A Free-Market Energy Blog

Vogtle Settlement: Ratepayers Lose Some More (inside another nuclear bust)

By Jim Clarkson -- March 8, 2016

“As the magnitude of the Vogtle project disaster becomes clearer, the Public Service Commissioners are becoming less toleratant of criticism…. Steve Prenonvitz … heaps criticism on Georgia Power but also on the Commission itself…. Then there is Nuclear Watch South [whose] … assertions are painfully true and therefore irritating to the Commission, which is joined at the hip with Georgia power on the Vogtle project.”

Georgia Power has now provided details concerning the settlement with the Vogtle contractor. The total payout is $915 million of which Georgia Power’s 45.7% share is $350 million. Also agreed was a $69 million change order. This is a hit for customers, quite different from what the Company said for years: they expected to prevail in the litigation but were working on a possible settlement. (Ratepayers are protected unless the Commission orders a cost disallowance, which they should.)…

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AWED Energy & Environmental Newsletter: March 7, 2016

By -- March 7, 2016

The Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions (AWED) is an informal coalition of individuals and organizations interested in improving national, state, and local energy and environmental policies. Our premise is that technical matters like these should be addressed by using Real Science (please consult WiseEnergy.org for more information).

A key element of AWED’s efforts is public education. Towards that end, every three weeks we put together a  newsletter to  balance what is found in the mainstram media about energy and the environment. We appreciate MasterResource for their assistance in publishing this information.

Some of the more thought-provoking articles in this issue are:

Physician Explains Some Wind Turbine Health Impacts

Wind Infrasound Hazards Worse than Initially Thought

The laughable idea that renewable energy is or ever will be ‘least cost’

The Charade of Industrial Wind

Non-Compliant Wind Developers Are Threatened with Jail Time

Two Well-Intentioned Laws and Aims Collide

North Sea Whale Deaths.…

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Climate Malthusianism: James Hansen’s Latest

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 3, 2016

“In the United Nations Paris Accord last December world leaders promised to try to reduce future emissions. These politicians shamelessly clapped each other on the back, pretending they had accomplished something important. However, they had agreed beforehand not to even discuss the only action that could rapidly reduce global emissions.”

– James Hansen, “‘I am an Energy Voter’” February 23, 2016.

James Hansen is mad at the “I am an Energy Voter” campaign that encourages consumers to vote for their favorite energies at the ballot box, not only at the pump. Hansen, in fact, is mad at the free society where buyers voluntarily buy and sellers voluntarily sell. Ludwig von Mises called that consumer sovereignty.

Hansen wants otherwise. Renewables as savior is for the Tooth Fairy, he believes, so nuclear and forced conservation (conservationism) is atop his agenda — forced by a punitive carbon tax (or fee-and-dividend as he puts it).…

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National Defense Climatism: Dangerous and Myopic Thinking

By Donn Dears -- March 2, 2016
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Taylor at RFF: Don’t Assume the Problem, Debate It (why price carbon dioxide?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- March 1, 2016
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Jerry Taylor: Climate Change as ‘Political Theater’ (so why become an actor?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 29, 2016
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The Windpower/Health Debate: Ground Zero in Falmouth, MA

By Sherri Lange -- February 25, 2016
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On Scientific Method: Comment on Hawkins

By Jon Boone -- February 24, 2016
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Science, Advocacy, and Public Policy (MIT’s ‘The Future of Solar Energy’ revisited)

By Kent Hawkins -- February 23, 2016
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Dear Daniel Yergin: Give Alex Epstein the Microphone at CERAWeek

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- February 22, 2016
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