Blog

Washington, D.C., February 20, 2014 – The wicked winter of 2014 and what may have been a terrorist attack on a California electric substation last year were on the minds of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today, although not on the formal FERC agenda. First, a weather report. After experiencing two mild winters, this year […]

Washington, D.C., February 18, 2014 – Climatologist Judith Curry, dean of the Georgia Tech School of Earth and Atmospheric Science, is a heretic to those who embrace the conventional litany about global warming. Once a devotee the accepted view, in recent years she has raised the yellow flag of skepticism. That’s made her a target […]

Washington, D.C., February 12, 2014 – As Valentines’ Day approaches, here’s a love note to the environmental movement. It has done so much over the past century-and-a-half to call attention to the assaults of modern, industrial society: Destruction of wilderness, attacks on vulnerable species; emissions of noxious chemicals into our air and water. The world […]

Washington, D.C., February 2, 2014 – Imagine, a techno-thriller for power geeks and grid gurus? Well, that’s just what the father-son team of Pat and Chris Hoffman have delivered in their book “Fury of the Fifth Angel.” When I started reading the book, within the first five pages I was reminded of the fine sci-fi […]

Washington, D.C., January 21, 2014 – Sorry, I confess I just don’t get it. Why is the Department of Energy still negotiating with the Southern Company for a below-market loan to finish construction of two more units at Georgia Power’s Vogtle nuclear plant? The utility says it will go it alone if the Obama administration […]

Washington, D.C., January 13, 2014 – The Obama administration could avoid a patch of trouble this icy season by naming Cheryl LaFleur, acting chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, as the permanent chairman. At the same time, the administration should soon name another Democrat with industry credentials as the third member of its political […]

My earlier post graded my first five predictions for 2013. This post grades the remaining five posts and suggests my overall grade for 2013.   In past years, my best overall grade was a B+. I’m still hopeful I can better that score. 5. The EPA Fracks Gas. On the same day the Environmental Protection Agency […]

Washington, D.C., January 7, 2014 – The twitterverse, particularly the region where the bird is green, was aflutter over the Sunday, January 5, “60 Minutes” TV piece by Leslie Stahl on the failures of the Obama administration’s program to use economic stimulus money to push development of green energy technologies. It’s title: “The Cleantech Crash.” […]

I have presented my top 10 predictions for the year in the January issue for the past several years. I then graded myself against the actual events of the year and presented the results at the end of that year. My grades over the past three years ranged from mid- to high-B, which wasn’t bad […]

Washington, D.C., January 3, 2014 – Senate Energy Committee Chairman Mary Landrieu? That’s likely in the second session of the 113th Congress, with the Louisiana Democrat moving up to take over a committee vitally important to U.S. energy interests (and to her home state of Louisiana, which is an important component of this story). It […]