Free Republic

My father-in law keeps telling me our state (PA) is deregulating electric by the end of 2011 and that we are going to see a 30% increase in rates. I can;t seem to find anything about this anywhere. I always thought deregulation was a good thing...

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power are expected to announce on May 15 a revised water use and management plan for this city that includes using recycled wastewater to recharge drinking water aquifers, according to a May 15 Los Angeles Times article. The new plan allocates about $1 billion for the proposed reclamation system, also known as “toilet-to-tap” or “sewer-to-spigot.” The city would recycle about 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to drinking standards by 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15. Villaraigosa, who less than a decade ago opposed such...

<p>Widespread power outages were reported Tuesday from Miami to Jacksonville on Florida's east coast and as far north as Tampa on the Gulf Coast, police and utility officials said.</p> <p>As many 800,000 Florida Power & Light Co. customers are without power Tuesday afternoon, the company said.</p>

Californians may soon have to deal with climate change on a different scale -- and this time the culprit isn't greenhouse gas. The California Energy Commission is proposing a plan which allows the government to regulate household thermostats in the event of an "energy crisis." Under the proposed rules, all new thermostats will be fitted with technology that will allow the government to adjust the temperature of someone's home by plus or minus four degrees. Originally the plans called for mandatory compliance; however, amid public outcry, the plans have been slightly altered to allow an individual to turn off the...

New Jersey's lawmakers are poised to impose new pollution penalties on power companies -- the first step in determining who pays for contributing to global warming and who profits from preventing it. By year's end, the Legislature is expected to approve a plan requiring the companies to pay for the greenhouse gases they produce, a charge that could amount to $70 million or more each year. The system is designed to give companies an incentive to cut emissions. But in the short run, at least, the price of polluting is likely to be passed on to consumers. And that could...

Found a cool, free (and Spyware-free) utility last night that lets you create an Adobe PDF file out of anything you can send to a printer. Adobe software offers this same feature, but you have to buy their program. This one is FREE. It's called Primo PDF. Whatchoo got? Post it here.

The Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry’s massive transportation project, hit some speed bumps Friday. A sharply-worded report from the State Auditor’s Office was released - and a member of the Republican leadership in the House filed a bill to repeal the plan, which could encompass up to 8,000 miles. Brenham Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill is almost identical to one already filed by Democrat state Rep. David Leibowitz of Helotes, near San Antonio. With lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioning the project, organizers of a March 2 are hoping thousands of Texans will make their way to the state...

A State Auditor’s Office report on the Texas Department of Transportation and the Trans-Texas Corridor set for public release today estimates a $105.6 billion price tag for the TTC-35 portion alone of the massive transportation project. The TTC-35 represents 14 percent, or 560 miles, of the Trans-Texas Corridor’s proposed 4,000 miles of roadway criss-crossing the state. A 2002 estimate by TxDOT placed the cost for the entire Trans-Texas Corridor at between $145 and $184 billion. Taken as a whole, the Trans-Texas Corridor on its completion could become “the longest network of toll roads in the world,” according to the audit....

Excerpt - In what will be the largest leveraged buyout of all time, the private equity firm of KKR is close to announcing its purchase of TXU, the giant Texas utility that is the largest producer of power in that state, CNBC's David Faber has learned. TXU's board is expected to vote on the deal this weekend and an announcement is likely on Monday morning, people familiar with the situation told Faber. TXU officials and KKR declined comment. The exact price KKR will pay is unclear, Faber said. TXU's current market cap is $27.5 billion. It also has $12.3 billion...

SACRAMENTO – Targeting truckers, contractors and others, Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond the landmark global warming law that took effect this year. The package of bills would ban methane releases from garbage dumps, reduce exhaust emissions from trucks, construction equipment and school buses, and force utilities to increase energy from renewable sources. Other lawmakers, including some Democrats, and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately criticized the legislative package. They said it would overwhelm state regulators who are still trying to decide how to implement last year's global warming law. That law imposes the country's...

News Release Contact: Randall Dillard Telephone: (512) 463-8588 Interstate 69 from Texas to Michigan is included on a short list of interstate corridors being considered for fast track development by federal transportation officials, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary. E. Peters has announced. If I-69 is selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation this summer as part of the Corridors of the Future program, the federal department will aggressively support the project to move it “from the drawing board to completion faster than ever before,” according to the announcement. The Texas segment of I-69 is being developed as part of the...

Phoenix Motorcars has developed what could possibly be the perfect electric car. Classified as a Sport Utility Truck (SUT), this vehicle “can cruise on the freeway at up to 95 m.p.h. while carrying five passengers and a full payload.” The Phoenix Motorcars SUV will be introduced in late 2007, having a range of 130 miles, and can be recharged in less than 10 minutes with an off-board charging unit or trickle-charged overnight when plugged into a 220V power source, similar to the SUT. The estimated cost to recharge the battery pack is a small fraction of equivalent gasoline costs. Phoenix...

Facing new regulations intended to limit greenhouse-gas emissions by the electricity industry, California utilities are using their clout as big power buyers to snub "dirty" resources outside the state and push forward development of renewable resources in and around California. At a meeting next month, California utility regulators are expected to approve a measure that will prohibit utilities from entering into contracts to buy electricity from resources that emit substantial greenhouse gases, such as coal. The policy, believed a first among states, implements a new state law that takes aim at global warming. (See related article.) Utilities in the state...

WASHINGTON — John Dingell, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Wednesday he wants the Federal Communications Commission to delay its vote on AT&T Inc.'s acquisition of BellSouth Corp. Dingell, saying the combination raises a "significant antitrust question, sent a letter to the FCC asking that it hold off on the vote until after the new Congress convenes in January. "I think it would be in their interest, I think it would be in the interest of the committee, and I think it would be in the interest of the public," he said Wednesday. FCC Chairman...

The recent court decision voiding the efforts of the Bush administration to allow utilities to upgrade their plants — partially, rather than fully, as the law requires — signals the start of a redefinition of federal-state relations. The plaintiff in this litigation was not an aggrieved individual or company but a dozen states acting in concert to battle the Bush rules.On the merits of the lawsuit, I agree with the administration. The all-or-nothing requirement on upgrading utility plants has served to freeze the current dirty technologies in place and prevent any improvements at all. Half a loaf, in this case,...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (March 10, 2006) -- Giving up the fame of the football field at 29 years old, one Company B recruit looked for a glory that was more permanent than any trophy. At age 13, Pfc. Jeremy Staat was 75 inches tall and weighed 230 pounds. It seemed as if he was built for football, according to Staat. “I really didn’t have to work hard at it,” said Staat. Starting as an offensive lineman, Staat grew as a football player and saw his first glimpse of the Marine Corps not long after starting at Arizona...

New York City's water supply could be the target of contamination if a water system map made its way into the wrong hands, an environmentalist said. The threat has arisen since someone broke into a vehicle belonging to a Department of Environmental Protection maintenance supervisor and stole an agency laptop containing a map of the water system. If the map was detailed enough,"there could be the opportunity to pose a threat," the executive director for the Center for Environmental Information, Cindy Stachowski, said. Even without a map, Ms. Stachowski added, someone pouring biological, chemical, or radiological contaminants into a fresh...

Edison International, PG&E Corp. and other suppliers of electricity in California will be required by state regulators to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Power companies in the most populous state will face a cap intended to bring emissions down, possibly to 1990 levels, according to a measure approved Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said last year that he wanted the state to cut greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The state would be the first to regulate emissions by electricity providers. "It's a very positive first step in the right direction," said Dan Kalb, the California...

Since Hamas's landslide victory, a debate has ensued over whether Israel ought to continue to remit taxes it has been collecting on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, even though the PA will now be controlled by a terrorist organization openly committed to Israel's destruction. For just the payment scheduled for this month, some NIS 200 million has been collected, and for now the government seems to have decided not to transfer the funds to the PA. Unmentioned in our public discourse, however, are the vast funds owed by the PA to Israel. This situation antedates all recent upheavals. No sooner...

PG&E customers are about to get stung with a double whammy on energy prices. Natural gas bills, whose rates fluctuate monthly, will go up by nearly 44 percent in January. Electric rates are rising to a record high -- more than what they were during the 2000-2001 energy crisis. Both price spikes are being driven by the growing cost of natural gas, whose supply hasn't fully recovered from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The result is that customers will pay an average of $50 more this January than they did in January 2005. The price hikes have been anticipated for months....

Perry Announces Plan to Accelerate Interstate 69Ambitious Transportation Corridor Will Create Jobs, Trade Opportunities HOUSTON - Gov. Rick Perry today announced an ambitious plan to partner with the private sector to develop an interstate-quality highway corridor with additional rail freight capacity that connects the Lower Rio Grande River Valley to I-37 and continues along the south and east portions of Texas from Corpus Christi through Houston all the way to northeast Texas. The visionary transportation project, TTC-69, will connect industrial hubs in South Texas and the Midwest. “When construction is complete, Texas will benefit from unprecedented trade opportunities, a faster,...

Gov. Rick Perry's ceremonial signing of the eminent domain bill Monday in Waco didn't get a positive reaction from his rival for his 2006 reelection, Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, or from Richmond resident and private property rights activist Jack Myska. Strayhorn accused Perry of grandstanding and said the bill is filled with loopholes, and Myska concurred. "I agree with her wholeheartedly," Myska said Tuesday morning, adding he has not yet read the bill thoroughly. Perry officially signed the law into effect on Sept. 1, but the ceremonial signing was postponed due to hurricanes Rita and Katrina. He said Monday...

CINCINNATI--The idea has been around for years. In Spain and elsewhere in Europe, utility companies have long offered high-speed Internet service to consumers over their power lines. But American utilities are only now beginning to roll out broadband connections on their grid. For Jim Hofstetter, a salesman for Cadbury Schweppes, the food and beverage company, this new option was far better than the high-speed connection he used for years from his local cable provider. "I would never go back now that I have this," said Hofstetter, who often works from his home office in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Cincinnati....

Get ready. TTC-35 is coming. Though Michael Behrens wouldn't use those words, not exactly, and he'd probably cringe to realize it, that's the impression he left at the end of an hour and a half of questioning Thursday. "Something is going to have to be built somewhere," the executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation said after meeting in Cameron with a group of reporters from several rural newspapers. There was touch of resignation in his voice when he said it. The Trans Texas Corridor is a proposed multi-lane transportation network designed to carry passenger, freight, rail and utilities....

AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 6, 2005) -- Thought to be one of the four rivers to flow from the Garden of Eden and known to be the heart of ancient civilizations like Sumeria and Babylonia, the Euphrates River now supplies water for coalition forces based in the Al Anbar province. Marines and Sailors from Marine Wing Support Squadron 272 and Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 keep water flowing from the Euphrates, despite the efforts of insurgents. “They blow up the pipes, we go fix them,” said Sgt. Richard Tulley, a hygiene equipment operator and Hammond, N.Y., native. “It’s that simple....

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Utility operator Entergy Corp., which provides electricity to much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, on Friday said its New Orleans subsidiary has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Entergy New Orleans filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, saying that the storm "dealt a body blow" to the unit, destroying facilities, disrupting revenue, and impairing the ability of its customer base to pay bills. The company asked the court to approve debtor-in-possession financing that includes $200 million in loans to...

PORT HUENEME, Calif. (NNS) -- Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s (NAVFAC) Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) technicians deployed Aug. 31 to Gulfport, Miss., where they will assess damage and urgent utility needs for Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport. “We are proud to be able to do what we can to help,” said Chief Construction Electrician John “Matt” Smith, leader of the four-member team. NAVFAC MUSE division is tasked to provide emergency utility support to the base in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Two 800-kilowatt (kW) generators and one 2500-kilovolt-amp (kVA) substation are on their way to Gulfport...

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - Calpine Corp. said Wednesday it would sell all its remaining oil and gas properties to an indirect subsidiary for about $1.05 billion. Under the terms of the deal Rosetta Resources Inc., wholly owned by Calpine, will issue 45.3 million shares worth $725 million in a private placement. The proceeds, together with a $325 million in a new credit facility, will be used to buys all of Calpine's domestic oil and gas exploration and production assets. Shares of San Jose, Calif.-based Calpine (CPN: news, chart, profile) rose 5.83% in pre-opening trade Wednesday to $3.81. Calpine said the...

ATLANTA, June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirant Corp. (MIRKQ) and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Mirant Corp. (the "Mirant Corp. Committee") in its bankruptcy proceeding announced that they have filed a lawsuit against Mirant's former parent company, Southern Company (NYSE: SO - News), seeking recovery of at least $2 billion in connection with transfers made to Southern prior to Southern's spin-off of Mirant in April 2001. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, in Ft. Worth, where Mirant's Chapter 11 reorganization case is being heard by the Honorable Judge D. Michael...

WASHINGTON - For two months, Ray Ganthner took to the road, visiting a dozen power companies to find out if his bosses should take a $100 million gamble. Asking executives "eyeball-to-eyeball" about their future generating capacity needs, he wanted to know just how serious utilities were about building a new nuclear power plant in the United States for the first time in three decades. "I was surprised at the consistency of the answers," Ganthner, a Lynchburg, Va.-based senior executive for the French reactor manufacturer, Framatome, said in an interview. Based on what he found, AREVA, Framatome's parent company, is now...

LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - U.S.-based power producer Calpine Corp. (CPN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has sold a British power station to the UK's International Power Plc (IPR.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd (8031.T: Quote, Profile, Research) for 500 million pounds ($912 million), the Financial Times newspaper reported on Monday.International Power will take 70 percent of the Saltend unit under a partnership which will hand the other 30 percent to the Japanese trading house, the FT's Web site (http://www.ft.com) reported without citing sources. No one from International Power could be reached for comment. A Mitsui spokesman said...

Texas transportation officials are expected to negotiate a plan this month that would launch the Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry's grandiose vision of future transportation. The first planned route would run through Central Texas from Oklahoma to Mexico, and its first segment would be a four-lane toll road from Dallas to San Antonio. But officials in Houston and along the Gulf Coast are paying close attention. They're not alone. "The whole nation is watching Texas to see if we can pull it off," said Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson, Perry's appointee and go-to man for getting the corridor built....

The Texas Department of Transportation is continuing its work on the Trans-Texas Corridor which may have a major impact on Milam County. Although it started out as Rick Perry's dream in 2002, it is quickly becoming reality. The 'Corridor' that may have a direct effect on Milam County has been named TTC-35 because it extends from Oklahoma to Mexico and parallels I-35. TTC-35 would be up to 1,200-feet wide and have six lanes for passenger vehicles and four lanes for trucks. Also, it would include six rail lines and a 200-foot utility zone. TTC-35 would be 800 miles long. In...

McLennan County Commissioners and the Waco Chamber of Commerce have voiced their concern about the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor and Thursday, county residents got a chance to voice their opinions on the proposed superhighway. The superhighway and train corridor is expected to cost $184 million. A hearing was held in Bellmead where the big argument surrounding the proposed Corridor doesn't seemed to be if it's needed, but where to put it. The proposed superhighway would have six passenger lanes, four commercial lanes and high speed passenger rail lines. It's goal is to alleviate traffic on Interstate 35. But many in McLennan...

Activists taking shots at the planned Trans Texas Corridor have found some legislators willing to take a stab at trimming the colossal super-highway and ensuring that state authorities control the toll rates. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who sits on the appropriations committee and is vice chairman of the House Rural Caucus, said she filed House Bill 1273 in an attempt to balance the huge scope of the corridor with grass-root concerns. "My goal is to better the concept," she said. "I will be very saddened for Texas if we don't have some assurances in place." Kolkhorst was joined by co-authors...

Start all over with the Trans Texas Corridor. And let the legislature oversee future highway planning. That was the gist of the testimony delivered by TFB State Director Albert Thompson on behalf of the Texas Farm Bureau during a recent Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security hearing on the massive transportation project. "...it appears to us that the legislature has given the Texas Department of Transportation what amounts to a blank check worth approximately $180 billion," Thompson said on Feb. 9. "We would feel more comfortable if citizens had the opportunity to voice opinions with elected officials who should...

Making tacks By Kathy Williams Herald Democrat Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series on the Trans-Texas Corridor and how it will affect Texoma drivers. State officials held public hearings in Sherman and Gainesville this week on proposed paths of the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Corridor is a futuristic infrastructure promoters of the concept say will move people, freight and utilities as efficiently, safely and quickly as possible. Texas Gov. Rick Perry introduced the concept in January 2002, estimating its total cost at $145.2 billion to $183.5 billion. The Texas Department of Transportation took the concept and developed...

The Texas Department of Transportation held one of its 27 public meetings at NT's Gateway Center Wednesday, concerning the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, a highway that will run from Oklahoma to Mexico. The highway is estimated to cover an area approximately 800 miles long and will include 77 counties. The Trans-Texas Corridor is a long-term project. Its estimated completion date will not be for another 30 to 60 years. The corridor will come with a price tag of somewhere between $145.2 billion and $183.2 billion. Paying for the highway was one of the major concerns addressed at the meeting. Obtaining funds...

AUSTIN -- Everything's big in the Lone Star State, but the term "superhighway" barely begins to describe Texas's transportation plan for the 21st century. Called the Trans-Texas Corridor, it is the most ambitious highway project since the Eisenhower administration introduced the interstate system in the 1950s. The $184 billion, 50-year plan calls for building 4,000 miles of roadways up to a quarter-mile wide. Each corridor would contain six high-speed toll lanes for cars and trucks; six rail lines and easements for petroleum, natural gas and water pipelines, as well as electric, broadband and other telecommunications lines. With Texas's population expected...

Getting There: Ben Wear Time to pay attention to Perry's toll roads AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, February 7, 2005 Back when the Trans-Texas Corridor seemed to be only a 4,000-mile, $180 billion gleam in Gov. Rick Perry's eye -- that is, a year ago -- it was easy not to take it seriously. The Texas Department of Transportation held informational meetings in all 254 Texas counties, and almost nobody came. At the one in Bastrop, there were three real human beings, plus me and about a half-dozen Transportation Department employees who looked like they'd much rather have been at home with...

The time to speak out and ask questions about the Trans Texas Corridor is near. Residents in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties will get a better understanding of potential impacts to their land usage and future tax revenues next month during Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) public meetings concerning the proposed corridor. The corridor, as envisioned, would consist of a network of brand-new "transportation routes" that would carry passenger vehicles and large trucks in separate lanes and also provide for railway freight, high-speed commuter rail and "infrastructure" for utilities including water, oil, gas, electricity, broadband and "other telecommunications services," TxDOT says....

   BEIJING, Feb. 1 -- A Charitable body set up by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and his wife has bought into Shanghai-listed water utility Nanhai Development Co., the latest foreign investor seeking to tap into the potential of China’s water industry.     Foshan, Guangdong-based Nanhai Development said in its 2004 financial statement the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation purchased 523,501 shares during November and December last year to become its ninth-largest shareholder.     Nanhai Development did not disclose how much the Gates charity paid for the shares, but domestic media reported the foundation had bought Nanhai Development shares at about eight...

SBC Communications, the second-largest regional phone company in the nation, is in talks to buy AT&T for more than $16 billion, according to executives close to the negotiations. A deal, if reached, would be the final chapter in the 120-year history of AT&T, the first technological giant of the modern age and the original model for telecommunications companies worldwide. A deal would be a reunion of sorts, putting back together some of the largest pieces of the Ma Bell telephone monopoly, which was broken up in 1984. The talks, which the executives described as "fluid" and "very, very sensitive"...

One analyst says he thinks electricity is among the few things not open to free-market competition. With just 11 months left before a five-year move to electric deregulation in Ohio is complete, competition hasn't materialized and it seems unlikely that state regulators can ever make it happen. Deregulation was instituted in 2000 under a mandate by the Legislature. The initial promise was to lure outside suppliers to Ohio that would offer competing rates on electricity - and savings to northwest Ohio consumers who historically have paid some of the highest rates in the state. But so far, the only benefits...

Have you ever excavated in your yard, or maybe on the street? Even if you haven't you may be aware of a catch-all number to call. The reason this number is around is because there are thousands of underground utilities in any city, gas, water, power, ect. When you call this number you initiate what's called an UNDERGROUND SERVICE ALERT, or USA. The utitlities will then come out to the area of the dig and mark with spray paint where their lines are and mark them USA/GAS, and so on. I work for a major utility and today I recieved...

FCC commissioners yesterday unanimously approved rules for broadband over power line (BPL) technology, which policymakers hope will provide the elusive third broadband access line into most U.S. homes and reduce—or eliminate—the need to regulate the broadband industry. Certainly the most outspoken opposition to BPL has come from the amateur radio community, which has claimed that BPL will create interference with its operations. FCC Chairman Michael Powell called amateur radio operators “an important resource” and expressed hope that the rules the FCC has created will protect them, but he said obstructing the deployment of BPL is not an option. “The potential...

The Journal News in New York has an excellent story on Mirant and the Rockland school district tax dispute. It is well worth reading. The writer admits Mirant is probably due a refund. Go to the following link (insert "tt" where necessary) and read: h**p://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/091204/b087ep01jn0912.html

... [S]tates' attorneys general garnered a huge windfall for their treasuries (and for the bank accounts of selected private lawyers) in tort suits against tobacco companies. The suits were invalid as a matter of law, but never mind -- they pressured Big Tobacco to agree, in exchange for shelter from competition, to split future profits with the states. (When private parties do this, it's racketeering.) ... [T]hey filed a new pseudo-tort intimidation suit against five large electric utilities. What civil wrong have these defendants committed? They dared to operate 174 power plants, in full compliance with state and federal regulations....

Democrats meeting in Boston this week are promising to support coal as a key domestic fuel for power generation and say the party would “move beyond OPEC” by diversifying sources of oil used in the United States. The party also calls for investing billions of dollars in technologies to generate electricity with less pollution. “We believe coal must continue its important role in a new energy economy, while achieving high environmental standards,” the 2004 Democratic National Platform Committee report says. In addition, the platform would invest in hydrogen technologies. It supports “mandatory, enforceable reliability standards” and creation of public-private partnerships...

The Power Is Blowin' In The WindLAMAR, Colo., July 2, 2004 Mixed in with the sound of meadowlarks, tractors and the hum of the wind on Colorado's southeastern plains is a low, steady beat: "whoop, whoop, whoop." Wind turbines at the Oklahoma Wind Energy Center, north of Woodward, Oklahoma (Photo: AP) It comes from a line of towering turbines that are producing electricity used across Colorado. The sound coming from a ridge south of this farming town has become a beckoning call for people struggling through a fifth year of crop-killing drought. "I get calls pretty much on a weekly...