Archive for October, 2007
Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 19 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Telecommunications
The Hill:
House and Senate Democrats on Thursday assailed a bipartisan Senate effort to provide retroactive immunity for telephone companies that cooperated in the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, signaling a looming battle over domestic spying that could split the Democratic Caucus…
The deal, reached Wednesday by the leaders of the Intelligence panel and the Bush administration, would attempt to resolve one of the thorniest issues in the debate over the spying program. Telephone companies would face no penalty as long as they proved to courts that they were participating in the program lawfully. In return, Democrats would ensure that the secret FISA court would review the administration’s procedures for warrantless surveillance.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 19 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: General, Electric, Energy, Environment
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Environmental watchdog group Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future on Thursday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh against FirstEnergy Corp. over what the group called “egregious” air pollution from the company’s Bruce Mansfield power plant.
The lawsuit said visible air contaminants from the coal-fired facility in Shippingport, Beaver County, violate federal and state air pollution laws, and it seeks a court order to force FirstEnergy into compliance.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 19 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: General, Natural Gas
Harrisburg Patriot-News:
Likening natural gas pipelines in Pennsylvania to crumbling roads and bridges, two top Democrats in the state House propose legislation they say would expedite the ability of utilities to make improvements.
State Reps. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, and Joe Preston, D-Allegheny, are expected to introduce legislation that would call for a distribution system improvement charge on consumers’ gas bills that would be used by gas companies to replace aging pipes.
The exact amount of the charge has yet to be determined, but it could range from a few cents to roughly $1 per month, said Wendell Holland, chairman of the state Public Utility Commission.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 18 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Water
The New York Times:
Crews of city workers started painting outlines yesterday in front of 39 commercial buildings whose sidewalks will be torn up and water service shut off if they do not pay what they owe in delinquent water bills. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection said it would give the owners 21 days to bring their accounts up to date. The owners of the 39 buildings owe from $1,950 to $143,000, and some of the accounts have been delinquent for as long as two years. The department has rarely terminated water service for unpaid bills. But on the advice of consultants, it has recently been getting tough on water bill deadbeats.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 16 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Telecommunications
The Washington Post:
Verizon Communications, the nation’s second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers’ telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.
The company said it does not determine the requests’ legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 15 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: General, Electric, Energy
T&D World:
A report released last month by Public Sector Consultants Inc. of Lansing (PSC) concluded that Michigan should return to a regulated market structure for electricity if the policy goals and initiatives of the 21st Century Energy Plan are to be realized.
“Michigan’s 21st Century Electric Energy Plan,” released earlier this year by then Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman Peter Lark, concluded that Michigan needs additional electric supply. The plan proposed to meet this need by establishing an energy efficiency program, creating a mandatory renewable portfolio standard, and ensuring that a new base load coal plant is operational no later than 2015.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 14 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: General
T&D World:
SecureWorks has seen a 90 percent increase in the number of hackers attempting to attack its utility clients this year. From January through April, SecureWorks blocked an average of 49 attackers per utility client per day. From May through September, it saw an average of 93 hackers attempt attacks on each of its utility clients per day…
Computer users can become victims of browser attacks by visiting Web sites, which unbeknownst to them is hosting malware, or by clicking on a malicious link in an email or instant message.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 14 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Natural Gas, Energy
Forbes.com:
Three years ago, Luca Technologies, a start-up in Golden, Colo., discovered that microorganisms in U.S. coal fields are converting–in real time–large hydrocarbon molecules into methane, a natural gas. The obvious entrepreneurial reaction? Harness those “bugs” and put them to work producing natural gas in underutilized oil and coal fields, decided Luca Technologies Chief Executive Robert Pfeiffer.
Now some big backers are betting that Luca’s technology will pay off.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 11 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Energy, Nuclear
The York (PA) Daily Record:
A U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection has determined that security supervisors at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station missed opportunities to identify inattentiveness among 10 officers whose job it was to help guard the plant.
One security supervisor discouraged some guards from bringing forward concerns that they had with other officers who had been spotted sleeping on the job, said James Trapp, leader of the eight-member NRC team that recently investigated the plant’s security program.
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Posted by Edward G. Lanza on 10 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Water, Energy
The National Academies:
If projected increases in the use of corn for ethanol production occur, the harm to water quality could be considerable, and water supply problems at the regional and local levels could also arise, says a new report from the National Research Council. The committee that wrote the report examined policy options and identified opportunities for new agricultural techniques and technologies to help minimize effects of biofuel production on water resources…
In terms of water quantity, the committee found that agricultural shifts to growing corn and expanding biofuel crops into regions with little agriculture, especially dry areas, could change current irrigation practices and greatly increase pressure on water resources in many parts of the United States. The amount of rainfall and other hydroclimate conditions from region to region causes significant variations in the water requirement for the same crop, the report says.
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