Utility News

Pocono Record:

A proposed high-voltage power line that would pass through part of the Poconos is generating increasing opposition across the river.

The line would cut through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area near Bushkill.

Driven by a wide variety of concerns, from health to environmental to just not getting enough information, groups have sprung up along the nearly 50-mile route of a proposed power line through northern New Jersey.

Times Leader (PA):

A steady decline in the price of natural gas since June is no guarantee consumers will pay less to heat their homes this winter, warned energy officials.

Instead, the federal Energy Information Administration predicted higher home heating costs nationwide and the Northeast leading other regions with an 18.8 percent increase over last season.

WTAJ (Altoona, PA):

The slowing national economy will pay off for consumers in this one way. Natural Gas heating bills may be lower than expected. A number of natural gas suppliers are cutting their rates….

These gas prices are falling because the cost of natural gas generally follows the price of oil on the international markets. And as the price of petroleum has fallen, the price of natural gas is also going down. While gas rates are now lower than they have been for the last couple of months, rates are still higher than they were last year at this time. But the increase is not as drastic has had been predicted before the recent drop in international markets.

Reuters:

Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental crusader Al Gore urged young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon…

“If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration,” Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause.

Allentown Morning Call:

Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, PPL cut electricity to 28,561 customers, according to figures released last week by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

That’s a boost of 111 percent over the number of PPL customers whose power was shut off during the same period in 2007.

The number of people who’ve lost electricity statewide is up as well versus the same period last year, but only by 24 percent.

HomeTownAnnapolis.com:

After watching Constellation Energy’s stock tumble 60 percent since Monday, famed investor Warren Buffet stepped in this morning to buy the Baltimore-based utility for $4.7 billion.

The transaction announced shortly after 9 a.m. has Mr. Buffet’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. engaging in a cash-and-stock deal to buy Constellation — the parent of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., which provides gas and electricity to most homes in Anne Arundel County.

Dow Jones via Lloyd’s:

Power went out for as many as 350,000 Entergy Corp. (ETR) customers in and around New Orleans, La., the regional electricity company reported Monday, as Hurricane Gustav lashed areas of coastal Louisiana with rains that witnesses described as horizontal.

Gustav whipped up shrieking winds, fearsome rain and isolated tornadoes as it made landfall just before 1500 GMT Monday west-southwest of Cocodrie, La., about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans.

Palm Beach Post:

Florida Power & Light officials told state regulators today that nuclear power should join solar and wind as a renewable energy source in Florida…

The definition of renewable energy in Florida statutes includes energy from ethanol, biodiesel, biomass, biogas, hydrogen fuel cells, ocean energy, hydrogen, solar, hydro, wind or geothermal. Nuclear power is not included.

The New York Times:

Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands.

The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.

CNBC:

The huge numbers of fish sucked to their death by the cooling system at the Indian Point nuclear plant prove that the system harms the Hudson River environment, a New York state official has ruled.

The finding by J. Jared Snyder, assistant commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, is a victory for plant critics who claim that up to 1.2 billion fish and eggs are killed each year as the plant continuously draws in river water for use as a coolant.