We have to move "so fast" to get to 100% renewables

Leslie Glustrom is the featured speaker at RENEW's Energy Policy Summit, January 13, Madison. Read the report that she mentions about 11 minutes into the interview. Get details and register for the Summit at the Summit Web page.

Coal Critic Coming to Madison to Speak on Effective Renewable Energy Advocacy, January 13, 2012

For immediate release
December 7, 2011

More information
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org

Leslie Glustrom, research director of Colorado-based Clean Energy Action, and an unwavering critic of utility reliance on coal for electricity generation, will be the featured speaker at RENEW Wisconsin’s Energy Policy Summit.

The Summit will be held on Friday, January 13, 2012, at the University of Wisconsin-Extension’s Pyle Center located on the UW-Madison campus. Summit attendees will spend the day discussing and selecting renewable energy strategies that make sense in the current political environment in Wisconsin. More information on the Summit can be found on the RENEW Wisconsin website at http://www.renewwisconsin.org.

As research director, Glustrom authored in 2009 an extensively referenced report on U.S. coal supplies titled, “Coal—Cheap and Abundant—Or Is It? Why Americans Should Stop Assuming that the US has a 200-Year Supply of Coal,” available for free at http://www.cleanenergyaction.org.

Since 2009, Glustrom has traveled to numerous states helping them to understand the likely constraints on their coal supplies.
Glustrom’s on-going research illuminates a future in which coal prices will likely continue to escalate, driven by a combination of less accessible coal supplies, increasing demand from Asian countries, and rising diesel fuel costs for hauling coal to distant markets like Wisconsin.

Clean Energy Action is spearheading a campaign to shut down Colorado’s coal-fired power plants and replace them with locally generated renewable electricity.

“Leslie’s experiences with Clean Energy Action can help Wisconsin renewable energy advocates formulate effective strategies for 2012 and beyond,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide sustainable energy advocacy organization headquartered in Madison.

“Even though Colorado is a coal-producing state, it has adopted some of the most aggressive policies in the country for advancing renewable energy,” said Vickerman. “Colorado’s commitment to clean energy is driving its economy at a time when its coal output is diminishing. For example, Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines with four plants employing 1,700 people in Colorado, supplied 90 turbines this year to Wisconsin’s largest wind project, the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Columbia County.”

“Leslie will inspire us to reverse the retreat from renewables and retake the initiative going forward,” Vickerman said.

In Boulder, Glustrom was part of the team that led the successful 2010 and 2011 ballot initiatives allowing Boulder to move ahead with plans to municipalize and break away from the long term commitment to coal plants made by their incumbent utility, Xcel Energy.

-- END --

WP&L and WPS warn of higher rates because of pollution rules

From an article by Tom Content published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on August 19:

Two state utilities said this week new federal pollution rules will lead to higher electricity costs come January.

Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay said its residential customers can expect an increase of more than $4 a month next year, including about $2 linked to the new rules designed to limit air pollution from coal-fired power plants.

The utility said it would see higher costs of about $32.6 million in 2012 from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that was finalized recently by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That will result in rates going up by 6.8% instead of 3.4%, the utility said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month finalized stronger regulations for Wisconsin and 26 other states aimed at curbing air pollution from long-distance sources.

Environmental groups praised the new rule because it would reduce acid rain and air pollution as well as help curb health effects from dirty air linked to coal plants. The EPA projected the rule will save up to 34,000 lives a year and prevent more than 400,000 asthma attacks as well as 19,000 admissions to hospitals. . .

The new rule has been in development for several years but the first phase of compliance hits utilities in 2012. WPS said it won't have time to install pollution controls by next year at its plants, but will be able to comply by purchasing credits from other utilities that have cut emissions.

The utility also said it plans to operate its coal plants less next year than it otherwise would have, and will buy more power from the Midwest wholesale power market as a result, a move that it said is also a factor in higher costs for customers. . . .

On Thursday [August 18], Wisconsin Power & Light Co. [Alliant] of Madison said it would face an additional $9 million in costs linked to the air pollution rule. With the change, the utility is now seeking an increase in 2012 of $20 million, or 2%, utility finance manager Martin Seitz said in a filing with state regulators.

Todd Stuart, executive director of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group, criticized the increases, and he noted that large energy users like paper mills will see higher than average increases, compared with homeowners and small businesses. Paper mills served by WPS could see a 9% hike, he said. . . .

"Industry always cries wolf whenever EPA tries to reduce air pollution," said Katie Nekola, lawyer with the conservation group Clean Wisconsin. "The fact is, the new rule will affect old, inefficient, unnecessary coal plants that should have been shut down long ago. The continued operation of those old units is costing ratepayers money, but you don't hear industry complaining about that."

How coal stacks up against wind

Madison Peak Oil Group listserve subscribers are debating coal vs. wind. To join the debate, drop an email to madisonpeakoil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Rising Diesel Prices Fuel Higher Electric Rates

For immediate release
April 15, 2011

More information
RENEW Wisconsin
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org

We Energies Customers Will Pay the Higher Cost of Hauling Coal

We Energies’ electricity customers can look forward to coughing up an additional $25 million in 2011 due to the Public Service Commission’s approval yesterday [April14] of a rate increase to cover the escalating cost of transporting coal to Wisconsin power plants.

Milwaukee-based We Energies, Wisconsin’s largest electric utility, imports coal from such distant locations as Wyoming and Pennsylvania to generate electricity. Transportation now accounts for two-thirds of the delivered cost of coal to Wisconsin.

Diesel fuel costs have jumped to approximately $4.00 a gallon this year, propelled by political unrest in the Middle East, declining petroleum output from Mexico, a weakening dollar, and other factors. We Energies’ request predated the ongoing civil war in Libya.

“While we cannot control any of those price drivers, we can more effectively cushion their effects by diversifying our energy generation mix with locally produced wind, solar, small hydro, and biogas electricity,” said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide organization advocating for public policies and private initiatives that advance renewable energy.

“The coal mines aren’t getting any closer to Wisconsin. Therefore we have to be serious about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels that are tied to the global oil supply picture. Now is not the time to skimp on investments in conservation and renewable energy that will help stabilize the utility bills of businesses and residents,” Vickerman said.

“Do we have the will to pursue energy policies that take us off of the fossil fuel price escalator? Doing nothing will bake these rate increases into our future without any corresponding boost to Wisconsin’s job market and sustainable energy economy.”

--END--

Colorado regulators vote for Xcel to shut 6 coal-fired plants

From an article by Mark Jaffe in the Denver Post:

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission voted Monday to shut six aging Front Range coal-fired power units and allow Xcel Energy to replace them with a new $530 million gas-fired plant.

Pollution controls, with a $340 million price tag, also were approved for the coal-burning Pawnee plant near Brush and the Hayden plant.

The commission still must decide what to do with the largest coal-burning plant in the Denver area — the Cherokee 4 unit.

"Cherokee 4 is the largest source of air pollution in the Denver area, and it needs to be shut," said John Nielson, energy-program director for the environmental-policy group Western Resource Advocates.

The closures, which will occur between 2011 and 2017, are part of Xcel's proposal to meet the state Clean Air- Clean Jobs Act, which seeks to cut nitrogen-oxide pollution by 70 to 80 percent.

Xcel would receive accelerated cost recovery for the investments in a comprehensive plan to cut pollution under the law.

The state is out of compliance with federal clean-air health standards and has to submit a plan next year to the Environmental Protection Agency showing steps to cut pollution.

Wisconsin Cannot Afford to Ignore Rising Coal Prices

For immediate release
December 1, 2010

More information
RENEW Wisconsin
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org

Wisconsin Cannot Afford to Ignore Rising Coal Prices

Long-considered an inexpensive and reliable fuel source, coal has become subject to market and regulatory pressures that threaten to make it an expensive and risky way to generate electricity, according to national news reports and pertinent utility filings with the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC).

“The expectation of continued increases in coal prices reinforces the value of relying on Wisconsin’s own energy resources. If there’s an effort to find savings for utility customers, the logical move would be to shutter antiquated coal plants before they become more of a liability,” said Michael Vickerman, Executive Director of RENEW Wisconsin, a statewide, nonprofit renewable energy advocacy organization.

A key driver behind coal’s rising cost is China, which has moved from an exporter to an importer of coal. The New York Times (NYT) reported last week that Chinese coal imports will hit all-time highs for November and December of this year. Some of this coal is coming from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, the coal field that also supplies many Wisconsin power plants.¹

In the New York Times story, an executive from Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private coal company, predicted that his company will send larger and larger quantities of coal to China in the coming years.

Further adding to the upward price pressure on coal is the rising cost of diesel fuel. The PSC has estimated that half of the delivered cost of coal in Wisconsin is attributable to rail shipment, that is highly sensitive to the price of diesel fuel, which sells for 38 cents more per gallon than it did a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.² Tom Whipple, editor of the Peak Oil Review, expects diesel fuel supplies to tighten in 2011 as a consequence of flat production volumes and increasing demand from Asia.³ This phenomenon could affect Wisconsin electric utility rates as early as January 2011, according to Vickerman.

We Energies’ coal costs have escalated by $57 million, of which transportation costs account for almost $33 million, according to the utility’s most recent rate filing with the PSC. On top of that, We Energies expects to pay an additional $8 million in oil surcharge costs.4

Click to continue

Rising electricity cost has jolted state

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The price of electricity has shot up faster in Wisconsin than in all but five other states since 2000, which could pose a threat to the state's economic competitiveness, a new analysis by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance says.

Wisconsin businesses and homeowners are paying more than most surrounding states, as the state continues to pay for power plant upgrades that followed near-brownouts in the late 1990s.

That, coupled with rising natural gas and coal prices, has pushed rates up. The state's electricity prices, which ranked 11th-lowest in the nation in 1990, now rank 20th-highest, the report found.

"We need to recognize that energy prices really do have an effect on the competitiveness of the state," said Kyle Christianson, policy research analyst at the nonpartisan Taxpayers Alliance. "We're talking about trying to attract employers and adding new jobs, and particularly in a manufacturing-intensive economy like Wisconsin, energy prices are a major cost of doing business."

Utilities regulators defend Wisconsin's power plant building boom as important to keeping the state's economy competitive over the long run.

"A manufacturing state simply cannot survive without a reliable electric infrastructure," said Bob Norcross, administrator at the state Public Service Commission. "Wisconsin responded to its reliability crisis by making necessary investments that were in large part supported by the state's business community, and they were sound. The rebuilding period that accompanied those infrastructure investments is now reaching an end, but we need to pay for them - and that's why we have rate pressure. . . ."

Charlie Higley, executive director of the Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board, is concerned that rate increases will continue for residential customers.

"Our households are paying a high price for electricity, and it's hurting their ability to make ends meet," Higley said.

Wisconsin now has a power glut that prompted the state Public Service Commission to launch an investigation into whether some of the state's older power plants should be mothballed or shut down.

Shutting down coal would help the state's customers from having to cover the rising coal prices, Higley said.

"Since we get most of our power from coal that means we're very susceptible to paying higher rates because of higher coal prices," Higley said. "It underlies our calls for moving toward cleaner energy solutions like renewable energy and energy efficiency, which don't have fuel costs."

But Klappa said the record power use this summer - in the midst of an economy that's slow to emerge from the Great Recession - underscores that Wisconsin doesn't have a power glut.

"We never had a 95-degree day this summer and we set two energy consumption records for customers, July for residential customers and August for small commercial and industrial customers," he said. "There's not a lot of excess."

Governor Doyle breaks ground on coal plant conversion to biomass

From a news release issued by Governor Doyle:

MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle today broke ground on the Charter Street Biomass Heating Plant project. The $251 million project is one of the largest biomass projects in the nation and will create construction and clean energy jobs. The project follows Governor Doyle’s 2008 announcement that Wisconsin would stop burning coal at state-owned heating plants on Madison’s Isthmus.

“In 2008, I announced plans to stop burning coal at state-owned heating plants on Madison’s Isthmus,” Governor Doyle said. “Today, we are breaking ground on the Charter Street biomass plant and taking a major step forward to make this goal a reality. The Charter Street plant will turn a waste stream into clean energy, it will keep energy dollars in our communities, and it will help clean our air and water. This project will create great jobs in Wisconsin and will develop a new biomass market from our great fields and farms.”

The Governor’s 2009-2011 capital budget included $251 million for the Charter Street project and $25 million to convert the Capitol Heat and Power Plant to natural gas. The Charter Street plant will support local biomass providers and eliminate over 108,000 tons of coal burned every year. In March, the state stopped burning coal at the Capitol Heat and Power Plant – eliminating 4,500 tons of coal burned by the state each year. When the Charter Street project is completed in 2013, the Doyle Administration will have reduced State of Wisconsin coal use by 65 percent.

The Charter Street project is a joint effort between AMEC and Boldt Construction. The plant’s coal boilers will first be replaced by natural gas and biomass fuel. The plant will run completely on biomass by late 2013, with the capacity to burn wood chips, corn stalks and switch grass pellets and power 300 local buildings.

PSC issues final report on the potential for carbon sequestration

From a news release issued by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin:

MADISON – The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today issued a final report on the potential for geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide produced by coal-fired power plants serving Wisconsin electricity consumers.

Based on recommendations by the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming, the PSC and the DNR formed a Study Group to look into the potential for geologic carbon sequestration to help satisfy Wisconsin’s need for cleaner sources of electricity. Geologic sequestration involves a process of capturing carbon dioxide produced by power plants that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere and securely storing, or sequestering, the carbon dioxide (CO2) underground.

Carbon dioxide is one of several known greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute to global warming.

“In a greenhouse gas limited economy and with Wisconsin’s reliance on coal for electric generation, carbon sequestration makes sense.” said PSC Commissioner Mark Meyer.

"Wisconsin is in a strong position to support ongoing carbon sequestration efforts and collaborate with other states and regions in making carbon sequestration possible.”

Key findings of the Study Group include:

+ Several promising technologies are being developed and tested for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
+ Carbon dioxide can be captured either pre- or post-combustion, depending on the type of power plant, and compressed for transport and sequestration.
+ Long-distance transport of carbon dioxide is a proven, viable option with over 3,000 miles of pipeline already in use for this purpose nationwide.
+ Wisconsin should consider a holistic approach to carbon sequestration that addresses both the public and private interests involved and will allow Wisconsin to work effectively and efficiently with adjacent states to implement proposed projects.
+ Wisconsin may benefit long-term from the further exploration and development of CO2 storage in the region; however, it is not very likely to happen in the short-term (2 to 5 years) or mid-term (5 to 20 years).

The final report also includes analysis of three potential scenarios in which carbon from generating facilities serving Wisconsin customers could be captured, transported and sequestered.

Xcel's CEO among those calling for a tax on carbon

From an article by Neal St. Anthony in the Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN:

Dick Kelly, CEO of Xcel Energy Inc., is irked that Congress hasn't raised his taxes.

"We need a price on carbon," said Kelly, who runs a multistate utility in the vanguard of next-generation efficiency and cleaner-energy programs.

Kelly, Duke Power CEO Jim Rogers and other utility executives have been expecting Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, which would effectively place a tax on carbon emissions. Both Xcel and Duke have moved expeditiously in recent years to modernize old coal-fired plants, switch to wind and natural gas, and implement conservation programs in a bid to cut their carbon dioxide emissions by up to 25 percent by 2025 and meet state mandates to reduce pollutants that climate scientists say lead to global warming.

"The industry could have worked with the 'Kerry-Lieberman' bill in the Senate, but the Republicans backed away and started calling it 'cap-and-tax,'" Kelly said.

So instead of providing incentives for the utility industry to invest in next-generation, clean-coal programs and promising carbon-diversion efforts, the U.S. Senate is now considering more rules and mandates instead. Kelly and Rogers think that's a mistake.

'Let's move forward'

"There is growing consensus in the electric utility industry to act now, so let's move forward," Rogers wrote earlier this summer. "Duke Energy and other electric utilities are already scheduled to retire and replace virtually all coal and other large power plants with cleaner and more efficient technologies by 2050.

"A clear and predictable federal energy and climate policy can accelerate these projects and put private capital to work more rapidly. It can also create millions of jobs. This would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but would also reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions. That would improve air quality across the board."

Stevens Point spent over $1.5 million on energy usage in 2009

From an article by Nick Paulson in the Stevens Point Journal:

Stevens Point in 2009 spent more than $1.5 million on energy, used more than 73,000 million BTUs and emitted more than 21 million pounds of carbon dioxide, according to an inventory taken by the city.

As the city develops and implements a plan to cut its energy use, that inventory will be used as a benchmark with which to compare future use.

Where the biggest problems are depends on what the city's goal ultimately is: decreasing energy use, energy cost or carbon emissions.

Sustainability coordinator Joe Kottwitz said the Stevens Point Energy Team, which is creating the plan, hasn't decided specifically which to focus on yet. However, decreasing one likely will have positive effects on the others.

"If we use less energy and less electricity, odds are the taxpayers and ratepayers will receive those benefits," said Mayor Andrew Halverson, who also is a member of the team.

Regardless of which avenue the city chooses, the primary focus likely will be electricity, which has the highest consumption (41 percent), cost (64 percent) and carbon dioxide emissions (71 percent) in the city.

That is because the electricity comes from coal-fueled power plants, Kottwitz said, which kick out a lot of emissions. Lighting is the most expensive use of energy for the city, costing almost $1 million, partially because it is powered by electricity, and partially because about half the streetlights are owned by Wisconsin Public Service, which charges a maintenance fee in addition to electricity fees.

Alliant says no more coal plants ... for now and no nukes

From an article by Judy Newman in the Wisconsin State Journal:

Alliant Energy is giving up on the idea of building more coal-fired power plants "for the time being," Alliant chairman, president and chief executive Bill Harvey said Thursday.

In an interview after the Madison utility holding company's annual shareholders meeting, Harvey said Alliant subsidiary Wisconsin Power & Light will not ask for a new coal-fueled power plant to replace one proposed for Cassville that state regulators rejected in late 2008.

"I think it's politically ... too risky to think about building coal plants until climate legislation gets in place," Harvey said. "There's got to be substantial technological improvements before the country returns to building coal plants. That's certainly true for us," he said.

Thanks to adequate power available to buy on the electric transmission grid, Harvey said it will likely be two or three years before Alliant proposes building another natural-gas-fired power plant. That could happen sooner, though, if the economy recovers quickly or if climate change rules force the company to abandon its older coal-fired power plants sooner than expected.

As for nuclear power, Harvey said Alliant is not big enough to consider spending up to $10 billion to build a nuclear plant but it might buy part of a new one, if one is built. "We have to consider that. We have to consider all possibilities," he said.

Report: Coal use saps Wisconsin's economy

From an article by Larry Bivins in the Appleton Post-Crescent:

WASHINGTON — Wisconsin is the nation's fifth most coal-dependent state for generating electricity, according to a report released Tuesday.

Because the state has no coal supplies of its own, it spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to import the fuel for power generation. Coal imports accounted for 68 percent of all power used in the state in 2008, research by the Union of Concerned Scientists found.

Wisconsin spent $853 million in 2008, or $152 per person, to import 25 million tons of coal from nine states, according to the report.

The state ranked 12th in the amount spent and in the amount of coal imported. Wyoming, which provided 40 percent of all U.S. coal in 2008, received $702 million of Wisconsin's money.

Coal-fired plants are the nation's biggest source of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that leading scientists say is causing global warming. Carbon dioxide emissions pose a danger to public health as well as the environment.

The Union of Concerned Scientists report, "Burning Coal, Burning Cash: Ranking the States that Import the Most Coal," covers 38 states that are net importers of domestic and foreign coal. Those states spent $27.7 billion on domestic and foreign coal imports in 2008, the latest year for which figures were available from the U.S. Energy Department.

Three states — Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky — produce most of the domestic coal burned in U.S. plants.

The report's authors conclude that all states would be better served if the money spent on coal were diverted to the development of renewable energy and energy-efficiency programs.

"The regions most dependent on imports, the Midwest and Southeast, have some of the best wind and bioenergy resources in the country," said Barbara Freese, a senior policy analyst for the UCS who helped write the report.

"Wisconsin has the technical potential to generate 4.2 times its electricity needs from renewable power," Freese said during a teleconference.

Costs of coal plants keep going up

A commentary by Michael Vickerman, RENEW Wisconsin:

For Immediate Release
April 7, 2010

For More Information Contact
Michael Vickerman
608.255.4044
mvickerman@renewwisconsin.org

In recent weeks, some groups have suggested that we maintain our current energy portfolio, continuing to rely heavily on coal-fired generation for a substantial amount of our electricity. These groups claim that gradually moving toward more reliance on local, in-state sources of energy will increase electricity costs. These claims have been thoroughly discredited by two economic studies concluding that electricity bills will decrease with the Clean Energy Jobs Act.

Further, these groups refuse to acknowledge the substantial, ongoing costs associated with coal plants. Since 1999, Wisconsin utilities have spent over $2 billion of customer money keeping old, inefficient coal plants running. For comparison purposes, this sum is nearly triple the utilities’ investment in windpower facilities during the same period. Customers have seen the real and substantial impact of these coal plant costs through rising electricity rates over the past several years. These costs are in addition to the more than $700 million (exclusive of transportation costs) we send out of state each year to pay for the coal to fuel these aging plants. Reliance on dirty, antiquated coal plants leaves Wisconsin in a vulnerable position, unable to predict or control energy costs.

Unlike coal, clean resources like biogas, wind and solar will produce energy throughout their productive lives without requiring costly pollution abatement measures. Going forward, the more renewable energy we add to Wisconsin’s energy resource mix, the less exposed we will be to these downstream liabilities. The avoidance of these regulatory risks is another compelling reason for passing the Clean Energy Jobs Act legislation in this session.

Coal Plant Retrofit Costs (1999-2009)
(in Millions of Dollars)

Coal is king in Wisconsin

From an article by Mike Ivey in The Capital Times:

You might not know from all the breathless stories about biomass, wind power or solar energy, but Wisconsin is burning coal like there is no tomorrow.

A new report from Clean Wisconsin notes that while coal use dropped 9.3 percent in the U.S. last year, it was rising in the land of Packer football and factory farming.

Wisconsin increased its consumption of coal for electric production by 1.1 percent between November 2008 and November 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's February 2010 "Electric Power Monthly."

The increase is directly attributable to Wisconsin's recent construction of three new coal plants which cost nearly $3 billion in construction costs alone, the group said.

"The $16 billion river of dirty fossil fuels flowing into our state is getting deeper," said Peter Taglia, staff scientist at Clean Wisconsin, the state's largest environmental advocacy organization. "Coal is the dirtiest source of power production, and, with no fossil fuel reserves of our own, we create significant environmental and economic harm to our state by relying on coal to meet our energy needs."

Taglia said the increase "highlights the need to maintain strong renewable energy standards and energy efficiency provisions in the Clean Energy Jobs Act."

PSC issues draft report on the potential for carbon sequestration, seeks comment

A news release issued by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin:

MADISON – Today, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a draft report on the potential of geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide produced by Wisconsin’s coal-fired power plants. The PSC is asking for public input on the draft report.

Based on recommendations by the Governor's Task Force on Global Warming, the PSC and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources formed a Study Group to look into the potential for carbon sequestration in Wisconsin, a process of capturing carbon dioxide produced by coal-fired power plants that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and securely storing, or sequestering, the carbon dioxide underground. Carbon dioxide is one of several known greenhouse gases (GHG) that contribute to global warming.

“New regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions appear to be inevitable,” said PSC Commissioner Mark Meyer. “These regulations could radically change the economics of coal-fired electric generation unless the associated carbon dioxide emissions are reduced. I want to thank the work group for their hard work in preparing this report. It is in step with keeping Governor Doyle’s vision of Wisconsin being a leader in producing cleaner more efficient energy.”

Wisconsin currently relies on coal for roughly 38% of the state’s installed electric generating capacity and 66% of actual generation. Coal has historically been an abundant and inexpensive fuel for electric generation, but it also emits more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than any other fuel in common use, making it the largest source of GHG in Wisconsin and nationally, responsible for more than 30% of total emissions.

The Study Group found that several promising technologies are being developed and tested for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Carbon dioxide can be captured either pre- or post-combustion, depending on the type of power plant, and compressed for transport and disposal. The Study Group also found that long-distance transport of carbon dioxide is a proven, viable option with over 3,000 miles of pipeline already in use for this purpose nationwide.

The Study Group conducted its business publicly. All meetings were open to the public, and associated documents were available to the public via the Public Service Commission website.

The PSC is looking for the public to comment on the draft report by April 2, 2010. The draft report, An Investigation to Explore the Potential for Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Produced by Wisconsin’s Electricity Generation Fleet, can be found by visiting the PSC website and clicking on the Regulatory Filing System (ERF) at http://psc.wi.gov/. Type case numbers 5-EI-145 in the boxes provided on the ERF system.

We Energies coal plant hits milestone, generates power

From a Tom Content post on JSOnline:

We Energies’ newest coal-fired plant is generating power, after “significant progress” in construction over the past three months, the company’s chairman said Thursday.

The coal plant consists of two coal-fired boilers next to an older coal plant on Lake Michigan in Oak Creek. The first new boiler began burning coal earlier this month and has been running at 25% of maximum power in recent days, said Gale Klappa, We Energies chairman and chief executive.

Bechtel Power Corp., the contractor on the project, also has made progress on building the second boiler, which is now 74% complete, Klappa said.

The $2.3 billion project is the most expensive construction project in state history, as it’s roughly double the combined cost of building Miller Park and rebuilding the Marquette Interchange.

Video showing -- Mountain top removal coal mining, Nov. 11 & 12

Wisconsin buys coal mined by blasting the tops off of Appalachian mountains & dumping the debris in the valleys!

Coal Country
November 11, 2009
Noon
Room 328 NW, State Capitol

Coal Country
November 12, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Goodman Community Center
149 Waubesa, Madison

The State of Wisconsin buys coal to be burned in state facilities from Massey Coal and Alpha Coal, two companies using the latest form of strip mining called mountaintop removal, or MTR. Coal companies blast the tops off mountains, and run the debris into valleys and streams. Then they mine the exposed seams of coal and transport it to processing plants. Coal is mined more cheaply than ever, and America needs coal. But the air and water are filled with chemicals, and an ancient mountain range is disappearing forever.

COAL COUNTRY is a dramatic look at modern coal mining. We get to know working miners along with activists who are battling coal companies in Appalachia. We hear from miners and coal company officials, who are concerned about jobs and the economy and believe they are acting responsibly in bringing power to the American people. Both sides in this conflict claim that history is on their side. Families have lived in the region for generations, and most have ancestors who worked in the mines. Everyone shares a deep love for the land, but MTR (Mountain Top Removal mining which has leveled over 500 Appalachian mountains) is tearing them apart.

More information -- Ed Blume, 608.819.0748, eblume@renewwisconsin.org

Sponsored by Sierra Club; RENEW Wisconsin; Madison Peak Oil Group; Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice's "carbon free, nuclear free" campaign.

How does the everyday Joe benefit from Green Power?

From Ask Bob, a feature on the Web site of Madison Gas and Electric.