Free Republic

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — PPL Corp. said Thursday it wants to spend billions of dollars to build a 725-mile system of electric transmission lines that will bring energy from the booming Marcellus Shale natural gas fields to customers on the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard. The Allentown-based utility said the 500-kilovolt line would span much of Pennsylvania and reach into New York, New Jersey and Maryland, although the route has not been determined. The cost was expected to exceed $4 billion, and it could take more than a decade to build....

In the early days of the Obama administration, “smart power” was all the rage—and not just on the foreign policy scene. In April 2009, National Public Radio reported how one Allentown, Pennsylvania, mother was saving more than a hundred dollars each month on her electric bill. Tammy Yeakel’s power company, PPL Energy, had helpfully installed a “smart meter” on her home that could monitor her power usage in real time. The meter uploaded that information to PPL’s website, so she could identify peak usage times during the day

C. Mirkin, Northwestern UniversityLight work. Using a digital micromirror to split beams of light and direct them through apertures in polymer pyramids, Northwestern University researchers drew a variety of molecular architectures and used those to make up the "land" in a map of the world. Imagine trying to draw a maze on something the width of a human hair. Engineers do it all the time when they carve circuits onto semiconductors for our cell phones, tablets, and desktops. That doesn't mean it's easy: The process can require fabrication facilities costing billions of dollars. Now, modifications to an old technique could...

Above: Sanctuary City Clowns Villaraigosa and Beck - putting the needs of illegals aliens above public safety. by John HillStand With Arizona Finally, a voice of sanity has emerged to stand against the madness that is America's Sanctuary City - Los Angeles. The Police Protective League (PPL) - the union that represents Los Angeles police officers - has sued the city and Police Chief Charlie Beck this week over his disgraceful new policy that allows illegal alien unlicensed drivers to keep their cars instead of having them impounded for 30 days - as California state law mandates.We profiled Beck's announcement...

PPL has sued the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area so it can trim trees. According to the electric utility, the recreation area suggested it would require special, time-consuming permits that would delay PPL's trimming of vegetation along a 1.5-mile stretch of transmission line near Bushkill. According to a company release, PPL said it has easement rights that allow it to trim vegetation in order to meet strict federal requirements. The company said it could face stiff financial penalties if proper clearance boundaries around the vegetation aren't met. "It's unfortunate that we have to take legal action, but this line...

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent a letter on Wednesday to PPL Corp. warning of a “chilling effect” on reporting safety concerns at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station. Surveys, interviews and allegations from PPL employees at the nuclear plant in Salem Township have shown an increasingly negative perception in recent years in the company’s attitude toward employees raising safety concerns, according to the letter. It also noted that, in 2008, NRC regulators observed “that not all first-line supervisors and mid-level managers were fully supportive of efforts to improve the work environment.” PPL has revised its plans several times to improve...

BRITISH scientists are planning to create human-rabbit hybrid embryos to speed up research into the causes of inherited conditions such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson's. The controversial work, which involves placing the nucleus of a human cell inside a rabbit egg, is rejected as immoral by churches and anti-cloning campaigners. One of the key ethical problems is whether the hybrid embryo should be treated legally as a human or an animal. Edinburgh University's Professor Ian Wilmut - who created Dolly the Sheep - and colleagues in London believe the hybrids will help them circumvent a shortage of human eggs...