News Release from DP & L, The Delaware Electric Cooperative and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative:

The Delaware Electric Cooperative and Old Dominion Electric Cooperative havejoined Delmarva Power’s competitive bidding process to acquire land-based wind energy to supply their customers, the companies announced today.    

The utilities made the announcement after Delmarva Power received more than 35 price bids from land-based wind developers from across the region. Early indications from the bids are that buying land-based wind power through this competitive process could save customers an estimated 50 percent compared to Bluewater Wind’s current proposal to Delmarva Power for a 25-year contract. Final bids from wind providers are due at the end of March. The utilities will conduct a thorough analysis of the bids. The analysis will likely be complete by the end of April.

In addition to a lower price, most of the onshore bids have no built-in price escalators. The Bluewater Wind proposal, by comparison, automatically increases the price to customers by 2.5 percent each year, starting in January 2008.

Onshore wind energy provides consumers with the same environmental benefits as offshore wind energy but at significantly less cost, in part because of the many costs associated with building and maintaining power generation and transmission equipment in the ocean’s harsh and corrosive environment.

“We are pleased to join with the Delaware Electric Cooperative and the entire family of Old Dominion Electric Cooperatives in this groundbreaking process to bring clean, affordable renewable energy to the region up to five years ahead of any offshore proposal,” said Delmarva Power President Gary Stockbridge. “Together we can achieve considerable savings for our customers, establish a long-term source of renewable energy for both Delaware and the region, while doing what’s right to help protect the environment. The addition of the family of Old Dominion Cooperatives to Delmarva’s ongoing wind power bidding process should expand the growth of wind energy throughout the entire Delmarva Peninsula and the Commonwealth of Virginia. This is an exciting day for the development of renewable energy in the region,” Stockbridge said.   Read it all HERE

A couple things off the top of my head:

1. This doesn’t satisfy the HB 6 requirement of Delaware based energy generation. 
2. This brings no new jobs to the state, no new industry, no new educational opportunities.  
3. Can Gary Stockbridge explain how, “This is an exciting day for the development of renewable energy in the region,” when the only thing “the region” is doing is purchasing power from other states? Isn’t it an exciting day for renewable energy in other states? 
4. There’s only so much land based wind power available, and as other energy companies in other states start purchasing it, the price can only go up. 
5. I admire the Cooperatives for thinking ahead.   House Bill 6, which compelled DP&L to enter into a long term contract with a price sustainable Delaware based energy utility to avoid crushing their residential and small business customers again, did not apply to the Cooperatives. 

It didn’t apply to the Cooperatives because the Coops were already buying long term contracts and not smacking down their customers with harsh rate increases.Or to put it in easy to understand terms: They were smart.  

…and please, help me make money off of carbon credits, amen.

John Coleman thinks The Weather Channel stinks, and he should know, he started it in 1982:

“The Weather Channel had great promise, and that’s all gone now because they’ve made every mistake in the book on what they’ve done and how they’ve done it and it’s very sad,” Coleman said. “It’s now for sale and there’s a new owner of The Weather Channel will be announced – several billion dollars having changed hands in the near future. Let’s hope the new owners can recapture the vision and stop reporting the traffic, telling us what to think and start giving us useful weather information.”

I used to watch The Weather Channel all of the time to check out storm systems in the Atlantic that could turn into tropical storms or hurricanes, but now that coverage has been relegated to the last 10 minutes of the hour and I have to suffer through “When Weather Changed History,” or some kind of global warming indoctrination show before I can see a current weather map.

Unless, of course, a system has the potential to turn into a major storm and then it’s expanded, fear mongering coverage, and finally, if The Weather Channel is lucky, you ‘ll get to see Jim Cantore in a yellow rain coat leaning into the wind with stuff blowing at him.

Coleman goes on to talk about suing Al Gore and (thankfully), he talks about carbon credits:

“[I] have a feeling this is the opening,” Coleman said. “If the lawyers will take the case – sue the people who sell carbon credits. That includes Al Gore.”

Let me be clear here, selling carbon credits is a joke. Think about it, if you’re a huge polluting company, or if you like to skip around to international movie award shows in your private jet, you have an out. You can simply buy carbon credits from a company that operates the way it should anyway and thou shalt be absolved.

I feel really bad about flying around in my private jet all week looking for third world babies to adopt, this cross is burning up energy like mad, and did I really need this crown of thorns? I’ll buy some carbon credits and then I’ll feel better about myself.

If people like Al Gore REALLY cared about the global warming, and if C02 is REALLY destroying the earth, then isn’t the REAL SOLUTION requiring ALL OF THE POLLUTERS to pollute less? Or can’t people like Gore (*cough* Senator Harris McDowell *cough*) figure out how to turn that into a money making scheme?

I’m sure we can totally trust companies to go by the honor system when it comes to reporting violations, after all, they always jump to comply with clean air regulations the state passes. (COUGH COUGH)

This is so…typical…for our ridiculously dysfunctional state:

In Delaware, home of some of the biggest air polluters in the country, the state’s air quality management program remains underfunded and understaffed, leaving the reporting of violations up to the companies doing the polluting.

Now, think about it, as citizens, our speed driving down Delaware’s roads is monitored (probably about 2 million times) more than the harmful toxins like mercury spewing from “some of the biggest air polluters in the country.”

That’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Protack in the back of the crowd and to the left with the moustache. He was the only candidate for governor who bothered to show up at a wind power rally in Rehoboth Beach last November, though all of the candidates claim to support it.

With all of the hoopla today surrounding the GOP candidate for Governor, I asked Mike Protack, the Republican who’s sure that he’s running for the job, to give me his thoughts on the day:

” I wish Alan Levin the best in his personal and business endeavors. Leaving a race or getting in a race is a difficult decision which requires 100% focus and personal dedication. Since I entered this race I have demonstrated the perseverance and results it takes to run and win and I believe the future of Delaware will be better if we address the premiere issues of health care, education and economic growth. Those issues and my proposals are resounding very well within the Republican party and voters all over the state because both want a leader with a voice for the future . I look forward to the campaign within the Republican Party and in the fall with the eventual Democratic victor.”

You can check out Mike Protack’s blog, A Better Deal For Delaware HERE, and you can listen to my interview with Mike HERE. And if you need to see a little more, you can check out his 2008 campaign website HERE.

Hang on to your hats, but Delmarva Power and Light is going to pass the costs of fighting the proposed wind farm onto it’s rate payers:

Delaware’s stalled effort to find home-grown sources of electricity will cost Delmarva Power ratepayers about $4.6 million.

Delmarva insists its $3.7 million share was money well-spent. Others contend it was spent in a way to discredit offshore wind power.

Delmarva spent the money on consultants and legal fees to address a legislative mandate to seek new in-state power sources, Delmarva spokesman Bill Yingling said. He offered no breakdown, and noted that the total is a preliminary estimate.

The costs do not include time spent by Delmarva staff on the issue or the costs of polling the public, Yingling said.

So they’ve hit their customers with a 59% increase, they’re fighting a clean source of energy for the state that would bring in a significant number of new jobs, and now they’re pouring salt on the wound by forcing their customers to pay for their attempt to kill a project that their customers, according to their own study, overwhelmingly support:

After exposure to a brief conceptual description of wind power, which communicated an increased cost (not specified) and long term commitment (also not specified), favorability experienced a statistically significant decrease (87% pre-concept versus 79% post-concept); however, remained high being somewhat or very favorable among three-fourths of customers. Read the survey they commissioned HERE.

Seventy-nine percent of their customers support the wind farm even after they explain it. Yeah, they’re really fighting for their customers.

(Thanks to Tommywonk, as usual, for bringing this to my attention and giving me a wicked case of heart burn).

Steve Forbes won the Delaware Republican Primary in 1996. .

“You know the old joke, when Bill Gates goes into a bar, the average net worth of a patron goes up 2 billion dollars,” quipped Steve Forbes in a speech he delivered to the Delaware Republican Party Saturday night at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner. And while other sites may have flashy video of his speech, all I have is AUDIO of it, and my own interview with Steve Forbes. (And yeah, I ask him if Rudy is broke).

Forbes spoke about his relationship to Rudy Guiliani’s presidential campaign, “I’m one of the co-chairs of his campaign and senior policy advisor and saw first hand what he did in New York City and was very impressed with the major things he did there.” AUDIO

I asked Forbes if Giuliani supported his idea of a flat tax for Americans and he told me a little about where Giuliani stands on taxation. “He’s a backer of radical simplification of the tax codes,” according to Forbes and he went on to say that Giuliani is “proposing the biggest tax cut in American history.” AUDIO

We talked about the race between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Forbes said the race would be a “fierce one,” but predicted that Obama would win South Carolina. AUDIO

And finally, is the Guiliani presidential campaign in financial trouble? Well, not according to Forbes, “No, they’re focusing resources on Florida…They have over $7 million on hand.” AUDIO

The background:

On April 6, 2006, House Bill 6 did something amazing, it passed the Delaware State House (34 - 4), and the Senate (15 - 4), and it was signed into law by the Governor, all on that day. The Bill was the General ASSembly’s reaction to a harsh rate spike for Delmarva Power and Light customers, and it started the process for Delaware’s first “cost-effective” utility:

To stabilize long-term pricing in the DP&L service territory, the Act provides for a request for proposals through a competitive process to build cost-effective merchant generation in the State, to be utilized to serve some of the load requirements of DP&L.

When the process was complete, the primary spot was filled by the country’s first off shore wind project, submitted by Bluewater Wind, with a back-up gas plant that would be built by either NRG Energy, (The company that bought the embattled Indian River Power Plant, Delaware’s worst polluter, from Delmarva Power and Light) or Conectiv, (Sister company to Delmarva Power and Light).

(Holy incest, Batman, could that be the reason why Delmarva Power and Light is fighting the wind project…it’s not being built by someone they’re in bed with? Hmmmm…and could that be why DP & L’s President, Gary Stockbridge, wanted to reopen the bidding process after Bluewater was chosen so other companies, like maybe Conectiv, could simply swipe Bluewater’s idea and propose their own wind farm?)

Delmarva Power and Light resisted negotiating, and at one point, the Delaware Public Service Commission deemed the project “not in the public interest” because of pricing issues. But on December 14th, after months of negotiations and Bluewater Wind cutting their price by digging into their profits, the Public Service Commission gave the project a thumbs up:

“Bluewater’s project is a cost-effective mechanism that takes control of Delaware’s energy needs and provides a price hedge against the unpredictable and volatile movement of the PJM market,” the staff wrote in the report.

But despite the PSC’s recommendation, on December 18th our General ASSembly, represented by Russ Larson, tabled the project, citing questions about which Delaware energy customers would pay for the project. HB 6 applied the cost to DP & L’s residential and small business customers, and the PSC could have, without the intervention of the legislature, spread those costs to Delmarva’s large business customers, too, significantly reducing the price.

The wrench in the works was thrown in by a handful of legislators, unknown until just this week, who questioned spreading the cost to all Delaware energy users, including Delaware Electric Cooperative customers. (Is this where I’m supposed to act stupid and think that this group of legislators were oblivious to this entire issue until the day before the final decision was going to be made? It was part of HB 6. Good grief).

So basically the Delaware General ASSembly, the body that passed HB 6 in one day because it was so important, is stalling the process over an issue that’s clearly spelled out in their own legislation, causing Delawareans who have followed the process to roll their eyes so much that the friction is causing the current warm spell.

The interview with Pete Schwartzkopf:

To gain some kind of insight into what happened, last week I spoke with Representative Pete Schwartzkopf, whose 14th District would be the most impacted by the project. Schwartzkopf supports the project, citing, among other things price stability:

“They can tell you on day one and they can tell you on day 3005 what you’re going to pay for power.”

And the creation of new jobs:

“A lot of jobs would be made, these are things that the leaders of our state should be looking at…” FULL AUDIO

With the proposed wind farm sitting 11.5 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, I wondered what kind of feedback Representative Schwartzkopf was getting from his District:

“I only had one person contact me or give me any negative feedback on the wind farm location. They want the wind, they just didn’t want it off Rehoboth.” FULL AUDIO

A question I often hear from people when discussing the project is why are only DP & L residential and small business customers affected by it? Well, according to Representative Schwartzkopf, it’s partly because Delmarva’s customers were “thoroughly impacted with deregulation” and had to eat a 59% increase. AUDIO There’s also the obvious difference that DP & L is a for profit company while the Delaware Electric Cooperative, Delaware’s other main energy supplier, is non-profit and customer run, and as a non-profit, isn’t under the jurisdiction of the PSC.

Schwartzkopf sent an e-mail to the leadership expressing his disappointment at the project being tabled last month, and asking that they convene a meeting with the independent consultant:

I ask that you join me in requesting the House and Senate leadership to convene a meeting either jointly or separate and allow the independent consultant, not Bluewater Wind or Delmarva or the PSC, to address the many questions that we have followed by an explanation as to what happened leading up to the vote on 12/18/07. If Russ is voting on our behalf, then we need to be fully informed so that we can express our will on our leadership to represent us fairly.

Interestingly, Schwartzkopf told me that no one from the leadership ever asked him if he supported the project or not. The General ASSembly never had a vote on whether or not to table the project on December 18th.

Another issue we discussed was the cost of the project. Contrary to rumor, an extra charge on your bill for wind energy isn’t a given. According to Schwartzkopf, the numbers that we’re hearing attached to the monthly increases are based on, “Today’s prices for coal, and the worst case scenario for wind.” AUDIO

Until I spoke with the Representative, one of my main concerns was that the State would have to absorb the price of the project if it wasn’t completed. That’s not the case. Delawareans aren’t paying for the construction of the wind farm, and if, for any reason, the project is stopped before it’s completed, we won’t pay anything.

“This (the wind farm) is a win, win, win, win all the way around.” AUDIO

Finally, the 14th’s Representative has a message for supporters of the project, “Don’t give up.” AUDIO

We’ll keep you up to date on this issue as it unfolds…AGAIN.

The suspense is killing me, are we going to have the first off shore wind farm in Delaware or not?

The Proposed Purchase Power Agreement between DP&L and BWW is out, and here’s part of the Staff Summary:

Proposed project consists of 150 wind turbines with a total nameplate capacity of 450 MWs with an anticipated full Commercial Operation Date of between June 30, 2014 but no later than November 30, 2016 with a term of 25 years from Commercial Operation Date.

The wind farm would be located approximately 11.5 miles east of Rehoboth Beach making landfall near or at Bethany Beach. The main interconnection point with the electric grid will be at the Indian River Interconnection Point.

DP&L has an obligation to purchase up to 300 MWs of energy in any given hour with a maximum cap of 1,357,402 MWhs annually.

Each MWh of energy will include the associated environmental attribute (e.g. Renewable Energy Credits).

The pricing below for the project products will be escalated at 2.5% per year after 2007:
o Base Capacity Payment Rate = $70.23 per kW-year
o Base Energy Rate = $98.93 per MWh
o Base Renewable Energy Credits Rate = $19.75 per REC

Here’s the bottom line from the News Journal:

The proposed contract pegs the price of wind power at 9.893 cents per kilowatt hour. That’s down from 10.59 cents per kilowatt hour in the contract Bluewater submitted in September.

But Delmarva Power, apparently, is still not on board:

Bluewater Wind has reduced its proposed selling price of wind power by about 7 percent, but Delmarva Power is still refusing to agree to a 25-year power purchase agreement.

You can read the whole alleged “Agreement” HERE.

As the wind power saga continues, we’ll keep you posted….

UPDATE: Read what Delaware blogger Tom Noyes of “Tommywonk” has to say about it HERE and HERE.

A recent, 23 year government study around nuclear power plants showed higher than normal cancer rates:

Children under five years old living near nuclear power stations have contracted cancer at a greatly higher rate than the national average, a study by the German government said Saturday.

The risk of cancer increased by 60 percent for children living less than five kilometres (three miles) from a nuclear power plant, according to the study by the federal office for protection against radiation. The risk was 117 percent higher when only leukemia was taken into account.

The study looked at statistics from between 1980 and 2003 in regions near 21 reactors or former reactors.

The German Environment Minister is saying it can’t be “explained by exposure to radiation:”

“To explain this increased cancer risk, the population would have to be exposed to radiation at least 1,000 times higher than what comes from German nuclear power plants,” he said.

With cancer rates that much higher than the norm among young children, an explanation is certainly needed.

Former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee thought AIDS patients needed to be quarantined. This wasn’t in the early 1980s, this was in 1992 when he was running for the Senate.

In 1992, Huckabee wrote, “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.”

Yes, again, that was 1992, a time when Americans already knew that AIDS was not spread by casual contact, but according to Huckabee:

Huckabee said Saturday that his comments came at a time when the public was still learning about HIV and AIDS and promised to do “everything possible to transform the promise of a vaccine and a cure into reality.”

In 1992, however, he didn’t advocate the Federal government doing “everything possible to transform the promise of a vaccine and a cure into reality,” he advocated Hollywood stars funding AIDS research themselves, since they were so worried about the disease. Now, as a presidential candidate he’s totally changed his tune, promising an “overreaching strategy for dealing with HIV and AIDS here in the United States….”

Come on, Mike, it was 1992, some Americans can remember those long ago days…sheesh….