Utility News

The New York Times:

It takes a lot of water to produce electricity, both to mine and to process coal and other fuels and to cool power plants. Production of gasoline uses water, too, but in an analysis in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Carey W. King and Michael E. Webber of the University of Texas found that adding more plug-in vehicles would result in a significant increase in water use because of the additional electricity that would have to be generated.

For every mile driven by a gas-powered vehicle that is displaced by one driven by an electric vehicle, the researchers report, about three times as much water is consumed (that is, lost to evaporation) and about 17 times as much is withdrawn (used and returned to its source).

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AP via Baltimore Sun:

A vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs - and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen - in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists about long-term consequences to human health.

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AP via York Daily Record:

New power line construction is more likely in the mid-Atlantic states after the government said Thursday it was pushing ahead with a plan to expand and modernize the electric grid in the area.

The U.S. Department of Energy formally denied requests for a rehearing of a previous decision making it easier to build power lines in the designated areas, saying challenges by those who oppose new line construction were meritless.

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Gazzette.net:

Dueling lawsuits have intensified the conflict between Constellation Energy Group and the state, stoking new fears that the development of a third reactor at Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant could be in jeopardy.

The latest salvo came Monday as two Constellation subsidiaries filed suit against Maryland in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, seeking to recoup $386 million it was mandated to credit ratepayers resulting from a 2006 law that altered the 1999 deregulation agreement.

The Baltimore energy giant’s suit followed the state’s filing last week of a pre-emptive lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court against Constellation and subsidiaries Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and Calvert Cliffs to uphold the law that requires reimbursements to ratepayers over 10 years.

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Canadian Business News:

PPL Corp. said Thursday it has agreed to sell two natural-gas distribution and propane subsidiaries to UGI Corp. for about $268 million in cash and working capital.

The energy and utility holding company expects to close its sale of PPL Gas Utilities Corp. and Penn Fuel Propane LLC before the end of 2008.

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U.S. Water News:

A 2010 deadline looms for Pennsylvania to comply with federal mandates to reduce pollution that flows into waterways that eventually empty into the 200-mile-long Chesapeake, the nation’s largest estuary and one of its great natural resources.

Improvements to sewage treatment plants could cost hundreds of millions of dollars — and that is scaring municipalities in the bay’s vast watershed, which includes parts of six states.

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Pittsburgh Tribune Review:

Electricity customers in Pennsylvania and other states that restructured their power industry to create a more competitive market now pay more for electricity than consumers in noncompetitive states, a study released Tuesday concludes.

On average, power users in restructured states pay 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt hour more than customers in states that didn’t restructure, according to “Electricity Prices and Costs Under Regulation and Restructuring,” a study published by Carnegie Mellon University’s Electricity Industry Center.

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San Jose Mercury News:

Eight of the nation’s largest water providers from California to New York announced the formation of a coalition to develop strategies on dealing with climate change.The newly formed Water Utility Climate Alliance includes the giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Members, which together provide water to more than 36 million people, also include Denver Water, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, the Portland (Ore.) Water Bureau, Seattle Public Utilities and the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

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Forbes:

Wireline telecommunications provider Embarq Corp. named Tom Gerke chief executive, removing the interim tag from a position he has held since December.

Embarq has been looking for a CEO since its former parent, Sprint Nextel Corp., poached Dan Hesse to run that company in December. Gerke, 51, had been general counsel at Embarq.

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The Economist:

A programme to replace lead water-pipes may have backfired and increased the amount of lead in tap water in thousands of homes. The $93m scheme to replace the pipes started in 2005, after hazardous amounts of lead were found in DC’s water. According to tests in 2006—made public in February after an unofficial analysis by an independent scientist—quantities of lead subsequently rose to unsafe levels in some homes, at least temporarily. The process of replacing pipes in 9,000 homes over the last three years apparently dislodged flecks of lead in the water system. “We’ve torn up all these neighbourhoods, and it appears the situation is worse than when we started,” a city council member told the Washington Post. DC’s water authority has been holding public hearings to consider whether to discontinue the programme.

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