An Ignoble Experiment

2. Litigation tactics tainting federal rulemaking

Upper Chesapeake Health has unveiled its new combined heat and power plant on site at its medical campus in Bel Air, Md., for which it is the first recipient of installation incentives (totaling $1.5 million) from BGE's Smart Energy Savers Combined Heat and Power Program.

Credit: BGE

"Through this suite of energy efficiency program offerings, we are able to help customers attain the energy efficiency milestones that will help them reduce energy use, save money and make a positive impact on the environment," said Calvin G. Butler Jr., chief executive officer, BGE.

But there's more.

"It's not just the energy and cost savings that are important," Butler explained. "The combined heat and power plant will improve power reliability along with improved energy efficiency, and produce cleaner power through better fuel utilization."

Overall, the completed combined heat and power energy efficiency project is expected to save Upper Chesapeake Health $9 million over 20 years and will generate approximately 13 million kilowatt hours annually.

Thanks, in large part, to the collaboration with organizations like Upper Chesapeake Health, BGE customers have achieved a savings of nearly 1.8 billion kilowatt hours a year.

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. Patriot generating station capitalizing on PA Marcellus Shale

Many cases brought forth by interest groups against the industry have played out in the courts through such means as "sue and settle" litigation. When interest groups bypass proper procedures through their use of this litigation, procedurally deficient regulations ensue, and the deadlines to which the litigants agree often leave interested parties with insufficient time to comment effectively on the proposed rules, claims a report from the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Credit: iStock

Currently, 20 U.S. statutes contain "citizen suit" provisions, which allow citizens to sue a federal agency when the agency fails to carry out nondiscretionary duties by its prescribed deadlines. Once a suit has been filed, the parties work out a settlement or consent decree among themselves, allowing "regulation-friendly parties" to craft rulemaking plans with a federal agency and block out third parties.

From 2009 to 2012, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported the number of sue and settle lawsuits at 71 -- led by plaintiffs like Sierra Club (34 cases) and Wild Earth Guardians (20 cases). In 60 of the 71 cases, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was the defendant.

As a result of a lawsuit by groups including the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club, the EPA issued its Mercury Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for Utilities rule, which regulates power plant mercury emissions. Ultimately, strict deadlines constricted the ability of the EPA to issue an effective final rule with the regulation currently carrying an annual cost of $9.6 billion, according to the report. At the end of 2012, the rule had forced the retirement or pending retirement of 9.5 percent of the nation's coal-fired generation capacity.

Environmental groups have also used sue and settle in five separate lawsuits to facilitate EPA action on states' Regional Haze plans. The Regional Haze program is intended to be a state program, but consent decrees from sue and settle suits have forced the EPA to impose its own federal plans on states, causing statewide electricity costs to skyrocket, according to the report.

Sue and settle continues to be an attractive vehicle for regulation, because it is difficult for states and industries to intervene in these lawsuits and plaintiffs are often compensated for their attorneys' fees, incentivizing litigation, the report contends, but the use of this type of litigation can be abused.

"Until there is reform, interest groups will continue using litigation as a tactic to direct agency action and circumvent standard rulemaking procedures. It is disingenuous to suggest… that sue and settle does not actually interfere with required rulemaking procedures," said Ann Norman, senior research fellow for the National Center for Policy Analysis. "Public oversight and participation is critically important to the regulatory process. Tactics such as sue and settle that circumvent those procedures deserve the strictest scrutiny."

For more:
- see this report

By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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4. The role of women in Canada's energy sector

Panda Power Funds has broken ground on its 829 MW combined-cycle Patriot generating station -- the second power plant specifically sited in the heart of Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. Panda's "Liberty" power project was the first.

Rendering of the Patriot generating station. Credit: Panda Power Funds

The Patriot project has been strategically sited in the Marcellus Shale, estimated to be the second largest natural gas field in the world, with up to 330 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas -- or the equivalent of 100 years of production at current levels. The plant's proximity to Marcellus natural gas is expected to provide the project with significant operating cost advantages. The facility's closeness to such large natural gas reserves is also expected to create a new, long-term market for local gas producers and royalty owners.

The Patriot facility will be one of the cleanest natural gas-fueled power plants in the nation, utilizing state-of-the-art emissions-control technology. The plant will be part of just five percent in the nation to be cooled with air rather than water. As a result, the plant will not discharge water into the western branch of the Susquehanna River, eliminating potential impacts to sensitive species in the Susquehanna watershed.

The Patriot project will provide power to the eastern portion of the PJM Interconnection, which needs new generating capacity as approximately 20,000 MW of coal-fired power generation is scheduled to retire by 2016.

The power project is expected to be online in mid-2016 and estimated to contribute $5.85 billion to Pennsylvania's economy during construction and the plant's first 10 years of operation. When completed, the generating station will be able to supply power to up to 1 million homes.

For more:
- see this article

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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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5. Europe dominating concentrated solar power

As a way to address Canada's looming labor crisis, Electricity Human Resources Canada (EHRC) has launched Bridging the Gap, a public/private initiative that aims at increasing the representation of women as skilled workers in the electricity and renewable energy sector. The initiative is being funded by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Hydro One, Employment Ontario, Alberta Advanced Education, and Engineers Canada.

EHRC will provide women with opportunities in career training, mentoring, and apprenticeships with the help of industry, government, and stakeholders, such as educators, labor union groups and others, who make up the initiative's advisory committee.

Currently, women represent just a fourth of the electric industry workforce in Canada where the sector faces an aging workforce, significant skills gaps, and, ultimately, labor shortages.

"The electricity and renewable energy sector is poised for huge growth in the coming years, and we know that close to one in five new jobs in Ontario are expected to be in the skilled trades in the next decade," said Reza Moridi, minister of training, Colleges and Universities. "It's crucial that women have the opportunity to pursue meaningful work in technical vocations, trades and other professions in the skilled trades, and within the electricity and renewable energy sector."

To address these issues, EHRC advocates a long-term talent strategy, which includes partnerships with industry, educators, training institutions, labor and others. For its part, EHRC will take the lead to strengthen existing initiatives and foster an environment for the development of practical and effective programs targeted toward women entering the workforce (at the high school, apprenticeship, college and university levels), as well as those currently working in the sector.

For more:
- visit this website

By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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