Obama touts Technology. President Obama touts the advantages of Clean Energy and technological innovation to help drive the 21st century economy.)
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Pushing for Energy Legislation, Obama Takes On Critics
President Obama, taking aim at business interests that have lobbied against an energy and climate bill moving through Congress, called on legislators Friday to rally around the push toward greater use of renewable energy.
In a wide-ranging speech on energy and the environment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mr. Obama called for passage of legislation that would make “the best use of resources we have in abundance, through clean coal technology, safe nuclear power, sustainably grown biofuels and energy we harness from wind, waves and sun.”
At the same time, Mr. Obama chided critics of the proposed legislation.
“There are those who will suggest that moving toward clean energy will destroy our economy when it’s the system we currently have that endangers our prosperity and prevents us from creating millions of new jobs,” Mr. Obama said, an apparent reference to the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.
Both organizations oppose the proposal moving through Congress to cap the emissions of greenhouse gases and allow companies to buy and sell permits to pollute. That approach, known as cap and trade, is meant to guarantee that emissions will decline, while providing market incentives for companies to invest in the most cost-effective technologies.
The legislation “provides the largest single boost in scientific research in history,” Mr. Obama said.
“The closer we get, the harder the opposition will fight and the more we’ll hear from those whose interest or ideology runs counter to action,” he added.
Mr. Obama made his remarks after touring a research laboratory at M.I.T. that has been developing what the White House described as “cutting edge clean energy technology.” He checked out a quantum dot lighting project involving a new kind of light-emitting diode, or LED, that gives off whiter light at lower energy cost and could replace existing light bulbs or fluorescent lights.
“There is also another myth we must dispel,” Mr. Obama said in his speech, “and it is one far more dangerous than any attack made by those who wish to stand in the way of progress — and that’s the idea that there is little or nothing we can do. That is the pessimistic notion that our politics are too broken and our people too unwilling to make hard choices. Implicit in this argument is the sense that we’ve lost something important — that fighting American spirit, that willingness to tackle hard challenges and the determination to see those challenges to their end.”
Legislation addressing energy and the related problem of climate change from fossil-fuel emissions faces significant challenges in Congress, where some Democrats remain worried about lost jobs and rising energy costs in the parts of the country most heavily dependent on coal and manufacturing. From the outset, the bill’s proponents have sought to make the case that it will create high-tech jobs and save money on energy costs in the long run.
The Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee will begin hearings next Tuesday on the climate change and energy bill introduced last month by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts — who hitched a ride home to Boston with Mr. Obama aboard Air Force One — and Senator Barbara Boxer of California. Mr. Obama’s speech appeared timed to give the legislation a strong lift-off.
But the timing on any committee action, let alone passage by the full Senate, is highly uncertain and depends not only on the environment committee but also on action by several other Senate committees, not all of them as friendly toward strict caps on emissions. The White House has said it does not expect final Senate action before next year, and certainly not before the big climate change summit in Copenhagen next month.
Mr. Obama’s trip to New England will also include campaign fund-raisers later Friday for Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, and a stop later in Stamford, Conn., to stump for Senator Christopher J. Dodd.
Duke Energy agrees to smaller rate hike
Duke Energy agreed Tuesday to pare its proposed 12.6 percent rate hike for N.C. customers to 7 percent, phased in over two years.
The N.C. Utilities Commission would have to approve the compromise between Charlotte-based Duke and the commission's customer-advocacy arm, called the Public Staff. The commission is scheduled to begin a hearing on the rate request today in Raleigh.
Average monthly bills for residential customers would go up $3.70 in 2010 and $3.61 in 2011, or 7.5percent overall, Duke said. Its initial proposal would have raised residential bills 13.5 percent, or $11.73 a month, beginning in January.
The base-rate increase would be the first since 1991 for Duke's 1.8million N.C. customers.
Public Staff executive director Robert Gruber said it compared Duke's proposal to what utility commissions in other states had allowed. The settlement gives Duke a 10.7 percent return on equity, similar to the 10.6 percent Ohio granted the company in March.
Duke also agreed to temporary measures, such as delaying recovery of financing costs for expanding its Cliffside coal-fired power plant, that will soften the impact on consumers. Those measures effectively reduce an overall 8 percent increase to 7 percent for 2010 and 2011, then rise to 8 percent in 2012.
"Instead of winding up with a $315 million (revenue) increase, they get $276 million," Gruber said. "We think we're doing a good thing by taking advantage of the (measures) to mitigate the impact and come up with a pretty fair agreement, we think, for consumers."
Gruber said he expects some among the nine other formal parties to the rate case to agree to the settlement.
The N.C. Attorney General's staff, which also represents consumers, has asked for a delay in today's hearing to allow more time to analyze the agreement.
"We're talking with them. We haven't signed off on it yet," added Ralph McDonald, a Raleigh lawyer representing some of Duke's industrial customers, which use large amounts of electricity. "We still have a little ways to go."
Duke says it needs more revenue to pay for nearly $4.8 billion in power-plant upgrades since 2006. The increase will also shore up the utility's balance sheet, it said, reassuring Wall Street investors and giving Duke access to favorable credit terms during its building surge.
Duke had initially asked permission to increase its revenues by $496 million.
"We believe this agreement is a reasonable compromise that benefits our customers and the company," Jim Turner, president of Duke's regulated electric and gas operations, said in a statement. Turner said the agreement strikes a balance between a recession-battered economy and the company's growing capital expenses.
In the settlement, Duke agreed to not file another rate case before 2011, instead of in 2010 as expected. Duke also agreed to provisions related to fuel costs, coal inventories and nuclear plant insurance costs, further lowering the rate increase.
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Sources: NY Times, MSNBC, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Google Maps
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