Report

Advanced (or “smart”) meters for residential electricity use are all the rage today.

According to a new study by the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), if Americans are to cut their household electricity use by a substantial margin and save tens of billions of dollars in the process, the nation’s electric utilities will have to lend a hand by providing consumer-friendly “residential feedback” tools, including real-time (or near-real time) Web-based or in-home feedback devices (the Google PowerMeter is one example) and enhanced billing approaches.
The ACEEE analysis shows that advanced metering initiatives now being used by many utilities are neither necessary nor sufficient alone for providing households with the feedback that they need to achieve energy savings. To realize potential feedback-induced savings, advanced meters must be used in conjunction with in-home (or on-line) displays and well-designed programs that successfully inform, engage, empower, and motivate people.


ACEEE’s new report analyzes the results of 57 different residential sector feedback initiatives performed between 1974 and 2010. With approximately 115 million households nationwide, aggregate residential sector energy savings could make a meaningful contribution to U.S. energy security and climate goals, according to the study, which also details potential consumer pocketbook savings. Through tools such as real-time feedback and enhanced billing, residential electricity consumers can better evaluate their energy consumption practices, determine how energy is being wasted, and then take action to be more energy efficient. (ACEEE)

Gulf Oil Spill Hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Senate Energy Committee will have a business meeting (Tues 6/29/2010) mark-up at 9:30 a.m. to consider S. 3516, a bill to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to reform the management of energy and mineral resources on the OCS, and for other purposes.

House Natural Resources holds its final hearings in a series of seven (Tues 6/29/2010) at 10:00 a.m. looking at state planning for offshore energy and the performance of MMS. Witnesses include Interior Secretary Ken Salazar; MMS (Bureau of Ocean Energy) Management Director Michael Bromwich; Janis Searles Jones of the Ocean Conservancy and David Dismukes, Louisiana State University's Center for Energy Studies policy director.

House Energy and Commerce Committee revisits legislation to respond to the BP oil spill on Wednesday (6/30/2010) at 9:30 a.m.

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation holds a hearing on Wednesday (6/30/2010) at 10:00 a.m. to examine the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, focusing on holding industry accountable. (Frank Maisano)

Offshore Drillers Test Blow Out Preventers for MMS

Blowout Preventer
In hopes of moving them along on permit approvals, shallow water drillers recently conducted successful shear ram testing of a Blow Out Preventer (BOP) shearing drill pipe. The drillers wanted to show the Agency Formerly Known As MMS (or TAFKA MMS) (now Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement) (or BOE) that it could comply with new rules.

Two different types of shear rams within the BOP - interlocking shear ram (ISR) and shearing blind ram (SBR) ram blocks – were used in these tests. The objective of these tests was to demonstrate that the BOP, with either the SBR/ISR ram blocks, could shear the highest grade drill pipe that well operators plan to use in their well plans.

During the shearing test, the drill pipe and dual string tubing sheared within the allowable shearing pressure tolerances. After the pipe was sheared, pressure was applied beneath the rams at a low and high (10,000 psi) pressure to simulate well bore pressure. The BOP shear ram tests were witnessed by TAFKA MMS, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and several drillers. (Frank Maisano)

Groups Sue To Stop Cape Wind Project

The Center supports the Cape Wind Project.

Several groups filed suit late last week against the proposed Cape Wind project saying that the proposed development may have violated several federal laws including the Endangered Species Act. The project, recently approved by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. The groups include the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Cetacean Society International, The Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, Californians for Renewable Energy and Three Bays Preservation.

The Groups argue that

“required scientific studies were not done and that mandated protective measures were ignored in approving the controversial 130-turbine project slated for Nantucket Sound, a principal bird migration corridor off the Massachusetts coast.”

Issues raised by the suit include claimed refusals to adopt recommended protective measures for certain birds, such as shutting turbines down during peak migration periods; refusals to collect or submit acoustic, radar, infrared, or observational data on bird migration; and a failure to “prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement when new information came to light that a large aggregation of the highly imperiled North Atlantic Right Whale was present in the project area.”

This is a frivilous lawsuit and we hope it is dismissed quickly. The Cape Wind folk have been trying to get approval to build this offshore wind project for about 10 years. If their experience is any indication, not many other companies will be follow. Unnecessary delays kill projects. (Frank Maisano)

'A Whale,' World's Largest Oil Skimmer Heading to Gulf

The six opening's (six on each side of the vessel, 12 openings in all) near the bow of the vessel that pulls in the oil. 'A Whale,' is billed as the largest oil skimmer vessel in the world, is 1115 feet long and 196 feet wide and can hold 1 million barrels of recovered oil. The Taiwanese ship is owned and operated by TMT Shipping and will hopefully begin assisting in the clean up effort in the Gulf very soon.

The company is still negotiating with the Coast Guard to join the cleanup and does not have a contract with BP to perform the work. The company also needs environmental approval and waiver of a nearly century-old law aimed at protecting U.S. shipping interests.

Environmental Protection Agency approval is required because some of the seawater returned to the Gulf would have traces of oil.

The company says it also needs a waiver of the 1920 Jones Act, which limits the activities of foreign-flagged ships in coastal U.S. waters. Other interpretations conclude that the Jones Act is does not apply to skimming operations outside of 3 miles from shore. Oil skimming outside 3 miles, including near the well 50 miles from shore that is the source of the leak, is completely open to foreign oil spill response vessels. (Daily Press, 6/24/2010, Wavy.com, 6/25/2010)

White House Clean Energy Summit

President Obama is hosting a 'White House Clean Energy Summit (6/29/2010) to bring together a bipartisan group of Senate energy leaders to the White House to craft comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.

Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, hosted a live chat on WhiteHouse.gov to take your questions on energy and climate change legislation. The session laste 24 minutes. The White House Facebook chat was bombarded with questions and comments long after Ms. Zichal signed off. There were some complaints about the shortness of the session.

President Obama is continuing with his recommendation to put a price on greenhouse gases. Kerry and Lieberman released a climate bill last month that capped greenhouse gases from power plants, transportation and trade-sensitive manufacturers but it is doubtful that it can get 60 Senate votes.

Republican Senators Lamar Alexander, Susan Collins, Judd Gregg, Richard Lugar, Lisa Murkowski, Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich attended the White House meeting. The want "a national energy tax off the table in the middle of a recession.” They want reduce American dependence on oil from hostile countries.

There was a partisan National Clean Energy Summit in August 2009 too that brought together public and private sector thought leaders. It was hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Politico, 6/29/2010)

BP Spending on Gulf Disaster Response

BP PLC has issued an estimate of its costs to date of about $2.65 billion for its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The costs include spill response, containment, relief-well drilling, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs. BP said it has received more than 80,000 claims and made almost 41,000 payments, totaling more than $128 million. The amount doesn't include a $20 billion fund for Gulf damages it created this month.

BP PLC reported that it had recovered or flared 435,600 barrels of oil since the Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20. BP was spending $6 million a day when the spill began, but that cost has soared to $100 million a day as the slick has spread and efforts to cap the leaking well have intensified.

BP has taken new steps to bolster its cash and available credit, adding $5 billion to its oil-spill war chest amid deepening concerns about the escalating costs of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. BP PLC has a stake in the Russian state oil giant OAO Rosneft (TNK-BP International)and has picked up $2 billion in cash borrowed against its stake in Rosneft and other assets. BP has also arranged more than $3 billion in new unsecured bank credit lines in the past week. (WSJ, 6/28/2010)

Congressional Conference Committee Reconciles Finance Bills

A panel of 43 Congressional lawmakers spent two weeks reconciling differences between financial regulation bills that passed the House in December and the Senate in May. They concluded their negotiations along party lines today around 5 a.m. in a Capitol Hill conference room. Description follows:

Major Provisions in the Financial Overhaul Bill

The "Volcker" rule, named after former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, prohibits banks from making risky bets with their own funds. Financial companies can make limited investments in areas such as hedge funds and private-equity funds. It requires some big banks to spin off divisions, known as proprietary-trading desks, which make bets with the firms' money.

The bill also includes a provision that would limit the ability of federally insured banks to trade derivatives. It still allows banks to trade interest-rate swaps, certain credit derivatives and others—in other words the kind of standard safeguards a bank would take to hedge its own risk. Banks, however, would have to set up separately capitalized affiliates to trade derivatives in areas lawmakers perceived as riskier, including metals, energy swaps, and agriculture commodities, among other things.

Government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain a multibillion dollar drain on the U.S. Treasury, and largely untouched by this proposal.

The legislation would redraw how money flows through the U.S. economy, from the way people borrow money to the way banks structure complicated products like derivatives. It would erect a new consumer-protection regulator within the Federal Reserve, give the government new powers to break up failing companies and assign a council of regulators to monitor risks to the financial system.

The legislation gives the Securities and Exchange Commission new powers to regulate Wall Street and monitor hedge funds, increasing the agency's access to funding. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission would also have new powers to force most derivatives to face more scrutiny from regulators and other market participants. To pay for some of the new government programs, the bill would allow the government to charge fees to large banks and hedge funds to raise up to $19 billion spread over five years. The assessment is designed to eventually pay down a part of the national debt. (WSJ, 6/25/2010)

Maryland PSC Orders New ‘Price to Compare’ Information

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has ruled that the old “Price to Compare” formula, a weighted average of summer and non-summer rates, is no longer helpful, because customers need to use more than one number for an accurate comparison to offers from other suppliers.
Beginning no later than Aug. 1, utilities will have to publish several pieces of information on monthly bills, including current and known future standard utility service rates, along with the dates they are effective. For example, summer rates run from June 1 through Sept. 30 each year, while non-summer rates cover October through May.

The problems mounted this spring when suppliers were sending out offers that looked like they would provide big savings compared to rates at Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. or Potomac Electric Power Co., but the utilities’ rates only ran through May 31. Falling market rates led to lower rates for all of the utilities and many of the utilities had lower non-summer electricity prices than the suppliers. Under the PSC’s order, the utilities also will continue to offer the price to compare with the effective dates on bills, although at the recommendation of the Office of the People’s Counsel, the term “price to compare” will no longer appear on bills. (The Daily Record, 6/24/2010)

Maryland PSC Rejects BGE Smart Meter Proposal

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has rejected the Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) proposal to install smart meters at the homes of its Maryland customers. The PSC has asked BGE to resubmit their plan to address their concerns. BGE proposed an $835 million 5-year plan to install 1.36 million new "smart" electric meters and 730,000 advanced gas meters with communication ties between customers and the utility.

The PSC did not want to approve BGE's new "dynamic" electricity rate plans that allow prices to rise during the day when power demand peaks and fall when demand is slack. Such real-time pricing plans are essential to prompt customers to shift energy usage to slack times and reduce overall consumption. The PSC ruling was influenced by concern from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the Office of the People's Counsel, a state consumer advocacy agency, about higher summer energy bills . The PSC noted that it would not approve an advanced meter plan that includes mandatory dynamic or "time of use" electricity rates. BGE proposed to create a customer Web portal that would allow customers to review hourly electricity usage from the previous day over the Internet. The PSC criticized BGE for not including in-home displays to alert people that power prices were rising.

The estimated cost of the meter deployment was to be $486 million, $136 million of which was to be paid from DOE's Smart Grid grants. The Energy Department (DOE) pledged $200 million toward the BG&E program, most of which was targeted for advanced meter installation. It was one DOE's Smart Grid stimulus grant program last year. BGE was prepared to put in $280 million of their shareholders' money into advanced meter introduction. BGE anticipated $2.6 billion in benefits over 15 years, from conservation, lower prices, reduced capital expenditures for new power sources and other sources.

To achieve savings, BGE proposed to offer residential customers a "peak time rebate" from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on "critical" days declared by the company during heat waves when power supplies are stressed, and other emergencies called by the region's grid operator. Customers would be notified the evening before and then could earn a rebate, initially $1.25 per kilowatt-hour, if they reduce their power consumption below a predetermined base case amount. BGE also proposed to charge lower rates at all other times.

BGE proposed to recover the costs of the meter rollout as they are incurred through a "tracker" surcharge added to customers' bills, rather than waiting to recover the costs in a traditional rate case proceeding. The PSC singled out BG&E's proposal to recover advance costs of the smart meter deployment through a surcharge on customers, calling it a "no-lose" proposition by the company. The PSC objected to BG&E asking ratepayers:

"to take significant financial and technological risks and adapt to categorical changes in rate designs, all in exchange for savings that are largely indirect, highly contingent and a long way off. BG&E has provided no persuasive reason why its customers should subsidize this program in that manner. Surcharges guarantee dollar-for-dollar recovery of specific costs, diminish the Company's incentive to control those costs," and put those costs outside the commission's reach."

The commission noted that the BGE surcharge would raise the average electricity customer's monthly rate by 38 cents beginning in 2010, rising to $3.78 in 2013.

The PSC has approved such surcharges in some limited cases, it drew the line on BG&E's current proposal. (NYT, 6/23/2010)

I'm Thinking About Raising Some Chickens In My Backyard

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By Norris McDonald

Rooster

My garden is giving me great joy this summer. I have everything growing back there and I am feeding about 6 other households on my suburban block.

Maybe if I am successful with chickens, I might get ambitious and go for a couple of pigs. That way I could use the organic waste generated in the house.

Organic Fence & Garden in March

But is it legal to raise livestock in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.? Yes it is.

In the Washington area, the District alone has an outright ban on farm animals, but suburbs such as Montgomery, Prince George's and Fairfax counties allow pigs, chickens, goats and other livestock under certain conditions.

Organic Garden in June

I'm going to name my rooster Rooster and maybe get 3 hens. I'll produce my own eggs and use the egg shells to fortify my garden plants with calcium. Three hens and a rooster should generatte about a dozen eggs a week I hope. And I think they will be 'free range.' I will let them run around in the garden. I already put up a deer fence. It wouldn't take much more effort to make it chicken exit proof. All organic of course. The garden fruits and vegetables, the animals and the fence.

Hoyer Wants East Coast Oil Preparedness Summit

Hoyer Wants White House to Hold East Coast Oil Preparedness Summit

House Majority Leader and Maryland Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer has sent a letter to the White House requesting a summit with East Coast governors and local officials to ensure they are prepared if oil from the Gulf spill makes its way up the Atlantic coastline.

Computer models show that the oil could enter the Gulf’s loop current, go around the tip of Florida and up the coast. Officials are concerned about the impact of oil “within the fragile, ecologically rich and economically important resources they represent.” (The Daily Record, 6/23/2010)

CNN Invites Nominations for 2010 CNN Heroes

Do you know an everyday person who is changing the world? Your nomination of a 2010 CNN Hero could help the person that inspires you achieve even greater recognition and success. The Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2010 each receive $25,000 and will be honored on our Thanksgiving night global telecast, "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute."

Help us share your Hero’s story with the world -- click the link below and submit your nomination today! July is the last month to nominate someone for consideration.

How to nominate a CNN Hero

U.S. Senate Confirms FERC Nominees Moeller, LaFleur

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Phillip Moeller for the second term and Cheryl LaFleur for the first term to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Ms. LaFleur served as Senior Vice President of the National Grid, USA.

Bob Dudley - CEO, BP Gulf Coast Restoration Organization

Bob Dudley, left, has been appointed to head the new Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which is in charge of cleaning up the oil spill. The appointment was effective immediately.

Robert "Bob" Dudley (born c. 1955) served as President and Chief Executive TNK-BP. He grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dudley received a BA in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, an MIM degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

He joined Amoco in 1979. He worked in a variety of positions including negotiating deals in the South China Sea. In 1994 to 1997 he worked for Amoco in Moscow. He became a general manager for strategy. After BP acquired Amoco he assumed a similar position at BP. (Wiki)

Interior Secretary Salazar Issues New Deepwater Drilling Ban

Day After Judge Lifts Obama Deepwater Drilling Moratorium, Salazar Trumps Judge

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is issuing a new order imposing a moratorium on deepwater drilling after a federal judge struck down the existing one. The new order will contain additional information making clear why the six-month drilling pause was necessary in the wake of the Gulf oil spill. The judge in New Orleans who struck down the moratorium earlier in the day complained there wasn't enough justification for it. Salazar is citing inadequate industry safety precautions on deepwater wells to justify the new moratorium. The federal judge in Louisiana granted the request for a preliminary restraining order that would prevent the ban from taking effect until a trial is held. He did not set a trial date.

While 33 deepwater drilling sites were affected, there are still 3,600 oil and natural gas production platforms in the Gulf. The moratorium was declared May 6 and originally was to last only through the month. President Barack Obama announced May 27 that he was extending it for six months. (MSNBC, 6/22/2010)

Future of Smaller Offshore Drilling & Oil Companies Uncertain

Smaller oil companies could never handle the costs BP is paying out as a result of the Gulf oil disaster. Some smaller firms include:

Plains Exploration & Production Company
Noble Energy Inc.
Kerr McGee
Ocean Energy
Unocal
Cobalt International Energy
ATP Oil
Gas Corporation

[See list of Current Deepwater Operators]

Although a federal judge lifted the moratorium this week on drilling in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, it will become more expensive and have much tighter regulations and some companies and investors will not think it is worth the effort. The rising cost of insurance premiums, longer estimated time frames for completing projects and the potential lifting of a $75 million cap on oil spill liability make the independents' role uncertain. Shareholders are not going to want small exploration and production companies in the deep water because it is cost-prohibitive and the risks are too great. (WSJ, 6/22/2010)