Apocalypse Never – The Confessions of A Thinking Environmentalist

Tom ShepstoneShepstone Management Company, Inc. … … Michael Shellenberger is the author of Apocalypse Never, a wonderful takedown of green eggs and scam schemes and schemers. Michael Shellenberger is a thinking environmentalist, an all too uncommon sort of individual in the environmental movement these days. Unlike me, he is a political progressive, with an office

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Entergy sets net-zero carbon goal by 2050

Entergy Corp. has announced that is accelerating its climate action goals with a plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Kallanish Energy reports. The Louisiana-based utility also reaffirmed its commitments to grid reliability and affordability for customers. That new goal is “another major step forward,” said Leo Denault, Entergy’s chairman of the board and

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Ohio AG files suit to block nuclear bailout payments

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is seeking to keep the owner of two nuclear power plants in Ohio from getting $1.3 billion in bailout money in what has become the largest bribery scandal in state history, Kallanish Energy reports. Yost on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to keep Energy Harbor

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Federal judge to rule on Ohio referendum petitions

The effort to overturn nuclear bailout legislation in Ohio is now in the hands of a federal judge, Kallanish Energy reports. Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts, the group that had been circulating petitions against House Bill 6 that would aid two nuclear power plants in Ohio owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, filed a lawsuit seeking more time

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Trump nominates Brouillette to be Energy secretary

President Trump last Friday announced he has nominated deputy energy secretary Dan Brouillette to replace departing energy chief Rick Perry, Kallanish Energy reports. “I am pleased to nominate Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette to be the new Secretary of Energy. Dan’s experience in the sector is unparalleled. A total professional, I have no doubt that Dan

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CEA, EDF, Westinghouse to explore SMR cooperation

CEA, EDF and Westinghouse Electric Co. have signed a framework agreement to explore potential cooperation on small modular reactor (SMR) development, Kallanish Energy reports. Worldwide demand for low carbon- electricity generation in the 300- to 400-megawatt range is an important market segment the companies believe their experience in nuclear fuel, reactor design and operation can

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Wood to sell nuclear business for $302M to cut debt

Wood Plc has agreed to sell its nuclear business for 250 million pounds ($302 million), as it cuts debt associated with the 2017 acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler and a prolonged oil-price slump, Kallanish Energy reports. The Scottish engineering and services business will sell the unit to a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Group. The deal

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PG&E names industry vet Vesey as utility head

Holding company PG&E Corp., operating under bankruptcy court protection, said the board of its Pacific Gas and Electric Co. unit (also in bankruptcy), has appointed Andrew M. Vesey CEO and president, effective Aug. 19. He will report to PG&E Corp. CEO and president Bill Johnson, Kallanish Energy reports. In his role, Vesey will have responsibility

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Pg&e didn’t repair lines it knew could cause wildfires: report

California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (Pg&e) knew power lines in Northern California could fail and cause wildfires, but the company delayed repairs for years before a 2018 blaze that killed 85 people, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. The utility identified parts that needed repair on its transmission lines to prevent “structure failure resulting (in) conductor

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Power from natgas to rise in 2019, slip in 2020: Steo

The share of U.S. total utility-scale electricity generation from natural gas-fired power plants will rise from 35% in 2018, to 38% in 2019, and then decline slightly in 2020, according to the latest Steo, Short-Term Energy Outlook, produced by the Energy Information Administration. EIA/Steo forecasts the share of U.S. generation from coal will average 24%

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PG&E settles wildfire claims for $1B

Pacific Gas and Electric said Wednesday it’s reached agreements to resolve wildfire claims made by 18 local public entities (cities, counties, districts and public agencies) impacted by the 2015 Butte Fire, 2017 Northern California wildfires and 2018 Camp Fire. Under the agreements, $1 billion in payments will be made as part of a Chapter 11

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Natural Gas NOW Picks of the Week – June 8, 2019

Tom ShepstoneShepstone Management Company, Inc. … … Natural Gas NOW readers pass along a lot of stuff every week about natural gas, fractivist antics, emissions, renewables, and other news relating to energy. As usual, emphasis is added. Natural Gas Is the Future  for Electricity The numbers keep stacking up: Across the U.S., gas could supply

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PG&E power lines caused California’s ‘deadliest wildfire’: officials

California authorities said Wednesday power lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. (PG&E) caused the state’s most destructive wildfire ever – which killed 85 and nearly destroyed an entire city, Kallanish Energy learns. Lines owned by the San Francisco-based utility sparked the Camp Fire on Nov. 8, in Butte County, California, the state Department of Forestry and Fire

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Three Mile Island Unit 1 to shut by Sept. 30

The owner of the plant where North America’s worst nuclear power-related accident took place four decades ago, confirmed the facility’s lone remaining operating unit will shut down this September, Kallanish Energy reports. Exelon Generation said Three Mile Island (Tmi) Generating Station Unit 1, located near Middletown, Pennsylvania, on an island south of the state capital city

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No Nuke Subsidies: Let the Free Market Work

 ... … … The Institute for Energy Research explains why nuke subsidies in Pennsylvania are a terrible idea and why we should just let the free market work. There are currently bills working their way through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate that would provide subsidies to help prop-up unprofitable nuclear power plants in the state. Senate

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