100,000+ gallons of manure flow into creek

A broken pipe at a dairy farm sent more than 100,000 gallons of manure into an unnamed tributary of Coon Creek, which runs into the Iowa River, the Department of Natural resources said. A DNR environmental specialist, said a crew digging a trench at Cedar Valley Farms south of Blairstown nicked a pipe that was part of an underground system that recycles waste from cattle bedding, which sent the manure into the tributary. When discovered at 7 a.m. July 21, Cedar Valley Farms shut off the pump and built sand dams around the spill site. The spill was contained to Coon Creek in Benton and Iowa counties. The spill killed an unknown number of fish, but officials do not expect it to do much long-term damage to the creek’s ecosystem. “Nature’s got a wonderful way of fixing itself,” she said.

The DNR recommends keeping livestock out of Coon Creek until the water is safe to drink. It says it has collected samples, and that enforcement action is expected.

Wendy Barth, an Iowa CCI member from Cedar Rapids, said in a release that this is the chance for Bill Ehm, the DNR’s new chief to prove that he will be tough on farm polluters.

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first published week of:   08/01/2011

30 years till Japan can close nuke plan

A Japanese government panel said it will take at least 30 years to safely close the tsunami-hobbled Fukushima Dai–ichi nuclear power plant, even though the facility is leaking far less radiation than before and is considered relatively stable, the Associated Press reported October 31. The plant was severely damaged by Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami. It suffered power outages, meltdowns, and explosions that released radioactive material and forced tens of thousands of people to flee. An expert panel named by Japan's Atomic Energy Commission made the 30–year closure estimate in the draft of a report to be completed by the end of the year. Plant workers are still struggling to contain radiation leaking from the plant, although the amount is far less than before. The panel noted it took 10 years to remove nuclear fuel after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the United States, and suggested the process at Fukushima would be much more complicated and time-consuming. It is also expected to be more costly. A report October 29 in the Yomiuri, a major newspaper, said independent experts believe the process will cost more than $19 billion. Officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that runs the plant, said they have largely succeeded in cooling the damaged reactors, completing a “cold shutdown.” But extensive repairs and safety measures must still be carried out. The panel said removal of fuel rods at Fukushima would not begin until 2021, after the repair of the plant’s containment vessels. As a stop–gap measure, one of the damaged units now has an outer shell made of airtight polyester designed to contain radioactive particles inside the building. Similar covers are also planned for other buildings. Government officials must also deal with a massive decontamination effort in areas around the plant. A 12–mile exclusion zone around the facility remains in effect.

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first published week of:   11/21/2011

5 arrested under terror law near British nuclear plant

British police said May 3 they arrested five men on suspicion of terrorism near a nuclear power plant in northeastern England. The men, all in their 20s and from London, were arrested May 2 close to the Sellafield nuclear facility after police officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary conducted a "stop check" on their vehicle, Cumbria Constabulary said. Cumbria Constabulary officers arrested the men. There was no indication the incident was linked to the killing of an al Qaeda leader in Pakistan, police said. The suspects were taken to police custody in Carlisle overnight and were to be transported to Manchester May 3, police said. The suspects will be questioned by an anti-terrorism unit there, police said. They were being held under a 2000 anti-terror law that allows police to arrest suspects without a warrant and hold them for up to 48 hours without charge. Roads were closed in the area briefly at the time of the arrests May 2, authorities said.

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first published week of:   05/09/2011

Annual Assessment Finds Electricity Markets Robust, Evolving
Consumers Benefitting from a Wide Range of Innovation in Products and Services

Competitive retail electricity markets in the U.S. and Canada are thriving and evolving while providing an ever-widening range of innovative products and services, the findings of the Annual Baseline Assessment of Choice in Canada and the U.S. (ABACCUS) show. While competition is providing added value for consumers through innovative product offerings, the annual assessment by the Distributed Energy Financial Group also found that average electricity prices are declining in states with successful retail markets.

Consumers in the dozen states with successful retail power markets are becoming more sophisticated, and energy suppliers are adopting increasingly innovative products and services to provide customer value, the ABACCUS report finds. Competitive providers are using telecommunications technology to give customers online and mobile access to their account information, which helps them better manage their usage and costs.

Other advancements enabled and accelerated by competition include building retrofits, on-site generation, pre-paid service, increasing product differentiation based on time of use and clean energy generation, advanced meters and data portals, and transmission investments to facilitate access to clean energy generation are among the innovative products and services the markets are enabling, the ABACCUS report finds.

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first published week of:   12/05/2011

Attackers Eye Nuclear Plants

While touring the grounds of Duke Energy’s power facilities that included a nuclear energy plant, this reporter was forewarned that “our every move is being monitored.” Security has always been tight. But since the terroristic acts of 2001, the precautions have become much stronger.

Since 9–11, the nuclear energy sector says that it has spent $2 billion to beef up its security to protect against everything from airliners deliberately flying into facilities to cyber attacks to armed physical assaults. While it cannot become complacent, the industry says that the efforts are ongoing and that no plant has suffered at the hands of the enemy.

“We’ve put in security to thwart any act,” says Larry Weber, chief nuclear officer for American Electric Power’s Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Mich., at a conference hosted by the Indiana Energy Association. Its top-secret measures are evaluated by the Nuclear Regulatory Regulatory Commission and its peers, as well as by the company itself that undergoes a review each year.

Among the steps taken by the plant are sophisticated detection systems that include night-time monitoring as well as newlyndash;trained armed security forces. Meantime, the nuclear plant that comprises 6 percent of AEP’s generation, instills a corporate culture that encourages workers to raise any concerns and know that, if justified, corrective actions will be taken.

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first published week of:   10/10/2011

Boulder's Bold Move to Condemn Xcel

Boulder’s bold ballot initiative will take a lot of bravado. The Colorado city is asking its voters to determine whether Xcel Energy’s territory there should be municipalized by “condemning” its electric business. While the two sides may dispute the answer, they can both agree that the process will be long and expensive.

About 100 cities have examined the concept of forming municipal utilities in recent history. But if the past is a prelude, very few efforts to assume control of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) will come to fruition. That’s because costs are often underestimated. Things like distribution systems, generation assets, stranded costs, engineering expenses, fuel costs and reliability issues all factor in the ultimate price. In the end, the anticipated price tag is always more than expected.

“Even Boulder says that it will be five years getting through the legal issues and to start up the utility,” says Bob Bellemare, a certified business appraiser and a consultant to Xcel Energy on this issue. The COO with UtiliPoint International adds that the city will have to come up with hundreds of millions to acquire the electric business, which will likely lead to financial losses for years.

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first published week of:   08/15/2011

Volume 31

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