North Dakota PSC Accepting Comments on EPA’s Proposed CO2 Rules
Posted on Oct 9, 2014
The North Dakota Public Service Commission (ND PSC) is accepting comments from electric utilities, electric cooperatives and any other interested stakeholders regarding the proposed CO2 rules of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The ND PSC will use the information it receives when it prepares its official comments to the EPA. The EPA has issued a proposed rule that would govern how much coal, natural gas and nuclear and renewable energy North Dakota and other states should use. Utilities under the direct jurisdiction of the ND PSC will receive specific questions to...
Continue Reading
North Carolina Coop’s Solar Farm to Provide Benefits to Members
Posted on Oct 9, 2014
Pee Dee Electric Cooperative has announced plans to install a 100-Kw community solar farm adjacent to its corporate headquarters. The solar farm will produce about 150,000-kWh of electricity annually, and members of Pee Dee Electric will be able to purchase individual panels and sell the power produced by the panels back to the cooperative. Members who participate in the project will receive a credit on their electric bills for their prorated share of the solar farm’s output. The cooperative hopes to complete construction on the solar farm by the end of 2014. The Daily Journal has the...
Continue Reading
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to EPA’s Authority
Posted on Oct 9, 2014
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court denied an electric utility group’s challenge to the emissions standards for ozone pollution of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Utility Air Regulatory Group filed a petition in April claiming that the July 2013 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the EPA’s 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone gives the agency too much discretion. The Court, however, chose not to second-guess the science behind the agency’s rulemaking. The Supreme Court’s denial means that the D.C. Circuit ruling will...
Continue Reading
California Passes Metal Theft Law
Posted on Oct 7, 2014
California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a law requiring regional scrap dealers to subscribe to a regional theft alert system. Jessica Nelson, general manager of Golden State Power Cooperative, applauded the passage of this law as a positive step to stopping metal theft. Click here to read more.
Continue Reading
South Dakota Coops Bury Transmission for Reliability
Posted on Oct 7, 2014
Five South Dakota coops are using federal and state disaster funds to bury hundreds of miles of transmission lines. The coops are focusing on reliability after a blizzard caused outages for thousands of customers in early October of last year. Click here for more.
Continue Reading
North Dakota Coop Vies for Territory
Posted on Oct 7, 2014
The North Dakota Public Service Commission has ruled in favor of Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU) in a territorial dispute with Capital Electric Cooperative (CEC) over which company should provide service to an industrial customer building a plant in McKenzie, North Dakota. MDU and CEC divide territory between themselves under a service area agreement, but the agreement did not cover McKenzie. Click here for more.
Continue Reading
Kentucky Coop Participates in a Collaborative Solar Project for Army Base
Posted on Oct 6, 2014
Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative has joined forces with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, the Department of Defense at Fort Campbell and the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) to build a 5-Mw solar photovoltaic panel system at Fort Campbell. The group’s plan would result in building the largest solar array in Kentucky. Since forming the collaborative has accumulated more than $10 million for the project, and the USDOE will contribute an additional $800,000. The project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, will consist of more than 16,000 solar modules and...
Continue Reading
EPA May Adjust Carbon Dioxide Standard Based on Public Comments
Posted on Oct 6, 2014
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may adjust its proposed carbon dioxide standard for existing coal-based power plants according to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. The standard, which sets emission levels for each state, was proposed on June 2. After the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and other organizations encouraged the agency to allow more time to study the proposal’s impacts, the EPA extended the public comment period by 45 days, and it remains open until December 1. Under the proposed rule, each state must develop an implementation plan based on “building...
Continue Reading
Florida Supreme Court Declines Intervention in Utility Dispute
Posted on Oct 1, 2014
The Florida Supreme Court has decided not to take up the ongoing dispute between Lee County Electric Cooperative and the city of Cape Coral regarding the costs of moving utility lines and power poles due to a road project. To read more about this story, click here.
Continue Reading
Colorado Gubernatorial Candidate Would Repeal Rural Renewable-Energy Mandate
Posted on Oct 1, 2014
Bob Beauprez, the GOP nominee for Colorado governor, told an audience of members of the National Federation of Independent Business that he would sign a bill repealing Senate Bill 252 if he were to win November’s gubernatorial election. Senate Bill 252 doubled the amount of energy that rural electric cooperatives must generate from renewable sources by 2020, from 10 percent to 20 percent. To read more about this story, please click here.
Continue Reading
Federal Court Sides with Coops over FERC’s Demand Response Request
Posted on Oct 1, 2014
A federal court rejected a request from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to review its decision against a FERC demand response order. FERC’s Order 745 issued in 2011 required that demand response participants in organized markets be compensated at full retail market price when they refrained from using electricity. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), along with others, joined the case and argued that FERC was acting outside its authority in issuing an order that would regulate retail rates directly by ordering utilities to pay retail customers not to...
Continue Reading
Michigan Coop Asks FERC to Change Cost Order
Posted on Sep 29, 2014
Michigan’s Cloverland Electric Cooperative (Cloverland) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reverse an order requiring Cloverland to pay potentially millions in costs for a plant from which Cloverland argues it derives no direct benefit. When investor-owned utility We Energies decided to close its coal-fired Presque Isle Power Plant, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) concluded that the plant should stay online in order to ensure grid reliability. FERC approved a plan developed by MISO and We Energies under which Wisconsin utilities paid 92 percent...
Continue Reading
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Says Texas Coop Must Pay Taxes on Steam Generator Equipment
Posted on Sep 26, 2014
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has ruled that South Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. and several other power providers must pay property taxes on their steam generator equipment. The power providers argued that they were entitled to a state law exemption from ad valorem taxes which applies if the property is used to control pollution in compliance with state environmental regulations. The power providers asserted that the heat-recovery steam generators substantially reduce Nox emissions. TCEQ disagreed and found that the steam generators were production equipment. ...
Continue Reading
Texas Coop Files Suit Over Interpretation of Purchase Agreement
Posted on Sep 26, 2014
Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. filed suit against San Miguel Electric Cooperative, Inc. in Texas federal court on Thursday seeking interpretation of a power purchase agreement between the parties. Under the agreement, Brazos purchases electricity from San Miguel’s 400-megawatt lignite-fired generating plant and associated mining facilities in Christine, Texas. The dispute relates to the rates charged under the agreement and the scheduling of generation and delivery of power for 2015. The case is Brazos Electric Power Cooperative Inc. v. San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc. et...
Continue Reading
Subscribe
