EC August 2009

ec@lists.wvsierraclub.org

9 participants
23 discussions

FW: NYT (Friedman -- While Detroit Slept)
by James Kotcon 05 Jan '10

05 Jan '10

From my father-in-law. JBK >>> "Bob Elliott" <rdelliott(a)socal.rr.com> 12/12/2008 7:29 AM >>> <http://www.nytimes.com/> <http://www.nytimes.com/> The New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/> _____ December 10, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist While Detroit Slept By <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/tho maslfriedman/index.html?inline=nyt-per> THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN As I think about our bailing out Detroit, I can't help but reflect on what, in my view, is the most important rule of business in today's integrated and digitized global market, where knowledge and innovation tools are so widely distributed. It's this: Whatever can be done, will be done. The only question is will it be done by you or to you. Just don't think it won't be done. If you have an idea in Detroit or Tennessee, promise me that you'll pursue it, because someone in Denmark or Tel Aviv will do so a second later. Why do I bring this up? Because someone in the mobility business in Denmark and Tel Aviv is already developing a real-world alternative to Detroit's business model. I don't know if this alternative to gasoline-powered cars will work, but I do know that it can be done - and Detroit isn't doing it. And therefore it will be done, and eventually, I bet, it will be done profitably. And when it is, our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the CD music business on the eve of the birth of the iPod and iTunes. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into a book-store chain on the eve of the birth of Amazon.com and the Kindle. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into improving typewriters on the eve of the birth of the PC and the Internet. What business model am I talking about? It is Shai Agassi's electric car network company, called Better Place. Just last week, the company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., announced a partnership with the state of Hawaii to road test its business plan there after already inking similar deals with Israel, Australia, the San Francisco Bay area and, yes, Denmark. The Better Place electric car charging system involves generating electrons from as much renewable energy - such as wind and solar - as possible and then feeding those clean electrons into a national electric car charging infrastructure. This consists of electricity charging spots with plug-in outlets - the first pilots were opened in Israel this week - plus battery-exchange stations all over the respective country. The whole system is then coordinated by a service control center that integrates and does the billing. Under the Better Place model, consumers can either buy or lease an electric car from the French automaker Renault or Japanese companies like Nissan (General Motors snubbed Agassi) and then buy miles on their electric car batteries from Better Place the way you now buy an Apple cellphone and the minutes from AT&T. That way Better Place, or any car company that partners with it, benefits from each mile you drive. G.M. sells cars. Better Place is selling mobility miles. The first Renault and Nissan electric cars are scheduled to hit Denmark and Israel in 2011, when the whole system should be up and running. On Tuesday, Japan's Ministry of Environment invited Better Place to join the first government-led electric car project along with Honda, Mitsubishi and Subaru. Better Place was the only foreign company invited to participate, working with Japan's leading auto companies, to build a battery swap station for electric cars in Yokohama, the Detroit of Japan. What I find exciting about Better Place is that it is building a car company off the new industrial platform of the 21st century, not the one from the 20th - the exact same way that Steve Jobs did to overturn the music business. What did Apple understand first? One, that today's technology platform would allow anyone with a computer to record music. Two, that the Internet and MP3 players would allow anyone to transfer music in digital form to anyone else. You wouldn't need CDs or record companies anymore. Apple simply took all those innovations and integrated them into a single music-generating, purchasing and listening system that completely disrupted the music business. What Agassi, the founder of Better Place, is saying is that there is a new way to generate mobility, not just music, using the same platform. It just takes the right kind of auto battery - the iPod in this story - and the right kind of national plug-in network - the iTunes store - to make the business model work for electric cars at six cents a mile. The average American is paying today around 12 cents a mile for gasoline transportation, which also adds to global warming and strengthens petro-dictators. Do not expect this innovation to come out of Detroit. Remember, in 1908, the Ford Model-T got better mileage - 25 miles per gallon - than many Ford, G.M. and Chrysler models made in 2008. But don't be surprised when it comes out of somewhere else. It can be done. It will be done. If we miss the chance to win the race for Car 2.0 because we keep mindlessly bailing out Car 1.0, there will be no one to blame more than Detroit's new shareholders: we the taxpayers. _____ Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try <http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000 010> it now.

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FW: Money for media presentations - PATH
by Grubb, Karen 31 Aug '09

31 Aug '09

FYI From: Frank Young [mailto:fyoung@mountain.net] Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 10:38 AM To: keryn(a)stoppathwv.com; Sally Wilts Cc: pwaitster(a)gmail.com; o6redleg(a)aol.com Subject: Re: Money for media presentations Hi Sally & Keryn & all, As Keryn notes below, WV Highlands Conservancy (WVHC) is the fiscal agent for the Stop PATH video / audio project- as the National Trust for Historic Preservation grant could only go to a 501(c)3 organization. And yes, WVHC is an IRS designated tax-exempt organization. If you need our tax-exemption number, I can send it to you separately. I would send that number in this message, but there is one e-mail address here I do not recognize. I will produce a Word file invoice that includes our tax-exempt number, and send it to you. Thank you, Sierra Club, for the generous contribution. And I agree with Keryn that as it is SC and the NTHP that is putting up the direct $$$ for this, it is fitting that SC and NTHP receive appropriate recognition. Also, I think I recall from being on the SC Energy Committee call that your funds can be used only for production costs, and not for air time, right? Let us know for sure on that. And I would say that yes, the grant will be used for grassroots public education about a conservation issue. And as the gatekeeper for these funds, I will insist that they be used for that purpose. Please make the check payable to WV Highlands Conservancy, and send it to me at Rt. 1 Box 108 Ripley WV 25271. That is not WVHC's usual address; but I need to know what funds are coming in for this purpose to see that it is credited to the proper line item in WVHC's budget. Thanks again. Frank Young, coordinator WVHC Stop PATH sub-committee ----- Original Message ----- From: Keryn Newman <mailto:keryn@stoppathwv.com> To: Sally Wilts <mailto:sallywilts@yahoo.com> Cc: pwaitster(a)gmail.com ; fyoung(a)mountain.net ; o6redleg(a)aol.com Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 8:44 AM Subject: Re: Money for media presentations Hi Sally, We very much appreciate the WV Chapter of Sierra Club's generous donation to our campaign to counter the misleading advertising being aired by the PATH companies. All donations we have collected for the media campaign have been in the name of West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. WVHC is the official organization that received the grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Please make donation check payable to WVHC and mail to Frank Young. By copy of this email, I'm asking Frank if he can create and send the invoice. The grant is for the purpose "....to help produce advertisements about proposed powerlines in West Virginia, which will have a broad and negative impact on nationally significant historic resources, as well as environmental and recreational resources." I don't think there would be any problem with adding a "sponsored by WV Sierra Club" somewhere in the ad, along with the required credit to the National Trust. Keryn Newman StopPATH/Jefferson County On Sun Aug 30 16:16 , Sally Wilts sent: Hi Keryn, I am the treasurer of the WV Chapter of Sierra Club. The Executive committee voted to give your group $1000 to use for expenses of broadcasting the media that you have had produced with grant from WVHC. The board asks that you present an invoice of some sort to us and they are wondering if Sierra Club will get any credit for this donation. Is Stop Path WV a nonprofit? Do you have a taxpayer ID number? The national SC has to account for all donations to IRS. Would you say the money was being used for grassroots public education about a conservation issue? Let me know if you need clarification and if I have the scenario about right.

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Beech Ridge wind farm TAC - First meeting
by Frank Young 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Sierra Club energy committee: As per below, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for the Beech Ridge wind farm is coming together. Studies should commence late winter / early spring 2010. The wind farm is expected to become partially operational (about 69 turbines) before the end of December, 2009. Frank Young wind energy sub-committee ----- Original Message ----- From: Miner, Laura To: Bystriansky, Steve ; Groberg, Dave ; wtidhar(a)west-inc.com ; dyoung(a)west-inc.com ; emelton(a)psc.state.wv.us ; laura_hill(a)fws.gov ; craigstihler(a)wvdnr.gov ; fyoung(a)mountain.net ; Cynthia D. Ellis ; ross.conover(a)glenville.edu Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 2:33 PM Subject: Beech Ridge TAC - First meeting When: Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:00 AM-1:00 PM (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada). Where: 611 Nicholas Street, Apt 5, Rupert, WV Note: The GMT offset above does not reflect daylight saving time adjustments. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Please join us at the first meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Beech Ridge Post-Construction Monitoring Program. For those who cannot attend in person, we will have conference call capability (instructions to follow). Preliminary Agenda (EST): 10:00 Introductions including an overview of the Beech Ridge development 10:15 Overview of PSC Order and discussion of the TAC role and guidelines 10:45 Outline of Monitoring Protocol with Q&A and Discussion 12:00 Lunch (catered or at a nearby establishment) 1:00 Site tour (optional) 2:00 Adjourn Additional materials to follow before the meeting (such as draft protocol and TAC guidelines). Preliminary membership: PSC Earl Melton FWS Laura Hill (or designee) DNR Craig Stilher BWEC TBD Sierra Club Frank Young Brooks Bird Club Cynthia Ellis Glenville State College Ross Conover (unconfirmed) Consultant: WEST, Inc. Wendy Tidhar WEST, Inc. David Young Beech Ridge: Vice President David Groberg Asset Manager Steve Bystriansky Program Manager Laura Miner

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Fwd: Public News Service-WVNS story for August 28, 2009 City of Morgantown Saving Mone
by James Kotcon 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

FYI. News story that went out. Let's chalk this one up as a victory. JBK >>> "Public News Service" <wvns(a)publicnewsservice.org> 8/28/2009 10:40 AM >>> Public News Service-WV August 28, 2009 City of Morgantown Saving Money and Cutting Carbon CHARLESTON, W. Va. - Even in a state where electricity is relatively cheap, local governments can save money and reduce their carbon footprints by conserving energy - and local officials in Morgantown say they're proving it. The municipal government is in the middle of a long-term effort to reduce energy use by 20 percent and save money in the process. Morgantown City Manager Dan Boroff lists a number of changes to be made in the next eight months, that are expected to pay off for years. "A new air conditioning system at the airport; a new chiller system at ice rink; new lighting throughout the parking garages, even down to the stop lights in the city, replacing them with LED systems." All that, plus new boilers and insulation for city buildings are on the ambitious agenda. It is a $2.7 million investment, not including hybrid or fuel-efficient replacements for the city fleet as old vehicles are retired. Boroff says Morgantown is guaranteed to make its money back over 15 years - or the contractors have to pay back the difference. According to Mayor Bill Byrne, theirs was a hardheaded business decision that also had environmental advantages. "We had an opportunity to both save money and improve the quantity of carbon that we put into the environment. We're doing it for economic reasons, and also, because it's positive for the environment." A study released this summer found nationwide, homes and businesses could reduce energy use by nearly one-fourth though steps like upgrading appliances and sealing leaky air conditioning and heating ducts. The study found returns would double the investment in 11 years. Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/10297-1 --- To be removed from this list please send an e-mail to remove(a)publicnewsservice.org and put the word "remove" in the subject line.

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PATH - DISCOVERY REQUESTS FOR SIERRA CLUB AND WEST VIRGINIA HIGHLANDS CONSERVANCY
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 19 Aug '09

19 Aug '09

Attached are six sets of discovery requests submitted to PATH today in the West Virginia proceeding, and on behalf of the Sierra Club and the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. The requests are the product of all of the lawyers and consultants assisting these clients, but principally Wil Burns. -- William V. DePaulo, Esq. 179 Summers Street, Suite 232 Charleston, WV 25301-2163 Tel: 304-342-5588 Fax: 304-342-5505 william.depaulo(a)gmail.com www.passeggiata.com This electronic mail is intended to be received and read only by certain individuals. It may contain information that is privileged or protected from disclosure by law. If it has been misdirected, or if you suspect you received this in error, please notify me by replying and then delete this message and your reply. These restrictions apply to any attachment to this email.

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Fwd: News links re cap and trade
by James Kotcon 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

I had an inquiry for a response to the developing stories about the forged letters and astroturf campaigns by fossil fuel companies against the Cap and Trade Bill (see the web sites below). Does anyone have any juicy sound bites that brings up some local West Virginia angles? JBK http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/sensitive_oil_industry_me… http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/lobby_firm_sent_forged_cl…

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Fwd: Good time to pitch a story
by Paul Wilson 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

assume others got this? paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: West Virginia News Service WVNS <wvnsnews(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 2:42 PM Subject: Good time to pitch a story To: Hi Friends, Dan Heyman here. I've got space for some stories at the moment, so if you have anything you think might be news worthy, now would be a good time to pitch it. best, drh -- West Virginia News Service (WVNS) Toll Free: 1-800-317-6705 Fax: 540-301-0801 E-mail: wvns(a)publicnewsservice.org -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha

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Fw: Montana Consumer Counsel v. FERC Telebriefing
by cindyrank 18 Aug '09

18 Aug '09

Thought some of you might be interested ---- or know someone who is and can use the 1 CLE. cindy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Montana Consumer Counsel v. FERC August 21, 2009 10:00 AM PDT, 11:00 PM MDT, 12:00 PM CDT, 1:00 PM EDT Download or view the program agenda here. Ms. Rank: We are pleased to present a one-hour expert analysis by phone of the recent appellate case, Montana Consumer Counsel v. FERC, which is the first to review FERC's revised guidelines for granting market-based rate authority to a wholesale electricity seller. In this decision, a Ninth Circuit panel rejected a challenge to FERC's grant of market-based rate authority to several affiliates of PPL Corporation (PPL Companies) in a control area covering most of Montana. In doing so, the Court stated that it felt a need to "afford great deference" to FERC's rate determinations and expressed reluctance to "second guess [FERC's] judgment on questions of policy within its expertise." Although the ruling is unpublished and generally not considered binding precedent, it should offer insight into how the Court will approach its pending review of the general market-based rate policies in FERC Order Nos. 697 and 697-A. In this one-hour teleconference, one neutral moderator and two prominent energy lawyers close to the case will discuss the practical implications of the decision on the electric energy industry and its ratepayers, as well as cost recovery implications for transmission planning and development. Register quickly. You can call in from anywhere. Intended Audience Attorneys, industry executives, representatives of customer and environmental intervenors, and state officials involved in FERC wholesale ratemaking or transmission planning and development Registration Register here or call us at (800) 854-8009 Tuition Tuition is $125 per caller and $50 each for any additional people on the same line who desire continuing education credit. 1.0 CLE Credit Available in the Following States: a.. AK b.. AZ c.. BC d.. CA e.. GA f.. IL g.. MO h.. MS i.. NC j.. ND k.. NM l.. NV m.. NY n.. TX o.. UT p.. VA q.. WA r.. WV s.. WA t.. Other credits available, please call I hope you can join us. Kate Johnson President Note: If you do not want to receive email notice of upcoming professional education programs, or want to limit the topics you receive, you can safely tell us by replying to this email. You also can give us a quick call at (800) 854-8009 or go to LSI News Assistant. LSI News, Inc. 800 Fifth Avenue, Suite 101 Seattle, WA 98104

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7th Circuit opinion overturning FERC rule that was basis for pass thru of transmission line costs to WVa in FERC cases involving TRAIL and PATH
by William V. DePaulo, Esq. 17 Aug '09

17 Aug '09

Some of you may have already seen the attached opinion by Judge Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which is based in Chicago and is the intermediate appellate court between US District Courts and the Supreme Court. In essence, Posner struck down the FERC rule that allowed PJM to recoup the costs of construction of a new high voltage electric transmission line -- even in part -- from utilities that derived no discernible benefit from the line. Importantly, the court deemed the value associated with "reliability" -- the chief benefit cited as justification for the TRAIL and PATH lines in W. Va. -- to be negligible and, in any event, insufficient to justify the pass thru of costs to utilities who received no other tangible economic benefit. Although the decision repeats, in a very different context (one relating to recoverable transmission rates, not authority to construct transmission lines) many of the arguments we made last year in TRAIL and will make this year in PATH, it will be some time before we will use the decision in our own case. Additionally, there was a powerful dissent, quoting the conflicting opinion of then Judge John Roberts in a DC Circuit case which reached the opposite outcome, obviously for the purpose of highlighting the fact that there is now a "conflict of decisions among circuits" (one of the grounds SCOTUS uses to decide whether to hear an appeal) and attempting to draw the attention of now Chief Justice John Roberts. Stand by.... -- William V. DePaulo, Esq. 179 Summers Street, Suite 232 Charleston, WV 25301-2163 Tel: 304-342-5588 Fax: 304-342-5505 william.depaulo(a)gmail.com www.passeggiata.com This electronic mail is intended to be received and read only by certain individuals. It may contain information that is privileged or protected from disclosure by law. If it has been misdirected, or if you suspect you received this in error, please notify me by replying and then delete this message and your reply. These restrictions apply to any attachment to this email.

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Fwd: Federal court could stop PATH/TrAIL
by James Kotcon 16 Aug '09

16 Aug '09

Bill Howley sent me the link below. The story is on his blog. This could mean lower electric rates for WV, and it means back to the drawing board for financing TrAIL. JBK >>> Bill Howley <billhowley(a)hughes.net> 8/15/2009 7:15 PM >>> This just came in on the Sierra Club listserv. Here's my post on The Power Line <http://calhounpowerline.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/blockbuster-federal-court-…>. This could be big news. Bill Blockbuster Federal Court Decision Could Doom PATH & TrAIL 2009 August 15 Here is the news from SNL, a financial news Web site: In a decision that could significantly hamper efforts to build major new transmission facilities nationwide, a divided three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on Aug. 6 overturned a FERC order signing off on the PJM Interconnection LLC’s postage-stamp rate design for new transmission lines operating at voltages of 500-kV or more. After reviewing the arguments, the majority said the stakes are high, noting, for example, that under FERC’s decision, Commonwealth Edison Co. [an Illinois utility] may be required to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to help pay for the proposed “Project Mountaineer,” when under the old policy it wouldn’t have had to pay a dime. The problem, according to Judge Richard Posner, who penned the court’s decision in which Judge John Tinder joined, is that FERC never looked at the consequences of switching to the new pricing policy. “No particulars are presented concerning the contribution that very high-voltage facilities are likely to make to the reliability of PJM’s network. Not even the roughest estimate of likely benefits to the objecting utilities is presented,” Posner recalled. Posner suggested that the new policy is unfair to customers in the western portion of PJM, where power plants are located relatively close to their customers and relatively low-voltage, mainly 345-kV, transmission facilities are used. In contrast, generating plants that serve the eastern portions of PJM are generally located long distances from load, and therefore 500-kV and even higher-voltage transmission facilities are used to deliver the power. Yet, FERC never took this disparity into consideration, Posner maintained. Instead, he said, the agency relied on the fact that the eastern utilities that created PJM many years ago agreed to share the costs of certain facilities through pro rata sharing agreements. “The fact that these utilities thought it appropriate to share costs in 1967 says nothing about the advantages and disadvantages of such an arrangement in the larger, modern PJM network,” the judge wrote. “The fact that one group of utilities desires to be subsidized by another is no reason in itself for giving them their way.” The case was in the Seventh Circuit Federal Court in Minnesota because public utilities commissions in Illinois and Ohio had sued PJM over their rate scheme for Project Mountaineer, which included both TrAIL and PATH lines. As noted on Who Pays for PATH, more than 40% of the costs of TrAIL and PATH will be paid for by rate payers west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Seventh Circuit says that can’t happen. There are two alternatives. Either only east coast utilities pay for PATH and TrAIL because they are getting the power, or AEP and Allegheny Energy pay for PATH and TrAIL because they are getting the profit.

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EC August 2009