May 23, 2012

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Tim Dwight makes another pitch for green energy

April 11, 2012 By

Tim Dwight makes a presentation at the statehouse.

A former University of Iowa football player who spent nine seasons in the NFL is at the statehouse today , urging legislators to do more to promote solar power and small wind turbines in Iowa.

Tim Dwight is president of the Iowa Solar Small Wind Trade Association.

“We are a pretty young organization. We just started up last year,” Dwight says. “…We’re trying to become experts in this field and bring the expertise to Iowa.” Dwight says Iowa needs to position itself as the epicenter of all forms of renewable energy.

“Not just our big wind that we’ve all done so well with but also with distributed generation, which is solar, small wind and also solar thermal,” Dwight says. Dwight points to states like Illinois and Missouri where legislators have passed laws requiring utilities to generate a small portion of their power from solar panels.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Senate votes for state tax breaks for smaller wind turbines (audio)

April 11, 2012 By

The Iowa Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill that seeks to expand state tax credits for small-scale wind turbines. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, said the bill helps Iowa maintain its leadership role in the wind energy industry.

“It targets the ownership structures that are most advantageous to Iowa’s local economy by helping small farm organizations, small businesses across our state, school districts and others take advantage of this small wind tax credit program for projects up to 2.5 megawatts,” Hogg says.

An estimated $64 million worth of state tax credits would be granted over the next decade if the bill becomes law. Senator Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, expressed reservations about the proposal, as energy companies buy and sell tax credits from other states, like California.

“It just kind of seems like a slimy process and so I’m concerned that we’re giving money that’s being transferred and sold at a reduced rate,” Chelgren said, “and it’s the taxpayers’ money, after all.”

AUDIO of Senate debate of the bill.

The bill passed the Iowa Senate on a 41-9 vote and goes to the House for consideration.

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Natural gas prices continue to drop

April 5, 2012 By

While the price of gasoline continues to go up the cost of natural gas has gone in the other direction. Harold Hommes with the Iowa Department of Agriculture says natural gas hit it’s lowest mark in ten years.

“We broke the magic two-dollar-a-million-metric-therm mark this past week,” Hommes says. “By and large it’s just because of very abundant supplies, we keep finding new sources of the fuel. New technologies have certainly helped in that process, but right now we abundant supplies of the fuel and it seems every time we have a new analysis, it seems the numbers keep growing.”

Winter is over and people won’t be using as much natural gas to heat their homes. But Hommes says that doesn’t figure into the downward spiral in natural gas prices. “This is not a little blurb where because we’ve gotten through the winter heating season prices are falling. We’ve seen it pretty much as a long-term trend,” Hommes says.

The Ag Department’s fuel price report shows the price of natural gas is down over 50% compared to last year and down just over 72% from five years ago. Natural gas is the top fuel used to heat homes in Iowa, so that longer term downward trend is good news looking ahead to next winter.

Hommes says the drop has some good consequences right now as it helps the bottom line for businesses that rely on the fuel.”It does lower their costs, it lowers our costs as consumers, and I think that a lot of the big utilities, users of natural gas will be locking in contractually for their supplies at these lower levels, and it certainly bodes well for everyone,” Hommes says.

He says more and more businesses are using or looking at using natural gas to power vehicles to take advantage of the savings over gasoline and diesel fuel.

 

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Two senators embark on statewide tour to “warn consumers” (audio)

March 20, 2012 By

Senator Joe Bolkcom (at podium), a Democrat from Iowa City.

Two state senators are traveling the state today with a “You Are At Risk” warning. The two are opponents of a bill that would give state utility regulators authority to grant MidAmerican a license for a new nuclear power facility in Iowa.

Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is urging Iowans to call their legislators and the governor to register their opposition.

The bottom line is if nuclear is too risky for Wall Street investors, it is too risky for utility customers, the small businesses, the farmers and the seniors living on fixed incomes that we all represent,” Hogg said this morning during a statehouse news conference.

Hogg is making stops in Sioux City and Fort Dodge this afternoon to spread his message. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, will be in Iowa City over the noon-hour and in Davenport this afternoon to voice the same concerns.

“Iowa utility rate-payers will face significantly higher electrical rates because of the hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars that we would be required to pay for the design, licensing, permitting and construction of a nuclear power plant,” Bolkcom said.

Eight other Democrats in the senate who are opposed to the bill also attended the news conference, but made no public statements. Republican opponents of the bill were not invited. 

AUDIO of 10-minute news conference.

MidAmerican executives say the utility will not be able to meet increased demand for electricity without more electric-generating capacity, and power plants that use coal face tough new federal rules that require costly improvements or closure. Nuclear power, they say, provides a steady stream of power to meet that demand, unlike wind power which is intermittant and cannot yet be stored for later use.

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Harkin disappointed that alternative energy credits were stripped from transportation bill

March 15, 2012 By

An amendment that would have boosted alternative energy production in Iowa was stripped from the massive transportation bill that passed the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. The bill would spend 109-billion dollars over two years on a host of vital projects, including highway construction and auto safety, but Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says two key elements were not included.

Harkin says, “It was disappointing that the Stabenow amendment, Senator (Debbie) Stabenow from Michigan, offered an amendment to extend the wind production tax credit and the biodiesel tax credit, but it failed on almost a straight party line vote.” Iowa is home to 40 ethanol plants and 13 biodiesel plants, in addition to a host of businesses involved in wind energy production.

An ethanol plant in Nebraska announced this week it’s shutting down temporarily due to a drop in demand sparked by rising gasoline prices. Harkin says alternative energy production is vital to helping wean the U.S. off its dependence on foreign oil and this amendment was much-needed.

Harkin says, “That’s a shame because the industry is starting to close down, parts won’t be ordered, unless it’s clear that this can be put in by December 31st.” Despite the setback, he says all’s not lost. “The hope I have now is that we will try to attach the production tax credits on other legislation,” Harkin says.

“We’ll probably get it into the final bill that we’ll pass towards the end of the year. I just want to reassure everyone that one way or the other, we are going to extend the wind production tax credit and the biodiesel credit. It will be done.” Senators had to move quickly on the legislation as it renews federal gas and diesel taxes which expire on March 31st.

Those taxes generate $110-million per day, to pay for various transportation-related programs.

Filed Under: Agriculture, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,

Senate panel votes 8-7 for nuclear bill (audio)

March 13, 2012 By

By the slimmest of margins a senate committee has approved a bill that would allow MidAmerican to seek regulators’ approval for construction of an underground nuclear power plant in Iowa. Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, said the legislation will help MidAmerican go to Wall Street and line up investors in the project.

“We believe this will generate jobs in the state of Iowa, tha tthis will diversify Iowa’s energy portfolio,” McCoy said. “This will serve as a mechanism for providing energy for the next generation and generations after that.”

Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, said underground nuclear power stations haven’t been built anywhere before and it’s “risky stuff.”

“This is a tough issue, an important issue,” Bolkcom said. “I think it’s a thousand year decision. If we pursue this, somebody many, many years from now is going to have one big brownfield to deal with.”

The bill passed the Senate Commerce Committee on an 8-7 vote at about nine o’clock this evening and is now eligible for debate in the full senate. A different version of the bill passed the Iowa House last year. McCoy said says wind power, which is an intermittant source of electricity, can’t meet rising consumer demand and federal clean air regulations may lead to the closure of older coal-fired plants.

“Nuclear generation is the only proven available technology that can deliver large-scale, carbon-free baseload generation,” McCoy said. “Nuclear generation has a proven record of being a safe and secure source of electricity in the United States.”

Senator Daryl Beall, a Democrat from Fort Dodge, disagreed.

“There have been 99 accidents at nuclear plants in the United States,” Beall said, “major accidents, so it’s not as danger-free as you might believe.”

McCoy countered that the coal industry doesn’t have a stellar safety record either, with “tens of thousands” of deaths in coal mines. Plus, McCoy said natural-gas-powered plants are expensive to run because of the volatile price of natural gas.

“If the industry in Iowa moves to natural-gas-fired plants, they ship great amounts of taxpayer, rate-payer money outside of Iowa and employ very few Iowans to operate them,” McCoy said. “If nuclear energy is developed as the next baseload fuel, the opposite will occur.”

According to McCoy, over a thousand people would be hired to construct a new underground nuclear generator and once it opens about 500 people would have jobs at the facility. Senator Beall isn’t sold.

“The spectre of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima I don’t want hanging over Iowa,” Beall said. “What do we do with the radioactive waste? I’ve still not seen a plan.”

Governor Branstad supports the idea of laying plans for a new nuclear power plant in Iowa. There is currently a 40-year-old nuclear power plant near Palo in eastern Iowa, plus a nuclear generating station is located just across the Iowa/Illinois border near the Quad Cities. There are two nuclear power plants in Nebraska located near the Missouri River.

AUDIO of the final 24 minutes of the Senate Commerce Committee debate this evening.

Filed Under: Environment & Conservation, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Debate on nuclear power plant bill delayed until next week

March 8, 2012 By

A senate committee’s debate of a bill that could set the stage for a new nuclear power plant in Iowa has been delayed ’til next week. Senator Matt McCoy, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, says one senator on the panel is stranded with a broken-down car.

“We need eight votes to move this bill out of committee and he was my eighth vote and could not be here,” McCoy says of Senate Tom Rielly of Oskaloosa, who is absent from the statehouse today.

Opponents of the bill have launched a series of lobbying efforts, including ad campaigns on radio and T.V. as well as a march to the statehouse this weekend. Steve Falck is a lobbyist for the Environmental Law and Policy Center.

“We’re not going to let up,” Falck says. Last year the Iowa House passed a bill that would let MidAmerican Energy collect money from customers to finance construction of a new, underground nuclear power facility. Senator McCoy is touting changes he’ll propose in that legislation, changes he says will protect consumers.

“MidAmerican cannot collect money until the work actually begins on the plant,” McCoy says. McCoy says that’s a major protection for consumers. Opponents, like Falck, disagree.

“This is still a shift in risk,” Falck says, “a giant increase in rates.” MidAmerican Energy officials say as federal rules make coal-fired plants more expensive to operate, nuclear power is the best option to meet rising consumer demand for electricity.

Filed Under: News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , ,
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