Coal

Despite a metro-area city backing out of the project, representatives for the proposed Big Stone II power facility say they remain optimistic about the plant’s future, while opponents are still saying that it means dirty power for the Dakotas and Minnesota.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously approved the Certificate of Need for a transmission line project necessary for the construction of the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant in Milbank, South Dakota.

Despite a room full of citizens opposed to the plants construction for environmental concerns, many holding signs and some dressed in animal costumes, the PUC did not deliberate on the coal-fired facility itself or the environmental impacts that it may have, focusing instead on the cost of the project and its implications for utility rate payers.

A financial research firm that was ahead of the curve on red-flagging Bear Stearns Companies’ bad investments is now warning a Kansas utility that expanding a coal-burning power plant would also fall under the financially dubious column. Innovest’s report, “Sunflower Electric Power: Carbon Risks Outweigh Benefits of Holcomb Expansion” (pdf), says looming federal carbon legislation [...]

Bank of America is estimating federal carbon regulations will cost coal-burning power plants between $20 and $40 per ton of carbon emissions, according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s more than twice the estimate being used by backers of the proposed Big Stone II power plant in their reports to the state.

A group of utilities [...]

First $100 a barrel oil. Soon $100 per metric ton coal?

Citigroup is forecasting the price of thermal coal will nearly double in 2008-09 from its current price of $55 per ton — and that doesn’t reflect the cost of anticipated carbon regulation. The price spike has more to do with weather than climate: A harsh, [...]

In the news again: A controversial transmission line project that will carry electricity into Minnesota from a new coal-burning power plant beyond our border. I’m not talking about Big Stone II, but rather Arrowhead-Weston, a 220-mile, 800-megawatt transmission line connecting Duluth with Wausau, Wis. Project managers flipped the switch on Tuesday, powering up the line [...]

Representatives of two environmental organizations were given their say at a recent energy forum in Rochester, Minn. Loren Abraham of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society and Chuck Laszewski of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy joined Edward Garvey of the Minnesota Department of Commerce and two representatives from ConocoPhillips at the event sponsored by the [...]