Ohio recently passed an odious new law (House Bill 6) to prop up two bankrupt nuclear power plants and several coal-fired plants (see Ohio Nuke Bailout Law Means Fewer Natgas-Fired Electric Plants). The law raises electric rates for all Ohioans and threatens to end a number of planned natural gas-fired electric plant projects–billions of dollars worth of gas projects.
Read More “Ohio RINO AG Rejects Anti-Nuke Referendum”
A few weeks ago MDN told you the State of Connecticut’s “Siting Council” had changed its mind and decided to approve NTE Energy’s proposal to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly (see Connecticut Approves New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in Killingly). Apparently Connecticut doesn’t want to experience rolling blackouts that are sure to come unless more electric power generation is added to the grid. The Siting Council’s approval brought out a handful of anti-fossil fuel protesters yesterday. Among them were a paid volunteer Sierra Club agitator and some old hippies.
9/23/19 CORRECTION: The Sierra Club representative who participated, Martha Klein, contacted MDN to say that she is a volunteer. She does not receive any compensation from the Sierra Club. We regret the error and have corrected the article to reflect that fact.
Read More “Old Hippies, Sierra Club Protest Against CT Gas-Fired Elec Plant”
Pennsylvania state officials in the Gov. Tom Wolf administration (yes, lib Dem Tom Wolf) are drawing up plans, a “playbook,” for how to redevelop the increasing number of coal-fired electric generating plants that are closing in the state. Most of those plans boil down to this: redevelop those sites as natural gas-fired electric plants and/or petrochemical plants. Both are tied directly to PA’s prolific Marcellus Shale. Who knew there was such common sense inside the Wolf Administration?
Read More “PA Playbook for Closed Coal Plant Sites: Replace w/NatGas, Petchem”
We love happy endings, and this story has one. Despite claims by anti-fossil fuelers that the Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station in southwestern PA would spread disease and death if it got built, it’s been up and running since last December–producing power and generating money for both its builders and the community–and everyone is just fine. Cue the Pete Seeger song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and replace “Flowers” with “Antis”…
Read More “Tenaska’s Westmoreland Gas-Fired Plant – Generating Power & Money”
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), headquartered in Newark, NJ, says it will shutter all but its three of its natural gas-fired electric plants by 2046, in a misguided effort to reduce “climate-warming emissions to net zero by 2050.” But they’ll do it *only* if the government adopts an economy-crushing, totally regressive “carbon tax” (to punish the use of natural gas). PSEG’s ultimate goal is to force their customers to use less electricity. That’s their big solution. Use less, and they’ll charge you more for what you still use. The end result of dumping gas-fired plants is predictable–grid unreliability and rolling blackouts.
Read More “PSEG Electric Customers Heading for Blackouts Under New Plan”
Yesterday MDN brought you the news of a newly passed Ohio law to prop up two bankrupt nuclear power plants and coal-fired plants (see Ohio Nuke Bailout Law Means Fewer Natgas-Fired Electric Plants). It’s an outrageously dumb law that raises electric rates for all Ohioans and threatens to end a number of planned natural gas-fired electric plant projects (billions of dollars worth). It didn’t take long for the builder of some of those natgas plants to announce a referendum effort to overturn the new law.
Read More “OH Power Plant Builder Vows Referendum to Overturn Nuke Bailout Law”
Less than 24 people (some of them paid protesters) gathered at a park in Jersey City, NJ to protest and ask NJ’s leftist Governor, Phil Murphy, to block NJ Transit’s plan to build a tiny 140-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Kearny, NJ (see NJ Transit Plans to Build Small Gas-Powered Electric Plant).
Read More “2 Dozen Antis Ask NJ Gov to Block Tiny Gas-Powered Elec Plant”
A new law passed in Ohio to bail out two bankrupt nuclear plants was pitched as a way for ratepayers to save money. That was a lie. A bunch of squishy RINOs along with some Democrats in the Ohio legislature passed a new bill yesterday, signed into law immediately by Ohio’s RINO governor, Mike DeWine, to add a new surcharge to every residential and business electric bill in order to keep the two financially failing nuke plants operating for years to come. It’s a $5.4 billion boondoggle.
Read More “Ohio Nuke Bailout Law Means Fewer Natgas-Fired Electric Plants”
In 2017 and again in 2018 we brought you news about a Texas-based company called NET Power (see The World’s First Zero-Emissions Natgas-Fired Power Plant and Natural Gas with Zero Emissions? This Will Give Antis Heartburn). It seems a group of smart people at NET Power have figured out a way to capture all, as in 100%, of the carbon dioxide that comes from burning natural gas to produce heat to turn a turbine. There are no CO2 emissions that escape into the atmosphere. A company spokesman teased at a workshop held yesterday by the National Academy of Sciences that the company now has multiple plants under development around the world.
Read More “NET Power Pioneers “Zero-Carbon” Gas-Fired Electric Plants”
The State of Connecticut’s “Siting Council” has changed its mind. In 2016, NTE Energy proposed building a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly. The Siting Council said NTE couldn’t justify the plant and refused to issue a certificate. In February, we reported the Siting Council was once again actively considering the project (see CT Wisely Reconsiders, Allows NatGas Power Plant to Proceed). Good news: the Siting Council has approved the project.
Read More “Connecticut Approves New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in Killingly”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tried to stop a fully built, brand new natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Orange County from going operational last year by instructing his Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to deny renewing an air permit it had approved just five years earlier (see Cuomo Strikes Again: Blocks Completed Gas-Fired Plant from Starting). Fortunately a judge stepped in to prevent the DEC from shutting down the now-operational Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) 680-megawatt Valley Energy Center in Wawayanda (see Judge Refuses to Shut Down Orange County, NY Gas-Fired Plant). Cuomo’s corrupt DEC is just conducted public hearings on the air permit.
Read More “Antis Ask NY DEC to Shut Down Operating Gas-Fired Plant”
Invenergy’s 1,480 megawatt, $1 billion Marcellus gas-fired electric plant, called the Lackawanna Energy Center (located near Scranton, PA), is now 100% done with construction. Yesterday the company celebrated the end of construction with a special ceremony and tour.
Read More “Huge Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Near Scranton Now 100% Complete”
Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) finally broke ground and began to build a new Marcellus gas-fired power plant in Cambria County, PA in October 2017 (see CPV Marcellus-Fired Power Plant in Cambria, PA Breaks Ground). Located 60 miles east of Pittsburgh, the CPV Fairview Energy Center is a 1,050-megawatt natural gas and ethane-fueled two-by-one combined-cycle electric generating plant expected to begin commercial operations in early 2020. It looks like that schedule may actually move up.
Read More “CPV Marcellus-Fired Power Plant in Cambria “Ahead of Schedule””
LS Power, which owns a number of competitive power generation projects including the 700 megawatt dual-fuel simple cycle Troy Generating Facility located in Luckey, OH, is threatening to pull a $500 million plan to expand the Troy facility if Ohio proceeds to pass a new law subsidizing the state’s two nuclear plants. The subsidies would create an uneven playing field for natural gas-fired electric plants like the Troy facility.
Read More “LS Power Threatens to Pull $500M OH Project if Nukes Get Subsidies”
A project we’ve been tracking since 2017, a 620 megawatt Marcellus-fired electric plant in Greene County called Hill Top Energy Center (see our stories here), has just gotten a new investor–from France. Investment firm Ardian, based in Paris, announced it has purchased a 41.9% stake in the project. The price of the deal was not disclosed, although it’s easy to guess the number is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Read More “SWPA Gas-fired Electric Plant Project Gets French Investment”
A gas-fired power plant project near Chicago not previously on our radar screen has just begun construction. Jackson Generation, a subsidiary of J-POWER USA, has begun construction of a huge new 1,200 megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle facility in Will County, Illinois. In something of a change from the normal way these projects are built, J-POWER USA owns 100% interest in “Jackson” and is the sole developer of the project.
Read More “1200 MW Chicago-area Gas-Fired Power Plant Begins Construction”