Utility News

The York Daily Record (PA):

Aside from a security violation that involved guards sleeping on the job, both reactors at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station operated last year in a manner that preserved public health and safety.

That’s what U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials concluded during a recent review of the plant’s reactor and radiation safety performance between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2007.

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The New York Times:

Coal is abundant and cheap, assuring that it will continue to be used. But the failure to start building, testing, tweaking and perfecting carbon capture and storage means that developing the technology may come too late to make coal compatible with limiting global warming…

Plans to combat global warming generally assume that continued use of coal for power plants is unavoidable for at least several decades. Therefore, starting as early as 2020, forecasters assume that carbon dioxide emitted by new power plants will have to be captured and stored underground, to cut down on the amount of global-warming gases in the atmosphere.

Yet, simple as the idea may sound, considerable research is still needed to be certain the technique would be safe, effective and affordable.

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AP via Google News:

Amish farmer Andy Swartzentruber is determined to live the simple life of his forefathers, plowing his field with a horse-drawn tractor, getting around in a horse-drawn buggy and offering eggs for sale to help support his family.

But now he and a school elder in his Amish settlement are being compelled to defend their religious beliefs over an unlikely issue: sewage.

The two say that they will not comply with state code that governs how they handle waste from two outhouses at their community’s schoolhouse. The men are members of the Swartzentruber Amish, one of the Christian group’s most conservative wings.

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The New York Times:

The Senate is to vote Monday to kick off a weeklong discussion on carbon limits. But the intense debates under way already illustrate just how hard it will be for Congress to satisfy conflicting business interests while coming up with a global-warming plan that works.

Opposition from corporate interests, including oil, gas and power companies, prompted the Bush administration to opt out of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that called on developed countries to limit their emissions.

But the political winds have shifted. All three presidential candidates have said they favor mandatory curbs on emissions, and the Democratic majority in Congress wants a strong climate policy. The Senate debate could help set parameters of future legislation, which many experts expect to see within two years.

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San Jose Business Journal:

Calpine Corp. said Friday its board decided an about $11 billion all-stock offer from NRG Energy Inc. “is inadequate and materially undervalues” the company’s asset portfolio and future prospects.

Calpine (NYSE:CPN) which has headquarters in San Jose and Houston, also said its advisors will “contact NRG and its advisors to ascertain whether there is a basis for discussions between the two companies to explore a business combination.”

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