Tuesday
May292018
Former Perry Adviser Is FirstEnergy’s Secret Weapon in U.S. Bailout
As reported by Ari Natter in Bloomberg.
See also AP's coverage, in next entry below.
Nuclear Costs
Estimates for new reactor construction costs continue to sky-rocket. Conservative estimates range between $6 and $12 billion per reactor but Standard & Poor's predicts a continued rise. The nuclear power industry is lobbying for heavy federal subsidization including unlimited loan guarantees but the Congressional Budget Office predicts the risk of default will be well over 50 percent, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill. Beyond Nuclear opposes taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies for the nuclear energy industry.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Entries from May 1, 2018 - May 31, 2018
Monday
May282018
AP: "New swamp: Ex-Perry adviser lobbies for energy firm bailout"
As reported by the Associated Press.
President Trump's and Energy Secretary Rick Perry's keen interest in doing legal -- or not so legal -- acrobatics, to accommodate FirstEnergy's bailout request comes into crystal clear focus, once the role of lobbyist Jeff Miller is revealed.
Miller ran Perry's failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination. He's been paid $330,000 in just the past year, to lobby his former boss (and longtime close friend) Rick Perry, as well as Donald J. Trump himself at a private dinner.
If approved by the Trump administration, FirstEnergy's request for an emergency bailout -- under an obscure section of the Federal Power Act usually reserved for wartime emergencies and natural disasters -- could cost the public $8 billion per year, to prop up 80 coal and nuclear power plants in the PJM grid, a 13 state region that includes Washington, D.C.
The article quotes Dick Munson from Environmental Defense Fund, and Tim Judson from Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Update on May 29, 2018 by
admin
admin
This news comes at the same time as Synapse Energy Economics reports:
New Report Finds Energy Innovation Can Bring $25 Billion in Investment, 20,000 Jobs to Ohio.
Thursday
May242018
Competition drives nuclear industry to look for millions in subsidies
As reported by Steven Mufson in the Washington Post.
The article quotes Tim Judson of NIRS:
“There is no doubt that renewables have also received financial supports, through tax and investment credits, etc.,” Tim Judson, of the Nuclear Information Research Service, said in an email. “But the federal incentives have been far less consistent and are phasing out, whereas supports for nuclear are perpetual and now increasing.”
Judson said, “What we are debating now is whether old, uneconomical generators should be subsidized when new technology has become more viable.”
Jeff Tittel of Sierra Club was also quoted:
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, argued that there was little justification for the subsidy. PSEG earned $1.6 billion last year and has a market value of $26 billion. It recently boosted its dividend by 4.7 percent.
“The utility has not been able to prove [its] need for the subsidy in the first place,” he said. “This is a huge giveaway to PSEG at the expense of the ratepayers and environment of New Jersey.”
