‘Prairie State Is the Titanic’; New England Renewables; Powder River Basin Doubts

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• 7 November, 2014
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THE PADUCAH POWER SYSTEM WILL OPEN ITS RECORDS around how it came to agree to its expensive long-term deal with Prairie State Energy Campus, the Paducah Sun reports this morning.

Interim General Manager of Paducah Power, Mark Crisson

An article by David Zoeller on a Thursday meeting of the PPS paints a picture of a city growing increasingly impatient and an electricity board facing “continued outrage from the community over power rates that are believed to be the highest in the state.”

The article notes that Mark Bryant, a Paducah lawyer who is among the residents who  question how the PPS-Prairie deal came to pass, is pushing for the board to release unredacted documents. “We’ve got to find out if there was any fraud,” Bryant tells the paper.

Excerpts:

• “Several members of the community addressed the board expressing their frustration, including Paducah resident Gayle Frye, a retired Paducah city department head.”
• “‘I’m just a customer,’  Frye said. ‘I don’t have a business. I know this board didn’t have anything to do with the (original) decision, and I don’t know if there was any malfeasance, but perception is reality.’
• ‘Prairie State is the Titanic’ Frye said. ‘They’ve hit the iceberg and that hole is being patched by all of us.’

Here’s the full article (subscription required).

NBC affiliate WPSD-TV also covered the story, reporting that PPS Interim General Manager Mark Crisson is promising a new level of transparency. More of that report here.The full video is below.

RENEWABLES ARE A ‘KEY PART’ OF NEW ENGLAND’S ENERGY FUTURE, the Daily Hampshire Gazette of Northampton, Mass., editorializes this morning.

The editorial notes how recent steep increases in electricity and a shortage of adequate natural-gas delivery systems are putting the economy at risk. “Energy drives growth. New England cannot hope to compete with other parts of the country for new business if firms prospecting for locations are told they won’t have sure access to energy.”

Additional excerpts:

• “For decades, people in New England, living at the end of the energy pipeline, sent wads of money out of state to purchase fossil fuels that have traveled across the country or around the world.”
• “Renewable energy projects in the Commonwealth provide more than power. They invest in Massachusetts.”
• “Still, our economy today depends on outside power and the cost of supply interruptions is too great to allow. But households and businesses in New England must work to wean themselves, as much as possible, from fossil fuels.”

Here’s the full editorial.

THE WEBSITE MARKETREALIST.COM HAS A POST UP QUESTIONING ALPHA NATURAL RESOURCES’ strategy in the Powder River Coal Basin.

The item, by Mayur Sontakke, notes that the coal industry generally has been hurt by the rise of shale gas and the EPA’s longstanding program to curb emissions. Sontakke notes, however, the Powder River Basin coal plays have additional problems.

Excerpts:

• “PRB faces specific challenges—including rail connectivity issues and uncertainty over the northwest coal export infrastructure.”
• “PRB is the coal producing region with the lowest cost in the U.S. However, the majority of the export terminals are located on the East Coast.”
• “Planned export infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest is important for PRB coal exports to Asia. However, the planned projects’ future looks uncertain.”

Here’s the full Market Realist post.

— Karl Cates
kcates@ieefa.org
Twitter @ieefa_institute