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Where was george?
THE
NEWS
Where Was Georae?
The Energy Bill Ain’t Dead Yet
IN
F
0
C
U
S
herds roaming broad plains, with
Murkowski
snow-capped peaks in the back-
tempts to bring a bill without
ground -
ANWR to the Senate floor will fail.
that most caught the at-
tention of the public. Senate opponents seem willing
(R-Alaska), say at-
Some House staffers had a dif-
and even anxious to resolve the
ferent view. fi[This] just shows
on’t read too much into the
impasse -
that Johnston’s bill is too far
bruising defeat of Sen. Ben-
for one, is worried about oil and
right,” a House staffer said of the
nett Johnston’s (D-La.) energy bill
gas reaction in his reelection effort
Senate vote. Johnston “is just
on November 1.
-but
going to have to move more to
D
Colorado’s Tim Wirth,
the wounds of the floor ef-
fort seem too fresh to attempt a fix
the middle, and less toward the
vorite I&e n&r, say it was the Cor-
just yet. Besides, it’s not clear
administration.
porate Average Fuel Economy
how committed the White House
moderate bill is what’s going to
(CAFE) standards, or opposition
is to ANWR: the more commit-
pass in both bodies.”
Some opponents, citing their fa-
to amending the Public Utility
ted, the harder the Senate vote
Holding Company Act, or stream-
will be.
S
It shows that a
ome sort of reformation process has already begun. A
lined nuclear plant licensing that
And it isn’t as simple as drop-
Senate staffer says Johnston has
prevented Johnston from getting
ping ANWR. Pro-Arctic drilling
met with Sen. Wallop (R-Wyo.),
the 60 votes he needed to bring
supporters need ANWR in any
Deputy Energy Secretary Henson
the bill to a vote.
bill that comes out of the Senate,
Moore and Energy Secretary
because the House Energy and
James Watkins to discuss options,
Commerce Committee -
“including a bill without ANWR.
The truth: it was ANWR -
the
proposal to allow oil and gas dril-
which
ling in the Arctic National Wild-
is working on energy legislation
If Johnston strips ANWR out of
life Refuge. But since members of
of its own -
his bill, he would likely pick up
the Senate and House are said to
over the Arctic. The House com-
between 30 or 40 votes, and “only
be eager to continue working on
mittees that do have jurisdiction
lose a couple,” the staffer pre-
the legislation, don’t count it out
-
Merchant Marine and Interior
dicted.
yet. Specifically, don’t bet that the
-
are both unlikely to take up the
alliance that defeated the bill will
matter soon, House aides say
president’s active support to get
hold together if the ANWR pro-
Alaska oil production boosters,
Republican support for the bill.
visions are stricken from it.
among them Sen. Frank
“How could the president lose
has no jurisdiction
But Johnston will need the
NWithout ANWR, the bill stood a decent chance,” says a staff member for one of the five Democratic senators who led the opposition. ANWR was the emotional black-and-white issue that galvanized environmental groups’ opposition. It was the centerpiece of their fund raising campaigns and the issue most easily explained in door-to-door canvassing.
And it
was the images of ANWR -
tele-
vision newscasts showing caribou The energy bill: between heaven and hell.
8
The Electricity Jouml
T
H
E
those [Republican] votes? I don’t think he was working hard enough,” says one Senate staff member. “I’ve got to agree with the criticism [of the White House],” says another Senate staffer. “They were not passionate about the bill. They didn’t pull out all the stops.” Recent evidence is that the president is going to be much more active in pushing the energy bill. He has begun hosting White House t&zli tZtesfor Republican senators who strayed, so far without evidence of converts, though gains will no doubt come. At some point, Bush will come to a “Sophie’s choice”: his American oilmen friends are outraged that the promising Arctic oilfields may be declared off limits, saying they will just take their marbles overseas. Bush won’t sacrifice ANWR drilling easily, but he may have to let it go to get a bill out of the Senate. And if he can’t pry Senators from his own party away from the opposition, he’ll be unable to blame the bill’s loss on the Democrats. With voters restive about the economy and an election fast approaching that not only voters but the candidates as well seem unready for, this one is hard to call. Brave talk of another Senate vote on cloture before the session seems like whistling in the graveyard. - Kimberly Dozier and h4a y O’Driscoll
December 2991
NEWS
IN
FO
States Push Domestic Coals
TOFuel Switch or Not to Switch, ThereS the Scrub: Utilities Ponder Choices t was called a cheap stick-up and a greedy attempt to bludgeon the ailing West Virginia highsulfur coal industry But both sides agreed on one thing: it worked. These harsh judgments refer to a new kind of hard-sell marketing by West Virginia natural gas com-
I
c u s Last year’s passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments heartened West Virginia gas companies: Harrison, located near Clarksburg, W.Va., was one of the nation’s largest and dirtiest power plants. Fuel-switching to a blend of 90% low-sulfur West Virginia coal and 10% West Virginia natural gas was a cheap and easy solution to the daunting task of cleaning up Harrison, they said. But the new Clean Air law did not make Harrison’s owners Monongahela Power, West Penn Power and Potomac Edison, all subsidiaries of Allegheny Power Systems - any more receptive to the alleged financial and environmental benefits of fuel-switching. So, earlier this year, the gas companies turned off the charm and cranked up the heat: they asked the West Virginia Public Service Commission to mandate fuelswitching at Harrison. he petition infuriated the utilities and coal miners, who accused the gas companies of trying to boost their market share at the expense of a vital state industry, Harrison’s owners, the state’s high-sulfur and low-sulfur coal miners, the West Virginia consumer advocate and the PSC staff all supported installing scrubbers at the power plant. Aside from the gas companies, no energy or consumer group supported fuelswitching as a compliance option. The high-sulfur coal industry, claiming that fuel-switching would be the first step toward its extinction, spent heavily on advertising to convey its gloom-and-
T
panies, led by Hope Gas, a subsidiary of Consolidated Natural Gas. For four years Hope had unsuccessfully tried to convince the owners of the huge Harrison Station that the three-unit, 1,920 MW power plant ought to burn more natural gas. For four years the claims fell on deaf ears. West Virginia’s high-sulfur coal was cheap and plentiful, said Harrison’s owners, and, in contrast to natural gas, coal prices could be predicted for years into the future.
9
NEWS
Where Was Georae?
The Energy Bill Ain’t Dead Yet
IN
F
0
C
U
S
herds roaming broad plains, with
Murkowski
snow-capped peaks in the back-
tempts to bring a bill without
ground -
ANWR to the Senate floor will fail.
that most caught the at-
tention of the public. Senate opponents seem willing
(R-Alaska), say at-
Some House staffers had a dif-
and even anxious to resolve the
ferent view. fi[This] just shows
on’t read too much into the
impasse -
that Johnston’s bill is too far
bruising defeat of Sen. Ben-
for one, is worried about oil and
right,” a House staffer said of the
nett Johnston’s (D-La.) energy bill
gas reaction in his reelection effort
Senate vote. Johnston “is just
on November 1.
-but
going to have to move more to
D
Colorado’s Tim Wirth,
the wounds of the floor ef-
fort seem too fresh to attempt a fix
the middle, and less toward the
vorite I&e n&r, say it was the Cor-
just yet. Besides, it’s not clear
administration.
porate Average Fuel Economy
how committed the White House
moderate bill is what’s going to
(CAFE) standards, or opposition
is to ANWR: the more commit-
pass in both bodies.”
Some opponents, citing their fa-
to amending the Public Utility
ted, the harder the Senate vote
Holding Company Act, or stream-
will be.
S
It shows that a
ome sort of reformation process has already begun. A
lined nuclear plant licensing that
And it isn’t as simple as drop-
Senate staffer says Johnston has
prevented Johnston from getting
ping ANWR. Pro-Arctic drilling
met with Sen. Wallop (R-Wyo.),
the 60 votes he needed to bring
supporters need ANWR in any
Deputy Energy Secretary Henson
the bill to a vote.
bill that comes out of the Senate,
Moore and Energy Secretary
because the House Energy and
James Watkins to discuss options,
Commerce Committee -
“including a bill without ANWR.
The truth: it was ANWR -
the
proposal to allow oil and gas dril-
which
ling in the Arctic National Wild-
is working on energy legislation
If Johnston strips ANWR out of
life Refuge. But since members of
of its own -
his bill, he would likely pick up
the Senate and House are said to
over the Arctic. The House com-
between 30 or 40 votes, and “only
be eager to continue working on
mittees that do have jurisdiction
lose a couple,” the staffer pre-
the legislation, don’t count it out
-
Merchant Marine and Interior
dicted.
yet. Specifically, don’t bet that the
-
are both unlikely to take up the
alliance that defeated the bill will
matter soon, House aides say
president’s active support to get
hold together if the ANWR pro-
Alaska oil production boosters,
Republican support for the bill.
visions are stricken from it.
among them Sen. Frank
“How could the president lose
has no jurisdiction
But Johnston will need the
NWithout ANWR, the bill stood a decent chance,” says a staff member for one of the five Democratic senators who led the opposition. ANWR was the emotional black-and-white issue that galvanized environmental groups’ opposition. It was the centerpiece of their fund raising campaigns and the issue most easily explained in door-to-door canvassing.
And it
was the images of ANWR -
tele-
vision newscasts showing caribou The energy bill: between heaven and hell.
8
The Electricity Jouml
T
H
E
those [Republican] votes? I don’t think he was working hard enough,” says one Senate staff member. “I’ve got to agree with the criticism [of the White House],” says another Senate staffer. “They were not passionate about the bill. They didn’t pull out all the stops.” Recent evidence is that the president is going to be much more active in pushing the energy bill. He has begun hosting White House t&zli tZtesfor Republican senators who strayed, so far without evidence of converts, though gains will no doubt come. At some point, Bush will come to a “Sophie’s choice”: his American oilmen friends are outraged that the promising Arctic oilfields may be declared off limits, saying they will just take their marbles overseas. Bush won’t sacrifice ANWR drilling easily, but he may have to let it go to get a bill out of the Senate. And if he can’t pry Senators from his own party away from the opposition, he’ll be unable to blame the bill’s loss on the Democrats. With voters restive about the economy and an election fast approaching that not only voters but the candidates as well seem unready for, this one is hard to call. Brave talk of another Senate vote on cloture before the session seems like whistling in the graveyard. - Kimberly Dozier and h4a y O’Driscoll
December 2991
NEWS
IN
FO
States Push Domestic Coals
TOFuel Switch or Not to Switch, ThereS the Scrub: Utilities Ponder Choices t was called a cheap stick-up and a greedy attempt to bludgeon the ailing West Virginia highsulfur coal industry But both sides agreed on one thing: it worked. These harsh judgments refer to a new kind of hard-sell marketing by West Virginia natural gas com-
I
c u s Last year’s passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments heartened West Virginia gas companies: Harrison, located near Clarksburg, W.Va., was one of the nation’s largest and dirtiest power plants. Fuel-switching to a blend of 90% low-sulfur West Virginia coal and 10% West Virginia natural gas was a cheap and easy solution to the daunting task of cleaning up Harrison, they said. But the new Clean Air law did not make Harrison’s owners Monongahela Power, West Penn Power and Potomac Edison, all subsidiaries of Allegheny Power Systems - any more receptive to the alleged financial and environmental benefits of fuel-switching. So, earlier this year, the gas companies turned off the charm and cranked up the heat: they asked the West Virginia Public Service Commission to mandate fuelswitching at Harrison. he petition infuriated the utilities and coal miners, who accused the gas companies of trying to boost their market share at the expense of a vital state industry, Harrison’s owners, the state’s high-sulfur and low-sulfur coal miners, the West Virginia consumer advocate and the PSC staff all supported installing scrubbers at the power plant. Aside from the gas companies, no energy or consumer group supported fuelswitching as a compliance option. The high-sulfur coal industry, claiming that fuel-switching would be the first step toward its extinction, spent heavily on advertising to convey its gloom-and-
T
panies, led by Hope Gas, a subsidiary of Consolidated Natural Gas. For four years Hope had unsuccessfully tried to convince the owners of the huge Harrison Station that the three-unit, 1,920 MW power plant ought to burn more natural gas. For four years the claims fell on deaf ears. West Virginia’s high-sulfur coal was cheap and plentiful, said Harrison’s owners, and, in contrast to natural gas, coal prices could be predicted for years into the future.
9