by jboullion | Nov 12, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Shelley Nelson posted on RiverTowns.net:
Plans for a nearly seven-fold expansion of Murphy Oil’s Superior refinery are on hold.
The company, headquartered in El Dorado, Ark., is putting the brakes on detailed design engineering until it can find a partner to provide a reliable source of bitumen crude from the Canadian oil sands to feed the expanded facility.
The proposed project would increase the refinery’s processing capacity from 35,000 barrels of crude oil per day to 235,000 barrels per day, making the Superior refinery the largest rather than the smallest of Murphy Oil’s three refineries worldwide.
The company also operates a 120,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Meraux, La., and a 108,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Mill Haven, Wales.
The refinery is the only oil refinery in the state.
If it happens, the $6 billion investment – the largest in Wisconsin history – could create 300 permanent jobs and 3,000 to 4,000 construction jobs.
“We’ve beaten down doors trying to find a partner for the project,” said Jim Kowitz, interim manager of the Superior refinery. “We have not come up with a partner yet.”
The company needs a partner to ensure a crude supply from the oil sands in Alberta, Canada, for the expanded facility. However, with crude prices hitting record highs, Murphy Oil has found no takers for the partnership.
“With dropping crude prices – if demand stays up – it may look more favorable for Canadian producers to invest in,” Kowitz said. ” When crude is $140 a barrel, they’re making lots of money. When crude is $60 a barrel, they’re not making near as much, and they might be interested in spending money to get into the U.S. fuels market rather than just be a crude supplier. That’s our hope. If crude stays down for awhile, our project will look more attractive again.”
by jboullion | Nov 11, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Anita Weier in The Capital Times:
The state Public Service Commission on Tuesday unanimously rejected a proposed 300-megawatt mostly coal-fired power plant proposed by Wisconsin Power & Light at Cassville.
In justifying their decision, commissioners cited the cost, inefficiency and carbon dioxide emissions of the plant.
“Based on the evidence, I find this particular project is not in the public interest,” said PSC Chairman Eric Callisto.
“Public comment was really significant,” said Commissioner Mark Meyer, praising the extent of public participation after he stated that he could not support the application because it did not meet fundamental requirements.
Commissioner Lauren Azar said the proposal would lock the state into a coal technology that may soon be obsolete.
by jboullion | Nov 11, 2008 | Uncategorized
Immediate release
November 11, 2008
More information
Michael Vickerman
608.332.1736 (cell)
608.819.0748 (office)
RENEW’s reaction to decision on Cassville plant
“In our eyes, Nelson Dewey 3 did not meet our criteria of a renewable energy facility,” said RENEW Executive Director Michael Vickerman. “The biomass component functioned as a sideshow to obscure the central premise of this plant, which is to burn nonrenewable Wyoming coal in a Wisconsin location. The truth is, there are far easier, more sustainable and less expensive ways to generate new sources of renewable energy in southwestern Wisconsin.”
“Approval of this plant, with its 80-20 coal-to-biomass fuel ratio, would actually make Governor Doyle’s goal of securing, by 2025, 25% of the energy from renewable energy resources a more difficult goal to attain,” Vickerman said. “We applaud the Commission for recognizing the incompatibility of Nelson Dewey 3 with the Administration’s environmental and economic development agenda.”
“Nelson Dewey 3 is an example of combining a 19th century fuel with 20th century combustion technology to tackle a 21st century problem,” Vickerman said. “We agree with the PSC that it clearly has no place in our future.”
Vickerman contrasted Alliant’s proposal with Xcel Energy’s recently announced proposal to convert Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland into a 100% biomass-fueled generating unit when completed. The proposal involves retrofitting an existing coal-fired unit with gasification technology to turn wood fuel and other biomass energy sources into a renewable gas, which will be fed into a new boiler.
“Unlike Nelson Dewey 3, what Xcel proposes to do would actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Wisconsin sources, not add to them,” Vickerman said. “Xcel’s initiative would actually reduce the state’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, not increase it.”
“The fact is, biomass energy generation can stand on its own two feet in the 21st century. Wisconsin doesn’t need a new coal plant just to make biomass a viable fuel. In fact, the state doesn’t need a coal plant, period,” Vickerman said.
END
RENEW Wisconsin is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that acts as a catalyst to advance a sustainable energy future through public policy and private sector initiatives. More information on RENEW’s Web site at www.renewwisconsin.org.
by jboullion | Nov 11, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by David Steinkraus in The Journal Times (Racine):
A group representing three local counties and the governor is proposing a sales tax of up to .5 percent to fund public transit.
It’s easy to get lost in the details, but no one should ignore the magnitude of what happened on Monday morning, said Jody Karls, the city of Racine representative on the Regional Transit Authority.
What the RTA voted to do on Monday was ask the state to make it the permanent transit oversight body for southeast Wisconsin and to give it power to levy local sales taxes of up to 0.5 percent in each member area. That tax would fund the extension of Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee commuter rail service from Kenosha through Racine and to Milwaukee, and would fund other transit modes such as city bus systems.
Beyond those specifics, Karls said, is the over-arching importance of having all the counties and municipalities along the potential KRM corridor speaking with a single voice.
He and other officials met with The Journal Times editorial board on Monday morning, a few hours after the RTA voted on its recommendations. It has a Nov. 15 deadline to report to Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature, and it would be up to them to grant the RTA’s requests.
by jboullion | Nov 10, 2008 | Uncategorized
From a story by Rick Olivo in The Daily Press:
Bayfield County could reasonably consider installing a commercial scale wind turbine on one of two possible locations in the county, says a preliminary assessment from a consulting professional engineer.
The report, released to members of the Bayfield County Board Executive Committee Thursday said a large-scale wind turbine would be “reasonably productive” if built on a Mount Ashwabay site or another Bayfield hills site west of the City of Bayfield.
“The county could either develop one of those sites or try to find a site closer to Washburn, where the wind turbine could be directly connected to its largest electric use buildings in Washburn,” said Robert H, Owen Jr., of Superior Safety and Environmental Services of Middleton. Owen said the Mt. Ashwabay site was large enough to accommodate about 12 600-kilowatt turbines, with a few more potentially sited on the upper reaches of the ski slope property. Owen said in the report that the county could consider selling the output from the wind turbines to Xcel Energy, or deliver most of its output to county offices and sell just the surplus energy.
While Owen said much research was needed into the amount of wind available from the Bayfield area sites, he said the amount of energy available to a single 600-kilowatt turbine could add up to 1.23 million kilowatt hours a year. Nevertheless, he was careful to emphasize that his estimates concerning available wind energy were only preliminary and could be seriously overstating or understating the amount of energy actually available. He said an absolute necessity to come up with accurate figures was a wind-speed study that could last a year or more at the sites.
Nevertheless, he said because of predictable future increases in the cost of electrical energy, the amount Bayfield County pays for electricity, currently put at five cents per kilowatt hour, could increase to 50 cents per kilowatt hour by the year 2030.
by jboullion | Nov 10, 2008 | Uncategorized
From an article by Dustin Block in The Daily Reporter:
Solar power, a renewable-energy casualty of the early 1990s slain by cheap fossil fuels, is showing signs of life.
The Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee is reviving a solar-powered heating system at its community center in the county’s Washington Park.
The solar-thermal system was built in the late-1970s as an alternative source of energy during the oil boycott. But as energy prices fell in the U.S. in the 1980s, interest in renewable energy waned and the Washington Park system was shut down.
Joey Zocher, the Urban Ecology Center’s Washington Park program manager, estimated the solar power system is worth about $250,000. But it will take at least $100,000 to get the community center system running again, she said. The building also needs a new roof.
“The county is supportive,” Zocher said, “but we still have some money to find.”
The story behind Washington Park’s solar experiment encapsulates the country’s experience with renewable resources, said Bob Ramlow, who has worked with solar power in Wisconsin since the 1970s and was one of the founders of the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair in central Wisconsin.
“In the 1970s, the whole country was excited and thinking about saving energy,” he said. “People wanted to do their part. It was patriotic to be involved with renewable energy and energy conservation.”
Ramlow said the symbolic moment when the country abandoned that commitment was in 1981, when Ronald Reagan moved into the White House and, on his first day, had the solar collectors on the roof taken off.
“The word from the administration from then to now,” Ramlow said, “was renewable energy sources are the energy of the future, but now we need nuclear, coal and oil.”
He said it took nearly 30 years for renewable energy to recover in the U.S. But projects such as reviving solar energy in Washington Park suggest change is coming.
Shawn Young, solar thermal division director for Madison-based H & H Solar Energy Services, inspected Washington Park’s solar system last year. He sent a report to Milwaukee County concluding the system was worth saving.
“It’s not the best solar collector on the market,” Young said, “but it’s not obsolete.”
The system collects sunlight on the building’s roof and transfers the energy to a liquid that fuels the furnace and generates heat. When it was originally installed, the designers anticipated cutting energy use in the building by 60 to 80 percent. Now, the system could cut energy use 10 to 15 percent, Young said. The decline in savings is mainly because of the system’s age.
But even with the reduced efficiency, the county could save $1,000 a month on its heating bill, Zocher said. She estimated the investment needed to refurbish the Washington Park system would take eight years to pay back.
