Compensation jumps for National Grid executives
Just wanted you to know why rates are really going up:
"Electric rates in Mass. set to spike this winter" by Jack Newsham | Globe Correspondent September 25, 2014
Massachusetts consumers will pay significantly higher electric bills this winter as a persistent shortage of natural gas for generating plants drives power prices to record levels.
We were told fracking would make gas cheap and plentiful.
The cost for a typical household could top $150 a month, based on an announcement this week from one of the state’s two dominant utilities, National Grid. It said its rates will increase by a whopping 37 percent over last winter’s, solely because the cost of buying electricity from power plants has soared to the highest level in decades, according to a company spokesman.
Other utilities, including NStar, are also warning customers to brace for higher electric bills this winter, but they have not determined final rates for the winter.
“This is pretty bad, and it’s going to really have a bearing on a lot of Massachusetts households’ abilities to just make ends meet this winter,” said John Howat, senior energy analyst at the National Consumer Law Center in Boston.
For poorer consumers and the one in 10 Massachusetts households that still heat with electricity, the price increases will be devastating, said Jerrold Oppenheim, director of a Gloucester-based consultancy that focuses on pocketbook issues facing low-income consumers.
The price shock is driven by New England’s increasing reliance on natural gas as a source for both heating homes and making electricity. The pipelines that ship natural gas into New England do not have enough capacity to meet the increased demand, and during winter, electric plants often end up paying much more for the fuel.
What about global warming? Wouldn't that negate fuel costs?
The whole agenda here is to get pipelines built.
Other factors include the closing earlier this year of the coal-burning Salem Harbor Power Station and the planned shutdown of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which will reduce the amount of electricity available to utilities this winter, said Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association.
Yeah, blame everything and everything but the true problem: the Federal Reserve system.
After several instances in which some power plants ran out of backup fuel during the deep cold spell last winter known as the polar vortex, many electric generators were making arrangements to have supplies of liquid gas and oil to tap in a crisis, Dolan said.
“A lot of this is a reaction to the fact that we had the polar vortex last winter,” Dolan said. “It was a really nasty, cold, long winter.”
Huh?
You know, I'm sick of the harsh winter being trotted out every time they need an excuse for the $hitty economy for some other failure of theirs, then flogging it to advance the money-grabbing agenda in the name of global warming.
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At least the AGs are objecting and the price of oil is going down.
"Studies tie global warming to some key ’13 weather events" by Seth Borenstein | Associated Press September 30, 2014
Borenstein (sigh) is AP's resident gas bag regarding global fart mist.
WASHINGTON — Scientists see the fingerprints of human-caused global warming....
Yup, human caused so you will have to pay a carbon tax despite the planet cooling.
Scientists couldn’t find a global warming link to an early South Dakota blizzard.
I guess that would be looking too much like an ass, huh?
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For years, scientists said they could not attribute single weather events — like a drought, heat wave or storm — to human-caused global warming. But with better computer models and new research, in some cases scientists can see how the odds of events increase or not because of climate change. Other researchers question the usefulness of focusing on single events.
Meaning these "$cienti$ts" are desperate.
The editors of the 108-page compilation of studies wrote that people and animals tend to be more affected by extreme weather than changes in averages, so they pay attention to it.
Yeah, right, we dumb humans don't know what the weather is like outside and aren't paying attention. How offensively elitist and insulting. What a $hit media!
The public often connects extreme events to climate change, sometimes wrongly, so scientific analysis like this ‘‘can help inform the public’s understanding of our changing environment.’’
Hey, I was propagandized by authority and ma$$ media like with the WMD lies.
These people are incredible!!!
The report seeks to find how much, or how, human-caused warming has influenced weather, said NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling, an editor of the report.
If at all.
The influence on Australia’s hottest year in more than a century is glaring, the report’s editors said. ‘‘It’s almost impossible’’ to explain Australia’s hot 2013 without climate change, said Peter Stott of the United Kingdom’s meteorology office, another editor.
So you guys say. Sorry I no longer believe you even when it comes to weather. Too many lies for far, far too long.
However, the editors of the journal’s special edition said that with the studies in Monday’s report that it is unclear whether a global warming connection can be pinned to California’s drought.
Yeah, the coverage of fires was quickly put out.
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Looks like a war is on.
Related: Report offers ideas for a Boston beset by rising seas
If Boston is going to look like Venice, why are they not under water yet?
I mean, eventually this reaches the point of absurd insanity.
"To preserve access to Maine island, they may have to buy it; Costly sales on Maine’s coast end access to many cherished sites" by Megan Woolhouse | Globe Staff October 01, 2014
ST. GEORGE, Maine — High Island is up for sale, sparking a local campaign to prevent it from going the way of so many other Maine islands that have been snapped up by wealthy buyers and closed to the public.
The effort is part of a backlash among those who say the changing ownership of the islands is eroding a key aspect of the culture of coastal Maine.
Why would anyone buy an island that is disappearing due to rising sea levels?
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Traditionally, island owners allowed people to hike, camp, and picnic on their property. But as islands pass to real estate developers and billionaires seeking the ultimate getaway, they are increasingly off-limits, marked with ‘No Trespassing’ signs or patrolled by caretakers who run off unwelcome boaters.
Look, it's an elite's world.
In March, Linda Bean, an heiress to the L.L. Bean fortune, bought Davis Island, a 48-acre island about 3 miles off Port Clyde, for $2.1 million. Bean, who did not reply to requests for comment, rents the house, which is described in brochures as “a very private and spectacularly beautiful retreat.”
Isn't her company being investigated?
A Portland developer recently bought House Island in Casco Bay, a 24-acre spot of land, for $2.4 million and plans to build luxury vacation homes there. Another 20 Maine islands and one small island chain are up for sale, according to the website “Private Islands Online,” with prices ranging from $39,999 to $5.9 million.
“The market for islands in Maine is booming,” Terry Sortwell, a principal at LandVest in Camden, an arm of Christie’s International Real Estate, wrote in a newsletter to clients.
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High Island is very a different story. Ann Goldsmith, who worked at the 4-H Camp since the 1950s, said....
4-H is who?
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Time to pipe the fart mist out:
"Companies providing ‘virtual pipeline’ for natural gas" by Lonnie Shekhtman | Globe Correspondent September 26, 2014
The price of natural gas has plunged in recent years as the controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has opened vast reserves in shale formations and spurred a boom in US production. Industrial prices of natural gas have run at least half the price of fuel oil in recent years, according to the US Energy Department.
But a lack of pipeline capacity in New England has prevented the region from tapping abundant supplies.
Whatever.
Related: Utilities may limit new natural gas connections
Seems to me like they are creating a price spike to get rich and get their pipeline through here!
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Many rural areas, however, are unlikely to ever get pipelines because the relatively few customers don’t justify the costs of extending them. That has put paper mills, hospitals, and universities, often major employers in rural New England, at competitive disadvantages.
“It’s very important for rural parts of the region to have service like this because you start to lose jobs and close factories very quickly if you’re competing with companies on pipelines,” said Tom Evslin, who cofounded NG Advantage with his wife, Mary.
Maybe that is the whole point.
Has the feel of extortion by energy companies, doesn't it?
Time to nationalize those industries for the public good, like a utility.
Compressed natural gas is methane that’s pressurized to less than 1 percent of its volume. Compressing is more cost efficient than liquefying natural gas, which is the process used for transporting gas over large distances. Gas in compressed form has been used for decades as fuel for vehicles, but until recently it was rarely used on an industrial scale.
But plunging natural gas prices and new tractor-trailer technology that allows for transportation of four, 40-foot carbon-fiber tubes that can hold larger volumes of compressed gas have helped make the mobile pipeline a lower-cost alternative to fuel oil and propane. Compressed gas also is a cleaner-burning fuel that is less flammable than liquid fuels, and it dissipates quickly if spilled, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency....
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Related: Seabed power line plan stirs debate
Get the fans going:
"A decade after welcoming wind, states reconsider" by Sean Murphy | Associated Press October 02, 2014
CALUMET, Okla. — A decade ago, states offered wind-energy developers an open-armed embrace, envisioning a bright future for an industry that would offer cheap electricity, new jobs, and steady income for large landowners, especially in rural areas with few other economic prospects.
To ensure the opportunity didn’t slip away, lawmakers promised little or no regulation and generous tax breaks.
But now that wind turbines stand tall across many parts of the nation’s windy heartland, some leaders in Oklahoma and other states fear their efforts succeeded too well, attracting an industry that gobbles up huge subsidies, draws frequent complaints, and uses its powerful lobby to resist any reforms. The tension could have broad implications for the expansion of wind power in other parts of the country.
‘‘What we’ve got in this state is a time bomb just waiting to go off,’’ said Frank Robson, a real estate developer from Claremore in northeast Oklahoma. ‘‘And the fuse is burning, and nobody is paying any attention to it.’’
Because state government exists to hand out tax loot to well-connected concerns.
Today, many of the same political leaders who initially welcomed the wind industry want to regulate it more tightly, even in red states such as Oklahoma, where candidates regularly rail against government interference. The change of heart is happening as wind farms creep closer to more heavily populated areas.
As if handing tax loot to corporations were not interference?
Opposition is also mounting about the loss of scenic views, the noise from spinning blades, the flashing lights that dot the horizon at night, and a lack of public notice about where the turbines will be erected. Robson said the industry is turning the landscape into a ‘‘giant industrial complex’’ and the growing cost of the subsidies could decimate state funding for schools, highways, and prisons.
And as we say with Solyndra and Evergreen, it's all money wasted. But corporations and well-connected concerns involved in pushing the agenda are second in line (banks are first) at the tax loot trough.
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With the rapid expansion came political clout. The industry now has nearly a dozen registered lobbyists working to stop new regulations and preserve generous subsidies that are expected to top $40 million this year.
Evidence of that influence can be seen at the State House. A bill by the Senate president pro tem to ban any new wind farms in the eastern half of the state was quickly scuttled in the House. When state Representative Earl Sears tried to amend the proposal to include some basic regulations for the industry, lobbyists killed that idea, too.
So can the effect on the country as this place becomes more of a shit hole for the citizenry with each passing day. But at least the wealthy and corporations are getting rich!
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Wind developers say they’re just protecting their investment — more than $6 billion spent on construction of wind farms in Oklahoma over a decade, according to a study commissioned by the industry. In addition to royalties paid to landowners, the companies must pay for giant turbines, which are valued at as much as $3 million each.
Yeah, the poor corporate conglomerates.
Monte Tucker, a farmer and rancher from Sweetwater in far western Oklahoma, said his family has received annual payments of more than $30,000 for the four wind turbines placed on their ranch two years ago.
‘‘We’re generating money out of thin air,’’ Tucker said. ‘‘And if the landowners don’t want them, the developers have to go somewhere else.’’
That's what the carbon credit market is meant to do for Al Gore and Wall Street.
Tucker said the turbines take only about 5 acres of his property out of production, and they have not affected the deer, turkey, and quail hunting on the land. On a recent 101-degree day, he found about 40 of his cows lined up in a single row in the turbine’s shadow.
And the caribou rub up against the oil pipelines, yup.
Meanwhile, a formal inquiry into how the industry operates in Oklahoma is being launched by a state regulatory agency at lawmakers’ request.
The turbines are subject to local property taxes after a five-year exemption for which the state reimburses local counties and schools. The exemption for wind producers was designed to offset a lifetime property tax exemption in neighboring Kansas.
In addition, the state offers wind developers tax credits based on per-kilowatt production that can be applied to any corporate income tax liability and then sold back to the state for 85 cents on the dollar. Those cash subsidies are expected to total $80 million over the next four years, according to estimates from the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Oklahoma is one of at least six states competing for wind industry development.
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The biggest wind industry boom is taking place in Texas. Iowa and Oklahoma are close behind. Other states that have announced major projects include Kansas, North Dakota, and New Mexico, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs released a report last week urging an end to state subsidies for wind power, saying that tax credits and property tax limits helped grow the industry but today give it an unfair advantage.
Good luck getting that money back.
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Related: Cost of film tax credit: $78.9 million in 2012
That's a record!
Not like the citizens of this state need $80 million dollars for anything. I'd rather it go to profitable Hollywood and their star's salaries or other wealthy people.
Time to draw a breath:
"Study finds cancer risk eases in Southern California" Associated Press October 03, 2014
LOS ANGELES — By at least one measure, Southern California’s air is getting healthier.
The risk of cancer from airborne pollutants has dropped by more than 50 percent on average since 2005, according to a study released Thursday by the region’s air quality regulators.
Concerted efforts to reduce emissions from trucks and other vehicles account for much of the drop.
The findings may not surprise residents of the region long cited for poor air quality. Unlike previous decades, it’s now uncommon for smog to brown out the mountains that crisscross the region.
Still, risks persist from toxic pollutants such as diesel particulate matter and benzene.
Those risks are still some of the highest in the nation, said Philip Fine, assistant deputy executive officer with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which conducted the study.
Exact comparisons between Southern California and other metropolitan areas are not possible because other areas compute risk differently, according to officials with the air district....
In other words, this is a shit study. Something sure does stink, though.
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Time to bag up this post:
"California becomes first state to ban plastic bags" by Fenit Nirappil | Associated Press October 01, 2014
"Driven to action by pollution in streets and waterways."
So much for being the Golden State.
SACRAMENTO — Under SB270, plastic bags will be phased out at checkout counters at large grocery stores and supermarkets such as Walmart and Target starting next summer, and convenience stores and pharmacies in 2016. The law does not apply to bags used for fruits, vegetables, or meats, or to shopping bags used at other retailers. It allows grocers to charge a fee of at least 10 cents for using paper bags.
I coulda bought food for my empty stomach with that.
State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, credits the momentum for statewide legislation to the more than 100 cities and counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that already have such bans.
I wouldn't be too proud. The stuff is recyclable.
The law marks a major milestone for environmental activists who have successfully pushed plastic bag bans in cities across the United States, including Chicago, Austin, and Seattle. Hawaii is also on track to have a de facto statewide ban, with all counties approving prohibitions.
Yeah, that's the problem with this country. Too many plastic bags! Pfffft!
What about Fukushima or that floating garbage patch in the Pacific? How come I never see any alarm about that?.
"This bill is a step in the right direction — it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast ocean itself," Governor Jerry Brown said in a signing statement. "We're the first to ban these bags, and we won't be the last."
The drought drained me of all respect for that jerk.
Plastic bag manufacturers have aggressively pushed back through their trade group, the American Progressive Bag Alliance, which aired commercials in California criticizing the ban as a cash giveaway to grocers.
Who do they think they are, bankers?
"If this law were allowed to go into effect, it would jeopardize thousands of California manufacturing jobs, hurt the environment and fleece consumers for billions so grocery store shareholders and their union partners can line their pockets," Lee Califf, executive director of the manufacturer trade group, said in a statement.
Padilla, the bill's author, said Californians would reject a referendum effort and quickly adapt their behavior to help the environment.
I'm tired of the alarmism in the previous paragraph and the guilt-tripping brainwashing below.
"For those folks concerned about the 10 cent fee that may be charged for paper, the simple elegant solution is to bring a reusable bag to the store," Padilla said.
How much do they cost for something that used to be free?
Shows you how far AmeriKa has fallen when it comes to "service."
Shoppers leaving a Ralphs supermarket Tuesday in downtown San Diego were divided as they weighed the legislation's environmental benefits against its costs. San Diego does not ban plastic bags.
"With the amount of waste that we produce, we can try to help out by slightly inconveniencing ourselves," said Megan Schenfeld, 29, whose arms were full of groceries in plastic bags after leaving reusable bags at home.
While the bankers and 1% are not inconvenienced in the slightest.
Need I even mention all the sourcing in this $elf-$erving, $elf-centered $hit?
She LEFT the REUSABLES at HOME, huh?
Robert Troxell, a 69-year-old former newspaper editor, said the fees are more than an inconvenience for retirees living on fixed incomes like him. He shops daily because he has only a small refrigerator in his hotel for low-income seniors.
"It becomes a flat tax on senior citizens," said Troxell, who lives off social security and other government assistance.
Responding to the concerns about job losses, the bill includes $2 million in loans for plastic bag manufacturers to shift their operations to make reusable bags.
And soon you are out of business.
Ever notice the state's answer to everything is more loans?
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Looks like the web version got shorted out.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
I'm being told California is at record (well, almost!) temperatures while the Globe advises the building of pipelines.
Can the agenda-pu$hing be any clearer?
