4/17/08

Below are a few letters we received on topics that appeared in the past few weeks. They capture the essence of how many readers say they feel. 

April 16, 2008

Clean air laws are once more mired in the courts. Now petitioners are asking a panel of judges to force the Bush administration to comply with a High Court ruling issued a year ago that said carbon dioxide emissions could be regulated.

In all likelihood, the issue won't be resolved until a new administration takes office. While the Bush administration says that it respects the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, it adds that it must consider several nuances that will have a profound affect on all aspects of the American economy. Critics of the tactic respond that the administration is dragging its feet in an effort to appeal to its industrial backers.

Detroit Gets Green is an effort to recognize that Green is exploding in Detroit -- and it's up to all of us to see the ship and hop on board. It's bigger than any one person, group or event.

To keep in touch with all the many green events happening please visit the calendar at Sustainable Detroit. From there, you'll find educational workshops, conferences, talks, and more.
 
Join us as we unearth new potential for community development: Food, Jobs, Energy. The Financial Institutions Community Development Conference Committee brings this special spring-time event under the theme Detroit Gets Green. The day will include an explosion of useful information, including case studies and a keynote by Soji Adeleja of the MSU Land Policy Institute.

April 14, 2008

Wind power is drawing some fancy suitors. The latest is Germany's E.ON, which just revved up a 335 megawatt plant in Texas. It's part of E.ON's business strategy, which considers North America to be the best market for renewable energy in the world.

Wind's allure is tied to its environmentally-friendly image -- a picture that is now enhanced because of global desires to curb the use of carbon-producing fossil fuels. With U.S. lawmakers and all the presidential candidates now talking about the enactment of legislation to deal with this, wind power's stock is rising. The point is underscored by the fact that the U.S. is now the world's second largest magnet for wind-powered investment.

Monday, April 14, 2008
DAVID EGGERT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

In the battle over global warming, front lines are forming in Bay City and Midland -- proposed sites for Michigan's first large coal-fired power plants since 1984.

If they win the go-ahead, the plants could operate for 50 years. That's an eternity to environmental groups upset that existing coal plants pollute and emit greenhouse gases linked to climate change.

The Midland City Council meets at 7 p.m. today to consider permits needed to build the plant on 32.7 acres on South Saginaw Road at Waldo.

"Why would we make a 50-year commitment to such very old technology?" asked Suzette Zelenak of MidlandCARES, a group opposing a proposed 750-megawatt coal plant in the city. "It's just absolutely backwards thinking."

The $1.9 billion project, intended to serve industrial customers, is a joint venture between LS Power of East Brunswick, N.J., and Houston-based Dynegy Inc.

April 11, 2008

Skills in high technology and sophisticated disciplines hold lots of sway in the New Economy, attracting the younger set that tends to be more educated and in search of upward mobility. But are utilities able to draw the best and brightest?

The power sector is marching forward. The general consensus, however, is that it has done little to make itself appealing to recent graduates. The issue has become accentuated as the industry wrestles with how to replace its now aging workforce. Indeed, challenges abound and notably the transfer of critical knowledge.

April 9, 2008

A government watchdog agency is attacking federal energy regulators, saying that that they are not properly monitoring the convergence among electric and gas utilities -- something that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says is "inaccurate" and reflects a "misunderstanding" of the issues.

The debate centers on whether repeal of the Public Utility Holding Co. Act of 1935 (PUHCA) has worked. By rescinding the law in 2005, both Congress and the administration reasoned it would attract much-needed investment to the utility world by allowing companies to combine operations more easily. But others have feared it might make oversight of the united companies more problematic.