by jboullion | Dec 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
For immediate release
December 1, 2010
More information
RENEW Wisconsin
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Wisconsin Cannot Afford to Ignore Rising Coal Prices
Long-considered an inexpensive and reliable fuel source, coal has become subject to market and regulatory pressures that threaten to make it an expensive and risky way to generate electricity, according to national news reports and pertinent utility filings with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC).
“The expectation of continued increases in coal prices reinforces the value of relying on Wisconsin’s own energy resources. If there’s an effort to find savings for utility customers, the logical move would be to shutter antiquated coal plants before they become more of a liability,” said Michael Vickerman, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide, nonprofit renewable energy advocacy organization.
A key driver behind coal’s rising cost is China, which has moved from an exporter to an importer of coal. The New York Times (NYT) reported last week that Chinese coal imports will hit all-time highs for November and December of this year. Some of this coal is coming from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the coal field that also supplies many Wisconsin power plants.1
In the New York Times story, an executive from Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company, predicted that his company will send larger and larger quantities of coal to China in the coming years.
Further adding to the upward price pressure on coal is the rising cost of diesel fuel. The PSC has estimated that half of the delivered cost of coal in Wisconsin is attributable to rail shipment, that is highly sensitive to the price of diesel fuel, which sells for 38 cents more per gallon than it did a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.2 Tom Whipple, editor of the Peak Oil Review, expects diesel fuel supplies to tighten in 2011 as a consequence of flat production volumes and increasing demand from Asia.3 This phenomenon could affect Wisconsin electric utility rates as early as January 2011, according to Vickerman.
We Energies’ coal costs have escalated by $57 million, of which transportation costs account for almost $33 million, according to the utility’s most recent rate filing with the PSC. On top of that, We Energies expects to pay an additional $8 million in oil surcharge costs.4
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by jboullion | Dec 1, 2010 | Uncategorized
For immediate release
December 1, 2010
More information
RENEW Wisconsin
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org
Wisconsin Cannot Afford to Ignore Rising Coal Prices
Long-considered an inexpensive and reliable fuel source, coal has become subject to market and regulatory pressures that threaten to make it an expensive and risky way to generate electricity, according to national news reports and pertinent utility filings with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC).
“The expectation of continued increases in coal prices reinforces the value of relying on Wisconsin’s own energy resources. If there’s an effort to find savings for utility customers, the logical move would be to shutter antiquated coal plants before they become more of a liability,” said Michael Vickerman, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide, nonprofit renewable energy advocacy organization.
A key driver behind coal’s rising cost is China, which has moved from an exporter to an importer of coal. The New York Times (NYT) reported last week that Chinese coal imports will hit all-time highs for November and December of this year. Some of this coal is coming from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the coal field that also supplies many Wisconsin power plants.1
In the New York Times story, an executive from Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company, predicted that his company will send larger and larger quantities of coal to China in the coming years.
Further adding to the upward price pressure on coal is the rising cost of diesel fuel. The PSC has estimated that half of the delivered cost of coal in Wisconsin is attributable to rail shipment, that is highly sensitive to the price of diesel fuel, which sells for 38 cents more per gallon than it did a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.2 Tom Whipple, editor of the Peak Oil Review, expects diesel fuel supplies to tighten in 2011 as a consequence of flat production volumes and increasing demand from Asia.3 This phenomenon could affect Wisconsin electric utility rates as early as January 2011, according to Vickerman.
We Energies’ coal costs have escalated by $57 million, of which transportation costs account for almost $33 million, according to the utility’s most recent rate filing with the PSC. On top of that, We Energies expects to pay an additional $8 million in oil surcharge costs.4
Regulatory costs add pressure
Additionally, compliance with coming federal clean air regulations is certain to propel the cost of coal generation higher, especially if utilities install expensive pollution control equipment on their aging and increasingly costly generators.
Several U.S. utilities, including Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, have decided to meet that upcoming regulatory challenge by shutting down old coal-fired units and replacing them with a combination of gas-fired and renewable generation. An Xcel executive told the Denver Post that it’s often more cost effective to shutter these plants than to retrofit them.5
“The only thing that keeps these clunkers going is the belief that coal will always be the cheapest resource available to utilities,” said Vickerman. “But it is now quite apparent that coal is no longer dirt cheap, and it’s time we in Wisconsin face that reality. When you add up the costs of mining, transportation, and cleaning up old power plants to meet new clean air standards, coal shapes up as an expensive anachronism, not the bargain fuel that it once was. Of course, the premium that utilities pay to keep burning coal will be passed along directly to utility customers.”
Wisconsin’s energy policies, which expressly favor conservation and renewable resources, have been exceptionally effective at diversifying and localizing the state’s energy mix, as well as generating thousands of family-supporting jobs here, said Vickerman.
1. Breaking Away From Coal, New York Times, November 30, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/business/energy-environment/30utilities.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=breaking%20away%20from%20coal&st=cse
2. Weekly Petroleum State Report
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/weekly_petroleum_status_report/current/pdf/highlights.pdf
3. Peak Oil Review
http://www.aspousa.org/index.php/2010/11/review-november-29-2010
4. We Energies’ Application for Reopening rate request docket
http://psc.wi.gov/apps35/ERF_view/viewdoc.aspx?docid=137970
5. Rising coal costs will be felt in electric bills, Denver Post, October 24, 2010
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16412425
END
by jboullion | Nov 30, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a column by Francisco Enriquez in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A cloud of soot engulfed Milwaukee recently, with particle pollution levels so high that the Department of Natural Resources issued four days of advisories and watches that warned children, older adults and people with asthma, bronchitis and heart or lung disease to pay close attention to their symptoms. On days when air pollution levels are high, more people suffer from more frequent, more severe and more deadly asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes.
As a pediatrician on the near south side of Milwaukee, I am deeply concerned about the effects of breathing polluted air. Some of my patients’ medical conditions get much worse when they are exposed to an environment that is loaded with irritants and noxious chemicals. Access to health care and medication can lead to improvement, but if they are to heal, then cleaning our polluted environment is paramount.
Where does this pollution come from? In Milwaukee, We Energies’ Valley power plant, operating without modern pollution controls, is the single largest source of particle pollutants. Sitting in the Menomonee Valley among some of the most densely populated communities in the state, the stacks are neighbors to some 24,000 people who live within a mile of the plant. The pollution from the plant contributes to violations of health standards that are set to protect public health. Cleanup of the Valley coal plant is long overdue.
by jboullion | Nov 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
From a blog post by Tom Content on JSonline:
An air emissions permit to operate the Valley power plant in Milwaukee should be renewed, the state Department of Natural Resources has concluded.
That finding, concerning an air emissions permit first issued in 1998, will be the subject of a DNR public hearing Thursday in Milwaukee.
Environmental groups sued the DNR this summer in Dane County Circuit Court because it had not issued an updated permit for the project.
That suit is now on hold while DNR proceeds with work on the air permit.
The Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin, joined by several other groups, are seeking that DNR become more aggressive in requiring less pollution to be emitted by the We Energies plant, located in the Menomonee River Valley.
The Journal Sentinel reported this summer that the plant is allowed to operate under more lenient standards in part because of its age and in part because it wasn’t required to install modern pollution controls at a time when We Energies was moving forward to install those controls at other, larger power plants.
by jboullion | Oct 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
A free film showing by MPTV, November 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Discovery World, 500 N. Harbor Dr., Milwaukee:
Deep in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky, Beverly May and Terry Ratliff find themselves at the center of a contentious community battle over a proposed mountaintop removal coal mine.
