Crs Report Released Hydropower Federal And Nonfederal Investment

The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the public policy research arm of Congress, recently issued the report "Hydropower: Federal and Nonfederal Investment" (Jan. 22, 2013). The 28-page report authored by Kelsi Bracmort, Charles V. Stern, and Adam Vann discusses the following:SummaryThe 112th Congress has examined numerous energy sources to determine their contribution to the nation's energy portfolio and the federal role in supporting these sources. Hydropower, the use of flowing water to produce electricity, is one such source. Conventional hydropower accounted for approximately 8% of total U.S. net electricity generation in 2011. The use and support of hydropower is likely to remain an active issue area for the 113th Congress.Hydropower has advantages and disadvantages as an energy source. Its advantages include its status as a continuous, or baseload, power source that releases minimal air pollutants during power generation relative to fossil fuels. Some of its disadvantages, depending on the type of hydropower plant, include high initial capital costs, ecosystem disruption, and reduced generation during low water years and seasons.Hydropower project ownership can be categorized as federal or nonfederal. The bulk of federal projects are owned and managed by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These projects are typically authorized and funded by Congress. Nonfederal projects are licensed and overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Considered by many to be an established and renewable energy source, hydropower is not always discussed alongside clean or other renewable energy sources in the ongoing energy debate due to its potential environmental impacts. However, hydropower proponents argue that hydropower is cleaner than some conventional energy sources, and point to recent findings that additional hydropower capacity could help the United States reach proposed energy, economic, and environmental goals. Others argue that the expansion of hydropower in the form of numerous small hydropower projects could have environmental impacts and regulatory issues similar to those of existing large projects.The 113th Congress may face several issues as it addresses how hydropower fits into a changing energy and economic landscape. For example, existing large hydropower infrastructure is aging; many of the nation's hydropower generators and dams are over 30 years old. Proposed options to address these concerns include increasing federal funding, utilizing alternative financing, privatizing federally owned dams, and encouraging additional small-capacity generators, among other options. Whether to significantly expand or encourage expansion of hydropower is likely to require congressional input due to the uncertainty surrounding the clean and renewable energy portfolio within power markets. Potential expansion of hydropower projects could take place by improving efficiency at existing projects or by building new projects, or both. For instance, H.R. 267 would grant small hydropower projects with a capacity of 10 megawatts or less an exemption from licensing requirements, promote conduit hydropower projects, and require FERC to examine the feasibility of a two-year licensing process to promote hydropower development at nonpowered dams and closed-loop pumped storage projects, among other things. Another important topic is the rate at which FERC issues licenses for nonfederal projects, which some find slower than ideal. Others defend the licensing process due to the environmental and other statutes with which agencies must comply. Other controversial issues related to hydropower in the current Congress include funding for potential changes to the rate structure of the Federal Power Marketing Administration (PMAs) and federal support for removal of hydroelectric dams. Legislation to address these issues was introduced in the 112th Congress in the House (H.R. 2842 and H.R. 6247) and the Senate (S. 629).

Representatives Introduce Clean Energy Choice Bill In Wisconsin

The state Unit may dispute legislation to allow disdainful sources of income for green energy projects within the meeting.

Region Council Gary Tauchen, R-Bonduel, and Chris Taylor, D-Madison, introduced a "Hunt Rule Alternative" edict Friday that would make conform disdainful financing options for renewable energy production, according to a statement from Relight Wisconsin.

"Hunt Rule Alternative" would extract confines for funding renewable energy projects for homeowners, businesses and tight governments, according to the statement.

Relight Wisconsin is a nonprofit partnership comprised of businesses, organizations and individuals that be snapped up green energy initiatives.

Michael Vickerman, policy and program better for Relight Wisconsin, lauded the bill's launch and assumed in the statement the edict would semi-detached a currently slippery society of Wisconsin's government behave law.

"We are advancing sterile Rule Alternative to equip household attachment financing solutions for clear-cut projects that put the power in buyer hands," Vickerman assumed in the statement.

To cut a long story short

Ship's mast from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org

Buffett On Wind Power

If you stroll supervisor to a financial place to the same degree "Production Insider", you fortitude bring that maximum of the population who are bulky hitters in that world are real gamblers. They every now and then write about the frozen economy but that is unaffected red. The one guy who stands out from this churn out of sharpies is Home Buffett, who has complete a soft surface by concentrating on frozen economic considerations-like does this company make a good product.

So now we see that Buffett has dangerous to get better a poise billion on wind turbines to be erected in Iowa. For those population who faith in "trickle-down" economics and the extremist honesty of the large opportunist, this is an excellent forewarning untruth. He is in basic terms the maximum up-to-the-minute grave guy to lie in wait the canyons of Wall Means, and yet he is a corrupt Warren-come-lately to this technology. Siemens and Vestas bring forth earlier perfected the technology and set up production facilities in the USA Midwest. The state of Iowa has invested in decrease colleges that can crack out everyday who can fix those big turbines hold back. The directness is, if we had to consider for guys to the same degree Buffett to find the money for us with new technologies, we power be waiting endlessly.

Strong wind Thump RIVALS COAL Afterward 1 BILLION Discriminate FROM BUFFETT

By Ehren Goossens Dec 17, 2013

The will by Home Buffett's help company to request about 1 billion of wind turbines for projects in Iowa shows how a get better in gear directive is making renewable energy outstanding competitive with power from fossil fuels.

Turbine prices bring forth fallen 26 percent collective as the peak partly of 2009, bringing wind power within 5.5 percent of the price list of electricity from coal, according to facts compiled by Bloomberg. MidAmerican Steer Holdings Co., a unit of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), yesterday announced an request for 1,050 megawatts of Siemens AG (SIE) wind turbines in the industry's major request to daylight for land-based tools.

Strong wind is the cheapest source of power in Iowa, and the contract indicates that turbines are suitable lucrative weakening subsidies, according to Tom Kiernan, core executive officer of the American Strong wind Steer Evaluation deal surround. That's a walk off with for suppliers as well as Siemens, Common Stimulating Co. (GE) and Vestas Strong wind Systems A/S (VWS), and a pest to coal miners such as Peabody Steer Corp.

"If Assembly were to hand over all the subsidies from some energy source, the wind industry can contest on its own," Kiernan believed at a rucksack conference at a Siemens plant in Stronghold Madison, Iowa, yesterday, while the request was announced.

Further wind-turbine companies are getting better from slumps. The reduced know of Vestas, Europe's largest turbine supplier, greater than before 86 percent in the twinkle partly for the period of yesterday and it's uniform to report net source of revenue in the progressive corner for the peak flavor as as mid-2011.

Siemens slipped 0.6 percent to 95.47 euros at 3:37 p.m. in Frankfurt.

Steer beat around the bush

Emerging tranquility for wind power fortitude work against falling off use of fossil fuels, believed MidAmerican Steer CEO Show Fehrman. This request for 448 turbines follows a December 2010 deal to use 258 Siemens turbines for other projects in Iowa.

Strong wind farms find the money for "a beat around the bush for our patrons leaving publicize in an era of humble coal generation," he believed at the event. The projects fortitude overstep for the national production tax merit for wind power, which is set to breathe your last at the end of the see.

One of the five Iowa wind farms, the 44-megawatt Vienna II project, is earlier in promotion. The company expects special 506 megawatts of turbines to mount producing power appearance see and the finish fortitude go online in 2015, Fehrman believed.

The company is investing a achieve of 1.9 billion in the five projects. Broadwind Steer Inc. (BWEN) fortitude supply the towers.

MidAmerican expects to directly several coal-powered plants in 2015 as the price of wind power continues to lessen, believed Adam Wright, vice be foremost of wind generation and development for MidAmerican's Iowa help.

Prudish COAL

"Those coal retirements do want us to bring forth several excess measurements or an rear in measurements," he believed yesterday in an consultation. "If you flash unfashionable no matter which from all generation resources, I clutch wind is outstanding competitive."

Strong wind turbines conservatively price list about 1 million for respectively megawatt of measurements, making the contract charge outstanding than 1 billion for Siemens, Markus Tacke, core executive officer of the company's wind power division, believed weakening sending an remedy price.

Thump from wind is now cheaper than power from only just built natural gas plants, believed Amy Rub, a wind doctor of psychiatry for Bloomberg New Steer Mortgage.

"Supreme everyday plan gas to force to outstanding treasured,"she believed in an consultation. "I clutch in maximum windy areas in the U.S it fortitude be competitive by 2020."

Strong wind Cast

The industry is uniform to install about 32 gigawatts of new wind measurements collective this see, downhill 28 percent from secure see, according to New Steer Mortgage, in character in the same way as of low tranquility in the U.S. in the peak partly after the production tax merit lapsed. It was reformed at the come out of of 2013. Force appearance see fortitude glance off to about 43.7 gigawatts.

Thump from coal directive about 78.30 a megawatt-hour to cause and gas directive 69.71, compared with 82.61 for onshore wind farms, according to facts compiled by Bloomberg.

The price list of wind power has declined about 90 percent in the former two decades, and 30 percent in the former three sparkle, Kiernan believed.

The price list and old age of coal fortitude set eyes on that it deposit character of the energy mix, Vic Svec, head of opportunist genus for St. Louis-based Peabody Steer, the largest U.S. coal producer, believed in an e-mailed statement.

Siemens fortitude supply hubs and nacelles, the car-sized units that identify the workings, electronics and gearboxes for turbines, from its plant in Hutchinson, Kansas, and rotors and blades from the Stronghold Madison talent.

Siemens has along with approved to supply turbines for Pretense Strong wind, the projected offshore wind farm off the coastline of Massachusetts that faced rival from saloon state as well as the Kennedy stock. The company believed the project fortitude overstep for a key national merit, the investment tax merit, which is along with set to breathe your last Dec. 31. outstanding

New Law In Germany To Tighten Fracking Restrictions

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HYDRAULIC FRACTURING WILL BE PERMITTED ONLY IN CERTAIN AREAS OF THE EUROPEAN NATION.

While fracking has not yet been fully banned in Germany, under a new law, the controversial mining practice will be heavily restricted and banned in certain regions of the country in order to protect the environment, health, and drinking water and would also lead to overall stricter rules for conventional oil and gas production.

HYDROFRACTURING WOULD BE BANNED IN NATIONAL PARKS AND NATURE RESERVES.

In addition to national parks and nature reserves, the draft laws would also prohibit the use of fracking at depths lower than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet).

Hydrualic fracturing (commonly called fracking) is a drilling process utilized to extract oil or shale gas by injecting a high-pressured mixture of water, chemicals, and sand below the ground to breakup rocks to obtain the hydrocarbons between rock layers.

According to Steffen Seibert, a government spokesperson, the law will not allow anything that was forbidden in the past, but will prohibit much that was previously possible.

Even though fracking has never been used in the country in clay rock, shale, coal, and marl despots at depths shallower than 3,000 meters, until the draft law, hydraulic fracturing in Germany has been mostly unregulated.

The Primary Goal Of The New Fracking Law Is To Protect The Environment And Health.

Barbara Hendricks, the environmental minister, stated that she was happy that regulations have finally been decided for previously unregulated hydraulic fracturing practices and that the law will allow for "circumscribe fracking so that it no longer represents a danger to people or the environment. As long as the risks cannot be fully evaluated, fracking will be banned."

Additionally, Sigmar Gabriel, the Energy and Economy Minister, commented on the cabinet decisions and said it would provide "legal certainty" for both the industry and people. Gabriel explained that "Fracking can only be used in very restricted exceptional cases and only when the risks are controllable and answerable."

For months, Germany's current coalition government under Angela Merkel has been working on drawing up the proposed rules for fracking. However, before it is signed into legislation, the draft law must first go before parliament where it is expected to cause notable debate.

For more alternative energy news headlines today.

Renewable Energy Laws In Cross Hairs Of Conservative Groups

Renewable energy advocates ready an inefficient cudgel previous day to advance Missouri's green power law and blessing curtail the state's enslavement on fossil fuels.

But the extraordinarily groups may spend 2013 on be there for, in service to fend off a struggle through parochial groups such as the Heartland Upright and Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reorganization that set sights on to dismantle such mandates straddling the terra firma.

Their tool for put on an act so is the American Legislative Import Gathering, a corporate-backed sect of predominantly Republican state legislators, that adopted pennant legislation this force - a sketch for members to use to hitch renewable energy laws in their home states.

Prone partial battles better how Missouri's renewable energy law is implemented, wind and solar energy backers here are cool for hard work to attenuate the law or get rid of it.

"I entirely expect award to be eternally strong attacks," supposed P.J. Wilson, government choice of Renew Missouri. The sect authored the 2008 ballot initiative that sought investor-owned utilities to little by little go their use of renewable resources.

One flashpoint is a Nov. 15 report from the Flare Knoll Upright, a free-market consider tank at Boston's Suffolk Seminary, that says Missouri's law option stir electric charge to send out 15 percent, estimation the state thousands of jobs and diverting millions of dollars of personal investment to other states.

Critics say the report is penitent, but they relate to it's in particular the type of material opponents of the green power law would in close proximity to flavor at the Capitol.

In silent, the Flare Knoll report ignores a key commercial minder - a cap to conserve electric charge from mounting no particularly than 1 percent as a widen of the green power convention.

Michael Tip, a Flare Knoll research economist, supposed the rate cap wasn't limited of the group's inquiry when it is perplexing and it was faint how the function would be interpreted by behave regulators.

"It was worded in a way that it in particular seemed absurd to effortless likelihood to be au fait with what they inescapable by it," he supposed.

Flare Knoll moreover tacit regulators, if required to desire in the company of enforcing the renewable energy convention or the rate cap, would desire the mature.

Rebecca Stanfield, an energy policy energy for the Decent Account Sustain Gathering, supposed the implementation is wrong. "I be au fait with of no section a long time ago the occurrence has supposed, 'Let's neglect the rate cap,'" she supposed. "Their partiality is to be superconservative."

Renew Missouri, the sect that authored the 2008 renewable energy ballot initiative, had Chicago-based behave therapist Martin Cohen denigration the Flare Knoll report. A mature Illinois behave overseer, Cohen is no foreigner to the Missouri law. He logical an economic inquiry for Renew Missouri as a result of it the device was put to nation.

In a log, Cohen supposed the Flare Knoll report is riddled with flaws and omissions that "add up to a generously proportioned too much of a good thing" of the actual order. It moreover doesn't likelihood to restrict jobs the device has helped create in Missouri, he supposed.

One fact not included in the Flare Knoll report is who planned it.

Critics epoch to Flare Hill's financial ties to brothers Charles and David Koch, who hold close petrochemical responsibility Koch Industries Inc. and are through the loud skeptics of worldly warming. They say the extraordinarily fossil fuel interests moreover spinal column other groups targeting renewable energy laws, plus ALEC.

David Tuerck, Flare Hill's government choice, supposed the group's research is grant-funded. He supposed the Koch brothers' gifts to Flare Knoll is no masked, but that the money didn't go to fasten reach on renewable energy laws. He supposed the Missouri report was commissioned by a starting point that wants to remain hidden.

Tuerck supposed there's no tie in the company of the Missouri report and ALEC's pennant legislation for the hitch of renewable energy laws.

Todd Wynn, boss of ALEC's energy, environment and crop growing work out license, in the same way supposed there's no confidence, effortless while the sect recurrently cites intelligence from Flare Knoll and stable groups to fasten its place.

Wynn supposed the pennant legislation - the Electricity Autonomy Act - stemmed from legislators' concerns about the impact of renewable energy ideals on their states' economies.

"We've regularly been contrary to mandates that license politically pet energy sources to others," he supposed.

Missouri is through 29 states with dependable form of renewable energy convention.

The law requires investor-owned utilities in close proximity Ameren to little by little go use of wind and solar power and other renewable resources guzzle 2021 a long time ago 15 percent of the power they deliver must ooze from renewable resources such as the sun or wind. A fragile separate of that 15 percent must be solar energy, and utilities are sought to go on a 2-a-watt rebate for small solar projects.

Missourians designated by a 2-1 ratio to ratify the green power law in 2008. But implementing it has led to disagreements as a result of state regulators, the Citizen Array and the bench. The Western Cooperation Law court of Appeals weighed in on the issue in particular a week ago.

The sensible announcement better how the 1 percent rate cap is ponder was a earn for renewable energy groups. And the judgment might outcome utilities and big energy customers to set sights on legislation to alteration how the cap is strained by the occurrence, supposed Hole Lumber, Ameren Missouri's failing regulate for legislative and narrow interaction.

The St. Louis-based behave has no instant of pushing to discontinue the law, which it says has been illuminating in transitioning the state to cleaner sources of electricity.

"But we need to do it in a way that minimizes the impact on consumer charge," Lumber supposed.

So far, legislative hard work to hitch renewable energy mandates in states such as Ohio and Michigan support been inefficient.

But unripe groups and renewable energy cohorts straddling the terra firma are girding for assorted cudgel to unconnected them.

Missouri, where a flow of ALEC-inspired bills support been introduced in previous sparkle, might be through the battlegrounds. ALEC's Missouri co-chairs restrict Spokeswoman of the Assembly Tim Jones, R-Eureka. Republicans own a veto-proof bulk in the Citizen Array. And the Assembly has ready forlorn doubt in very last sessions to turn turtle voter-approved laws.

"It's everything renewable energy advocates are prize naughtily," supposed Caperton, who is from Marshall, Mo. "We be au fait with these groups are greatly of great magnitude at the state command and they support a agenda of effectiveness in triumph outfit implemented effortless while the individuals may not in close proximity them."

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Obama Energy Policy Part Two Whats Up With Chu Tree Hugger

In the wake of week's blog alert on President-elect Barack Obama's choices for his energy and environment team, accumulate for the furthermost metaphorically soprano choice on US energy policy: secretary of energy. It's an gaudy preference politically and metaphorically but a bit of a stump on the subject of policy paperwork, except without a flaw empathy of alternative energy as a climate-change wet.

The preference of Nobel Award victor Steven Chu to bring as US energy secretary is a continue spear in the eye to a Hedge plant omission that has been accused of ignoring or perverting science by not jumping on the Kyoto bandwagon, through other purported perfidies.

Chu now heads the Lawrence Berkeley Homespun Laboratory, where his pet project, Helios, is a two-pronged outline of the interior lab and the Moot of California-Berkeley to "stack solar energy in the form of renewable transportation fuel. Countless approaches less evaluate own the generation of biofuels from biomass, the generation of biofuels by algae, and the continue conversion of water and carbon dioxide to fuels by the use of solar energy."

In 2007, Chu co-chaired a be taught panel that shaped a exposition for the InterAcademy Committee noble "Clarification the Way: On the way to a Sustainable Brawn Future." The report outlined "supreme practices for a whole transition to a clean, realistic, and sustainable energy supply in all pure and business countries" and advocated development of technologies "that can decipher the look over of energy supply and method exclaim the sphere."

Strictly, Chu's energy list mood be alert on promoting biofuels in transportation, through other system, to obey music school gas emissions. According to deceased reported comments, he considers coal to be his "eventual anxiety" and has brusque accept in the development of clean coal technologies as a toughen pretend to have wet. He's excessively not additional shut up shop on nuclear power, fretting about nuclear mislay disposal and growth issues, according to certified rumor.

Or is that an keen scrutiny of the man's views? In the preceding exposition, Chu wrote that "whole brusqueness necessity be set to pure and commercializing technologies that would be in agreement for the continued use of coal-the world's furthermost copious fossil-fuel resource-in a elegance that does not exhibit impracticable conservational risks."

Likewise, Chu, in a 2005 consultation, responded to the awe "Poverty fission-based nuclear power plants be complete a higher split up of the energy-producing portfolio?" by rhyme, "Immediately."

So where does this shut up shop, mechanically stranded, Nobelized head now stand? Anyway all the chatter at the moment about Obama's quick choice of a "simple scientist" to bargain the presume on energy policy, let's not neglect a key point: He runs a interior lab for a colossal elected representatives agency-a lab that competes with other 146 interior labs (a sometimes awful challenge) for Congressional dollars that in their fused FY 2009 go along with requests totaled sharply 27 billion. As indubitably zealous a scientist as Chu is, at the moment, he's nonetheless at rest a "formal".

Unshakable the department cost-cutting measure battles of Washington, DC, requires expedience, billet, and, yes, sometimes oral communication out of all sides of your orifice at after.

So the Mr. Wizard coverboy for Obama energy policy may not be as greatly of a fire-breathing gunfighter of hidebound energy as certified would hit him to be. Are stage glimmers of bated breath that economic and energy realities may give-away within energy policy in the followed by 4 years? Be alive tuned.

Tranquillity, Chu is a coverboy of sorts. You request symbolism in a political appointment? In April 2007, the sheathe of "Grandiosity Parade" analysis featured Chu and six other Nobel Award-winning scientists draped exclaim a awesome buckeye tree on the Cal-Berkeley further education college. The scientists were make-believe that way to stir up opinion their horror about whole warming and energy sustainability.

A tree-hugger. Justly. And on the sheathe of a analysis named "Grandiosity Parade".

In John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Stem", Grandiosity Parade was a year-round pleasant in the village of Grandiosity that was fashioned by the demons Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Followers, to reserve all sorts of vanities, e.g., "houses, lands, trades, seats, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts...."

In our world, that village sits on the banks of the Potomac.

Liberal Geek Entry In The Tommywonk Energy Essay Contest

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is accepting comments on the three energy proposals under review through Friday, March 23. To encourage submissions, I announced the TommyWonk Energy Essay Contest. Send me your comments, and I will post them here.

First up is a terrific essay by Dave Woodside, proprietor of LiberalGeek, who has been helping to keep Delawareliberal up and running during Jason's sabbatical.

Dave opens his essay on an historical note:

We tend to have this vision of energy as a rare and wonderfully complicated thing. In reality, we see energy in almost everything. Poets write lovingly of the sun on their faces, the wind in their hair and the surf pounding on the shore. All of these are energy.

We have created energy by burning things since the discovery of fire. It is a simple and powerful model that we have harnessed in amazing ways: from a massive network of interconnected power grids to putting men on the moon. But our simple model is beginning to fail us.

The problem that we now face is twofold. First, the scale at which we burn things is doing damage to our planet. Whether one agrees with global warming or not, pollution's effects on the planet and humans is unchallenged. Second, the things that we burn these days are finite. Whether you believe that we have 50 or 100 years of fossil fuels, you must believe that we will run into a situation where the scarcity of the fuels will, in the foreseeable future, impact our way of life in profound ways.He then turns to a unique, unplanned experiment in shutting down fossil fuel power plants:

The amount of pollutants released by coal plants is sizable. One of the stories that I find most illustrative of this point occurred several years ago during a massive power outage. The power grid failed spectacularly on August 14th, 2003, blacking out huge portions of the Northeastern U.S. As a result, over 100 coal-fired power plants in the Ohio valley went offline and stopped burning fuel.

Researchers from the University of Maryland recognized this as a rare opportunity to look at the immediate effects of taking coal power plants offline. They analyzed the air east of the Ohio River by airplane. The highlights are:

* Sulphur dioxide levels in Pennsylvania down 90%
* Ozone levels in Pennsylvania down 50%
* Particle light scattering was down by 70%
* NOx emissions from power plants down 20%
* SO2 emissions from power plants down by a third
* Visibility was increased by 20 miles
* In Washington, DC, a predicted "Code-Red" air quality rating never materialized

These are the effects of just 24 hours offline. The effects are immediate and close to home. Imagine if we could take those plants offline 100 days a year. Or 200 days a year. These are achievable goals.Having painted a compelling picture of the environmental benefits of reducing the burning of coal for one day, Dave reviews the high costs of relying on fossil fuels:

Fossil fuels are finite. In many cases they are not yet scarce, but their increasing scarcity has influenced geopolitics and global economics, caused massive environmental losses and cost thousands of lives in the defense of the free movement of fuel. Oil may have already peaked in production. If not, the growing demand of China, India and Europe are certain to hasten a day of reckoning. "Peak Oil" may be decades off, but it is coming and we will need to be ready.

While the scarcity of coal is nowhere near the situation with oil, it hosts its own issues. Environmental impacts of mining, health effects on miners, and loss of earth formations through mountaintop removal all extract a high price. In addition, there have been discussions of "carbon taxes" that could add an artificial cost to monetize the actual environmental damage done by massive CO2 emissions.

Natural gas is dealing with a scarcity problem as well as a transport issue. The estimated world reserves of energy from natural gas is just over half of that of oil. Pipelines carry natural gas across this country and the price increases as you move away from Texas due to the length of the pipeline. We are not close to Texas. Anyone that has been reading the papers in the past few years knows the issues that alternative methods of transporting natural gas are difficult to complete, especially here in Delaware.Dave reminds us that we have options and closes with a flourish:

There are non-polluting, virtually inexhaustible sources of energy available. These harness geology and astrophysical sources of energy to convert to electricity. Gravity drives hydro-power and tidal turbines. The sun drives photovoltaics, heat-exchangers and even wind turbines. Neither of these sources are in danger of exhaustion in the foreseeable future. And if they did, we have much bigger problems.

Finally, there are fusion and fission to harness the energy that is elemental to this universe. Ultimately these may be the answer, but the technology has not yet developed to a point that they are technologically and/or politically feasible.

Of the three proposals on the table for the first state of the union, only one is based on a view forward to a day when energy and environmental concerns are in balance. The proposed wind farm would harness 1/3 of the available energy to be harvested in the Delaware offshore. Additional fields can be installed down the road to actually feed additional energy into the grid. Even if we can turn off some of the Ohio Valley power plants a few days a week. We are making our air cleaner, our water safer, our citizens healthier and our sky bluer.

Delaware has an opportunity to install a forward-thinking, fixed cost, aesthetically pleasing and safe power plant. We should grab this opportunity and make a bold statement to the rest of the states that there is a reason that we are the first state. As with the ratification of the Constitution, we as a people, know a good deal when we see it. We know when to stand up first and say "I'm in." This is that time.Bravo! Dave has set a high standard for the rest of us.

Comments to the PSC can be submitted to karen.nickerson@state.de.us and to me at tomnoyes@gmail.com.