PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS VOICE

PSC COMMISSIONER PRESLEY SLAMS MISS. POWER CO.

doctom2010 — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:44:19 +0000

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013306040017 FROM THE CLARION LEDGER.COM

But project, he says, ‘past point of no return’

Jun. 3, 2013 4 Comments

Written by Geoff Pender

Brandon Pressley

Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley on Monday blasted Mississippi Power’s embattled and over-budget Kemper County coal plant, but noted the $4.3 billion project is “past the point of no return” and “too big to fail.”

“The decision has been made, and the train is on the track,” Northern District Commissioner Presley said. “I feel for those 185,000 customers on the Coast that are going to have to pay for this. Let’s hope it works.”

Presley spoke at the Stennis Institute of Government’s monthly press luncheon on Monday. Presley has often been the lone dissenting vote on the three-member commission as it has granted various approval for the “clean-coal” plant the company is building in Kemper County. The company had originally pledged to build the plant — much of which rate payers will finance — for $2.4 billion.

“This is the greatest transfer of wealth from customers to a monopoly in the history of the state of Mississippi,” Presley said. “Where are all these so-called conservatives on that?”

The PSC this year approved a 15 percent rate increase for Mississippi Power customers to finance the plant, to be followed by a 3 percent increase next year. The company is expected to seek another 2 percent to 4 percent increase later.

Last month saw the abrupt departure of Mississippi Power’s president and a vice president shortly after the PSC learned documents about cost overruns were withheld. The company announced it was another $540 million over budget, but said shareholders of its parent, Southern Co. would cover those costs.

The state Legislature this year approved a bill allowing Mississippi Power to sell up to $1 billion in bonds for overruns.

Mississippi Power spokesman Jeff Shepard, in a written statement on Monday said: “Mississippi Power believes the Kemper County energy facility remains the best option to ensure clean, safe, reliable energy for our customers at a stable price for decades to come. … the company had a specific need for an additional baseload unit — a plant that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. … The project is a massive pioneer effort on the cutting edge of technology and is expected to offer significant long-term benefits to customers. We have worked hard to minimize the rate impact to our customers and we will continue to work with the PSC and provide any and all information they request as we continue the construction of this state-of-the-art facility.”

(Page 2 of 2)

Presley said he is unchanged in his belief that the plant was too ambitious for the company, and the technology untried. But power company and other state officials have said Mississippi Power needs to diversify its sources of energy and not be too dependent on natural gas.

Duke Energy is building a similar plant in Indiana. That plant, too, has seen delays and cost overruns, inflating its price from $1.9 billion to $3.5 billion, part of which ratepayers will cover with their utility bills.

Presley said that early on, former Gov. Haley Barbour, Gov. Phil Bryant and other conservative state leaders lobbied hard for approval of the plant.

“Elected officials were saying, ‘Please pass this plant,’” Presley said. “But then they’ve been lockjawed and mute on the impact it’s having on the family budget and the small business budget. … I am just blown away by so-called conservative groups saying it’s OK to raise people’s utility rates. If there was a 20-percent increase in property taxes, they would be marching in the streets.

“What’s awful and outrageous is a senior citizen on the Coast having to split a pill in half so they can pay their power bill,” Presley said. “This is an area already hit by Katrina and the BP oil spill.”

“They want their monopoly status, but don’t want any, any, any responsibility to the rate-paying public … If this was such a wonderful idea, why didn’t they go to Wall Street and get the money instead of asking little old ladies and small businesses to put up the money?”

RAMPANT CORPORATE FASCISM IN MISSISSIPPI WITH “THE GREAT KEMPER DEBACLE”

doctom2010 — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:35:16 +0000

The blog focuses on several articles which have been published in the last two months on what I have come to call, “The Great Kemper “Clean Coal” Debacle. It has been called other names like a “boondoggle”, a scam, a theft, etc. But it is going to be an impending disaster for the State of Mississippi and I give that at least an 80% probability. It will take a miracle for that to change.

But it is also a prime example of Corporate Fascism at work. That’s when a corporation or a group of corporations also “merge” with the government and take control. In this case, the primary culprit is the Southern Co. which is the owner of Miss. Power. What they have tried to do is to buy the executive and legislative branches of the Mississippi Government, and its agencies, to authorize a totally unwise expenditure and charge it to the citizenry (rate payers) even before there is ample proof that this is prudent. And Miss. Power is, of course, a regulated monopoly. Have you ever tried to buy your electricity from another supplier? It is not unlike being controlled by a mafia ring and the primary mafioso members are the CEO of the Southern Co. Tom Fanniing and the CEO of Miss. Power, Ed Day.

The way corporate fascism succeeds is that it also gains control of the media. In this case, Miss. Power has shown clearly that it has control of the Sun Herald, the major newspaper in So. MS and WLOX, the major TV station. How does that work? It’s simple; you just fork over the dollars. It’s exactly the way they have worked with the executive and legislative branches.

These articles are from the “alternate”, non corporate media for the most part though there are other publications outside of So. MS which have also made reports. I have focused on two outstanding publications, Emmerich Newspapers (Northside Sun) and a blog site, Bigger Pie Forum. These two are fearless in this matter and present objective views of what is happening even though the environmental aspects of this enormous debacle are not adequately presented. Why won’t these articles appear locally? Because of what I said in the paragraph above! It’s basically the same reason they won’t touch the blogs I have been writing for at least 18 months or even some “Letters to the Editors”.

Thomas Baldwin, Biloxi, MS

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Court rules in favor of Bigger Pie public records request

Complete article: http://www.biggerpieforum.org/blog/court-rules-favor-bigger-pie-public-records-request

Posted by Amy McCullough on April 19, 2013

UPDATE APRIL 22: Hearing on Bigger Pie Forum’s contempt motion is 9 a.m. tomorrow, April 23 in Hinds County Chancery Court, 316 S. President St., Jackson, Miss. in Judge Dewayne Thomas’ court room.

*******************

Hinds County Chancery Court has ruled that the Mississippi Public Service Commission must give Bigger Pie Forum records related to the Kemper County clean coal plant.

>> Read the judge’s order here.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission has failed to comply with the order from Chancellor Dewayne Thomas.

In July 2012, Bigger Pie Forum filed a public records request with the Commission requesting records containing Mississippi Power Company’s 2009 natural gas price forecasts that were used to economically justify the company’s $3-billion clean coal plant under construction in Kemper County. The case was heard in September.

Miss. Public Service Commission fails to comply with court order

http://proactvoice.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/cororate-fascism-in-ms-cost-of-kemper-power-plant-keeps-growing/

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Cost of Kemper power plant keeps growing

FROM THE DELTA DEMOCRAT TIMES—4-21-2013

Wyatt Emmerich

Posted: Sunday, April 21, 2013 12:00 am

While Mississippi Power was building the $4 billion Kemper coal plant, Entergy bought a natural gas plant for $250 million — one twelfth the cost per kilowatt.

Last year, South Mississippi Electric Power Association purchased an 837 megawatt 12-year-old gas plant in Batesville for $286 million. Per kilowatt, the Kemper plant is 19 times more expensive than the Batesville gas plant.

Natural gas plants are proven technology. The Kemper lignite gasification plant uses a new technology that has never been applied on a commercial scale.

Mississippi Power and its regulatory agency, the Mississippi Public Service Commission, have made a huge bet that natural gas priceswill rise. So far, the opposite has happened. This bad decision could cost 356,000 households in our state an extra $580 a year on their power bill. If Kemper doesn’t meet its rosy operating projections, the price tag could easily be a thousand dollars per household per year.

According to its 2011 annual report, Mississippi Power has 3.2 gigawatts, of generating capacity without Kemper. The average daily need is 1.7 gigawatts and the all-time peak is 2.9. In addition, Mississippi Power can always buy electricity from other power plants for less than it costs to produce from its own plants. So why was Kemper needed? Mississippi Power states in its annual report that its old coal plants can be retrofitted with scrubbers for $330 million and be EPA compliant. Why not do that instead?

Continued at link posted above and here:

http://proactvoice.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/cororate-fascism-in-ms-cost-of-kemper-power-plant-keeps-growing/

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http://www.biggerpieforum.org/op-ed/mississippi%E2%80%99s-psc-not-looking-out-mississippians

Mississippi’s PSC is not looking out for Mississippians

By Wyatt Emmerich,

President, Northside Sun Newspaper

I attended my first Public Service Commission (PSC) hearing last week. I was not impressed.

Because power companies have monopolies, the PSC Is there to protect the consumer. But that’s not what I witnessed. Instead, PSC commissioner Leonard Bentz seemed irritated at some of the citizens who showed up to protest the new rate hikes precipitated by the new $3.7 billion Kemper lignite plant.

Bentz started the meeting by complaining about “misinformation” published by various reporters and columnists. I guess that includes me.

During a break, I approached Bentz, gave him my card and told him I would be happy to meet with him to straighten out any misinformation. I was not warmly received.

I can certainly understand the pressure Bentz feels. It would make me testy as well. But what about the 300,000 or so utility customers who will soon see a 25 percent increase in their utility bills?

Bentz takes issue with Sierra Club reports indicating rates will eventually go up 60 percent or more. He pointed out that the rate increase is 25 percent, not 60 percent. Regarding this first rate increase, he is correct. But who said this will be the last? It could well be the first of many.

The question is, why are rates going up at all? As a businessman, I buy new equipment to lower my cost of production, not raise it. I don’t recall any brownouts in Southeast Mississippi. So why was this plant built in the first place?

The tab for the new plant is $3.7 billion and rising rapidly. The total number of customers served by the plant is about 300,000 – about a fourth of the state. That comes to $12,000 per utility customer on average. The interest and principal to pay that off over 20 years could easily top $1,000 per year per customer. That’s why tensions are running high. …

The Southern Company will be looking to its Mississippi customers to pay for the cost of the plant, sooner or later.

There is something very wrong when a company making $3.75 billion in operating profit can force utility customers in the poorest state to pay for an experimental $3.7 billion power plant that isn’t even needed. …

A full-scale natural gas plant would have cost one-sixth as much and produced 50 percent more electricity.

Any private company would have pulled the plug long ago. But that’s not how it works in the world of a regulated monopoly. Instead, the Southern Company will spend millions to lobby influential government officials and make Mississippi’s families swallow a huge increase in their monthly power bills. This is the very thing the PSC was designed to prevent. Instead, the commission is enabling it. …

I have written about this misguided project for years now. Never once has anyone from Southern or the PSC disputed my facts or attempted to show me the light. I hope to meet with Southern Company officials in the near future and visit the plant. Nothing would make me happier than to discover I am completely wrong, for I feel sad that this economic albatross is going to be around the neck of my beloved state for the next 40 years. This is 72 times the size of the beef plant.

I recall taking a government course in college about how regulatory agencies end up getting cooped and manipulated by the very industries they are supposed to regulate. As far as I can tell, this is precisely what has happened here. Monopolies are simply bad for society. Don’t try to regulate them. Break them up and allow consumers choice. Given a choice of electricity providers, I seriously doubt many Mississippi utility customers would have chosen the one with the highest price – even if it is bleeding edge technology.

A longer version of this editorial appeared in the Northside Sun and other newspapers. Read the full version here.

Wyatt Emmerich can be reached at wyatt@northsidesun.com

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http://www.biggerpieforum.org/op-ed/kemper-coal-plant-will-have-everyday-high-priced-electricity

The Kemper coal plant will have everyday high-priced electricity

By Ashby M. Foote III
Bigger Pie Forum board president

This is an excerpt from the full version of this editorial which ran in The Clarion-Ledger on March 30, 2013.

You may have missed it but Mississippi Power (MP), the electric utility serving 23 counties in Southeast Mississippi, recently posted a blockbuster 57% increase in earnings for 2012. Headlines for this newsworthy item were hard to find, one had to dig to page II-359 ofSouthern Company’s (MP’s parent company) annual 10K filing with the S.E.C. to find the report. So just how good was 57% earnings growth in the lackluster economy of 2012? It was better than 95% of the companies in the S&P 500 index and better than all but one of the 33 U.S. publicly traded electric utilities. Or consider the premier growth company Wal-Mart, in 2012 they grew earnings by just 12% on sales growth of 5%. In short, +57% is the type profit growth that keeps Wall Street types drooling.

Even more amazing is that MP achieved this $54 million increase in profits in a year where they sold fewer kilowatt hours (kWh) and saw total revenues fall by 6.9%. Huh? Anyone who has ever run a lemonade stand is probably asking, “How do you increase profits by $54 million when production and sales are declining?” That is an important question. (Continued at link above)

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FROM NORTHSIDE SUN, MARCH 12, 2013

Kemper coal plant will cost our state thousands of jobs

By Rich Sun

Over the course of a 40-year career in banking and investing, I have rarely seen a project that makes less sense than the lignite mine and gasification plant under construction in Kemper County by Mississippi Power Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company. From the estimates compiled by the Bigger Pie Forum and their engineering consultants, it appears that the gasifier and mine impose about $300 million of unnecessary excess annual costs on the 185,000 families and businesses in the Mississippi Power Company service area, compared to building a standard gas-fired generating plant.

The $300 million is an estimate by outsiders without access to Mississippi Power’s detailed estimates. The actual excess will vary with gas prices, and Kemper’s operating costs and efficiencies ….. Mississippi Power has been unusually opaque in its filings; many of its filings have been confidential and available only to the Public Service Commission and staff. The recent Special Purpose Entity (shell company) bond financing signed by the governor may reduce financing costs by a fraction, but is a bailout of Mississippi Power cost overruns beyond what had been approved by the PSC.

One thing is clear: At the time when Mississippi Power committed to build the mine and gasifier and ever since then, all public independent forecasts of gas prices have shown the mine and gasifier more expensive by far.

Southern has given several reasons for building Kemper; on close examination, none of them appears to justify the excess cost.

Higher taxes paid by Mississippi Power: Southern states that Kemper increases the tax base and tax receipts to the state and local governments from Mississippi Power. All those taxes are paid from ratepayers’ electricity bills.

The portion of construction and operating costs of Kemper that are necessary and prudent – the cost of the turbine electric generator (probably under $1 billion) – increase tax receipts reasonably. Mississippi residents will pay $300 million a year in higher electricity rates for Mississippi Power Company to recover the excess construction costs of the mine and gasifier ($3.8 billion versus $1 billion or less), the operating costs of the mine and gasifier and the taxes on both capital and operating costs.

If I sell you a dollar’s worth of goods for two dollars, you lose the extra dollar and sales tax on the extra dollar. How do you feel about the taxes on the overcharge? That is how you should feel about most of the increase in taxes Southern claims from Kemper.

Jobs: Southern Company has identified about three percent of its shareholders as Mississippi residents (there may be more since some registrations are in “street name”) and a portion of the cost will be spent locally. In any case, the vast majority of that $300 million is going out of state and will be a massive drain on the local economy.

The Kemper plant will employ about 250 workers when in operation, some of whom will be high-skilled workers from out of state. We estimate that job loss in the service area from the $300 million of excess electricity cost could be 5,000 to 15,000 jobs. Using an annual cost per employee of $60,000 (a high number) gives the 5,000 estimate; using the typical multiplier from the primary jobs (and perhaps lower costs per job) produces the 15,000 jobs lost.

So Mississippi gets 250 jobs at Kemper and loses 5,000 to 15,000 jobs: how is that good for Mississippi?

Natural gas price risk: Mississippi Power says building Kemper protects ratepayers from the price volatility of natural gas. Gas does vary in price. But if the cost of power from gas is always lower than from lignite, why pay for lignite?

Southern had the option to start construction of the mine and gasifier at Kemper if natural gas rose enough beyond the forecast levels to make the mine and gasifier economic. There was no need to build it immediately. Hedges could have reduced price increases during the construction period

If Kemper is such a bad idea, why aren’t businesses and local leaders speaking out against Kemper?

First, Mississippi Power has run a superficially effective public relations campaign, including heavy lobbying, commercials and multiple four-color full-page ads touting Kemper’s benefits – citing jobs, taxes and price stability, but has never documented any lower cost electricity compared to building a standard gas fired generating plant.

Second, because utilities usually pass through only legitimate costs, as reviewed and confirmed by the regulators, the business community does not look closely at utilities.

Third, the relevant facts and analysis were not available until recently.

Very few, if any, senior executives of well-run companies would approve a project like Kemper; the risk to their finances and reputation from the high operating and capital costs, and unproven technology would be far too great. They are experts in their own businesses, not so in electrical generation.

Rich Sun, a Northsider, was an investment banker with Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, UBS and an investor with a global private equity firm backed by the World Bank, AIG, GE and Singapore. He arranged, advised or invested in 100 private transactions valued at over $11 billion, 60 percent of which were in the energy sector. Since 2001, he has been engaged in backing early-stage, high-potential companies.

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Bigger Pie Forum is a discussion platform. Views expressed in this column are the opinions of the author and are not official opinions of the Bigger Pie Forum board or employees. Articles published in February-April 2013.

http://www.biggerpieforum.org/op-ed/kemper

Blog posts in kemper

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Posted by: Amy McCullough on April 19, 2013

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Cororate Fascism in MS: Cost of Kemper power plant keeps growing

doctom2010 — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:34:58 +0000

This is a very important article by Wyatt Emmerich, publisher and owner of Emmerich Newspapers and the Northside Sun. Louie Miller of the State Sierra Club had first distributed this via email but I just found this version in print with the Delta Democrat Times. Emmerich has been consistently one of our best allies in presenting the truth. Isn’t that a contrast we get from our local corporate press, the Sun Herald? I wonder if the fact that they continually yield to Miss. Power has anything to do with it?? hahahahaha–Thomas Baldwin.

FROM THE DELTA DEMOCRAT TIMES—4-21-2013

Cost of Kemper power plant keeps growing

Greg Campbell

Wyatt Emmerich

Greg Campbell

Wyatt Emmerich

Posted: Sunday, April 21, 2013 12:00 am

0 comments

While Mississippi Power was building the $4 billion Kemper coal plant, Entergy bought a natural gas plant for $250 million — one twelfth the cost per kilowatt.

Natural gas plants are proven technology. The Kemper lignite gasification plant uses a new technology that has never been applied on a commercial scale.

MP officials are predicting Kemper will only cost $20 million a year to operate because sales of CO2, ammonia and other by-products will offset operating costs.Two problems here: The rosy forecasts of by-product sales could fail to materialize. And the operating and maintenance costs could well be far in excess of forecasts.For instance, MP projects $27 million a year in maintenance for a plant that cost $4 billion. That’s about half of one percent of the cost of the plant. Not likely for the 40-year life of the plant.

From 1990 through 2004, natural gas prices averaged around three dollars. From 2005 to 2008 gas prices suddenly spiked to eight dollars. At that price, the Kemper lignite plant could possibly be competitive with gas. In 2009, natural gas prices dropped back down to historical levels and have stayed there. With fracking, cheap natural gas is projected for years to come.

Dozens of coal projects were shelved when the price of natural gas dropped in 2009. The four billion dollar question is why the Kemper plant proceeded with construction — despite the fact that its authorization was under appeal.

As it turns out, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in 2011 against Kemper, throwing Kemper, the PSC and Mississippi Power into disarray. The high court said Kemper’s construction was not supported by “substantial evidence” and remanded its approval back to the PSC.

This was a problem. The plant was already under construction. Over a billion had been spent. What was the rush? Kemper could have been altered to burn natural gas and the coal gasification could have been added later if gas prices did indeed double.Or Southern, Mississippi Power’s parent, could have paid for the chemical plant and kept the by-product sales, leaving Mississippians to pay for the only thing they want — affordable electricity. Southern had $2.35 billion in profit last year.

Southern will not release its forecasts of natural gas prices. It’s a trade secret, they say. Experts are predicting low gas prices for years to come. Even if gas prices double in 10 years, losses in the meantime will make it hard for Kemper to ever break even.

Entergy customers pay about a third less for electricity than Mississippi Power customers. And that was before the recent 22.69 percent rate hike approved last month by the PSC to fund Kemper.(Press releases touted the increase as only 12 percent, but my calculations were confirmed by company officials.)

Here’s the reality: The bigger the project, the more money Southern makes because they get a guaranteed return on their investment of about 10 percent.

There are huge cost overruns. Three hundred Mississippi contractors are involved, including Mississippi’s Yates Construction as the recently-fired general contractor. Kemper has grown from $1.8 billion to $3.9 billion and rising. The independent auditor for the project concluded in November that Southern “is not utilizing some basic project management and project control tools and techniques that are available and customarily used in the industry for a project of this magnitude.”

There is something wrong when millions of Southern Company stockholders can benefit by foisting an experimental technology on the poorest state in the country.

That’s why we have a Public Service Commission — to protect the public against the power company’s monopoly. Democrat Brandon Presley voted against Kemper because he didn’t think the technology would work. Such a disaster could cost Mississippi $300 million a year. It would be the beef plant times 80.

The other two commissioners, Lynn Posey and Leonard Bentz, Republicans, have supported Kemper lock step. Bentz was appointed by Haley Barbour, whose lobbying firm has received $2.6 million in payments from Southern Company. Getting the picture?

At Southern’s annual stockholders meeting, an investment firm raised the issue of political transparency. Southern does not disclose the recipients of its lobbying and political payments. It is in the tens of millions, perhaps more. New U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow companies to contribute an unlimited amount to whomever they please — even a company that depends on public officials for its profitability. For Southern, it has been money well spent.

There has yet to be a final prudency hearing on Kemper. That means it’s not too late for the Mississippi PSC or even the Mississippi Supreme Court to exit this bad deal. Unfortunately, that would require a change of heart of two PSC commissioners.

The defense of Kemper by Bentz and Posey rests on one concept — diversification of energy. They fear the volatility of natural gas.

There are three problems with this analysis: First, Mississippi Power is already diversified. Forty percent of its power comes from coal already, without Kemper. Second, volatility means natural gas prices can go down, as well as up. Placing a $4 billion dollar bet either way is extremely risky. Third, Bentz and Posey have bet on the wrong side. Gas prices have dropped like a rock and are forecast to remain low for many years to come.

Posey and Bentz said Kemper will last 40 years and who knows what will happen over that length of time. Indeed, who knows? That’s why Kemper was profoundly imprudent. It’s time for the PSC to admit it and take remedial action. If not, the Mississippi Supreme Court should do it for them.

Wyatt Emmerich is the owner of Emmerich Newspapers.

Reed says GOP officials ‘duped’ by MPC

doctom2010 — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 21:18:45 +0000

This is a very significant publication and should show everyone that the issue with Miss. Power,the Southern Co. and the infamous MS Public Service Commission led by Leonard Bentz is not a political partisan issue. It is about blatant corporate fascism in the State of MS and it will destroy us soon if we don’t vehemently oppose it.–Tom

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dl/article?AID=/201304120100/OPINION/304120012

Reed says GOP officials ‘duped’ by MPC

Apr. 11, 2013 2:55 PM |

0 Comments

Written by

Bill Minor

FILED UNDER

Opinion
Haley Barbour

You’d hardly expect to hear a diehard Reagan-era Mississippi Republican sharply criticizing a big utility company for building a costly, unneeded — and experimental — generating plant with endorsement from state GOP leadership.

Well, it has happened. Clarke Reed, of Greenville, pioneer of the state’s modern GOP, has spoken out against the controversial $4 billion lignite-fueled plant being built by Mississippi Power Company in Kemper County. MPC is the subsidiary of the Georgia-based Southern Company.

Reed, 84, both in an interview with Bigger Pie Forum the conservative economic advocacy group, as well as this writer, has broadly implied that not only former Gov. Haley Barbour but the state’s current elected Republican leadership were “duped” by the utility monopoly into throwing their support behind the Kemper plant.

Reed was outraged that the Kemper project would become the “signature” legislation of the first Republican-controlled state executive branch since Reconstruction. “It proves Republicans are for millionaires and don’t give a damn about the state,” Reed told BPF, adding “I think it is a political issue that could be used against us for years.”

The Kemper plant marks the first attempt to use lignite, a soft peat-like form of coal with low combustible quality that underlies a broad area of east-central Mississippi, in the generation of electricity. Using a large volume of water, it is to be converted into synthetic natural gas to fire generators.

Reed asks the same question that many outspoken Kemper critics have asked: “Why spend $4 billion to build a lignite-fueled power plant when you could build a natural gas plant for $800 million? It’s totally foolish. We’re going to have more natural gas down here than we’ll ever need.” The Greenville businessman added the argument of lignite proponents that natural gas is more expensive to use has been demolished by new technology to extract the gas from shale formations which he called a “game changer … there’s no way natural gas (price) is going to spike up.”

The longtime state Republican leader would not specifically embrace the term “conflict of interest” that Barbour is a staunch advocate for building the Kemper plant while the Southern Company is a client of Barbour’s Washington, D.C., lobbying firm. Reed, who was influential in launching Barbour’s rise in national GOP politics as a legislative aide in the Reagan White House, said he didn’t believe the former governor saw the Southern Company connection as a conflict. But he did not exclude Barbour in saying “how could our elected officials have been duped into this thing.”

Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, a Democrat, waged a lonely three-year battle on the commission trying to block Mississippi Power’s Kemper plant scheme. Presley has charged MPC’s making ratepayers bear the cost during the plant’s construction amounts “corporate socialism.”

Ironically, now a founding father of the modern Mississippi GOP has arrived at practically the same conclusion about the Kemper plant. Reed, who is still recovering from a near-fatal automobile collision several months ago, contended that Southern Company “bought” Mississippi’s government, by investing $5 million on lobbyists and getting a $4 billion return. “Where could they get a better return than that?”

The gray-maned Republican warhorse charged that “people are going to wake up at some point and see what happened.” Reed added that GOP political opponents will begin to say “When those Republicans came in — those conservatives that we thought were going to do everything right — look what we got out of it.” He concluded: “We ought to be thrown out.”

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Contact Bill Minor through Ed Inman at edinman@earthlink.net.

Model for Uniting the Progressive Movement

doctom2010 — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 03:21:37 +0000

United Progressive Movement Diagram (preliminary posting)

“CLEAN COAL” IS A SCI-FI WET DREAM OF DESPERATE ELECTRICAL UTILITIES

doctom2010 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:01:02 +0000

By Thomas Baldwin, Biloxi, MS

March 18, 2013

This is a brief paper which summarizes some of what has been reported on the technology associated with IGCC (coal gasification) power plants around the world. As everyone may not recognize, the Kemper Coal Plant in Mississippi utilizes the latest technology to build a power plant to generate over 500 Megawatts of electricity. As power plants go, this is not a huge plant by generation standards.but it does represent a huge expense imposed on the citizenry of Mississippi to pay for this impending debacle. Although I will focus on the probability here of success, I will also comment on the financial aspects later. I will leave the environmental aspects of this experiment for others who know much more than I do about this particular project. I want to keep it as simple as I can!

Although the illustrious “genius” and the chairman of the three members of our MS Public Service Commission, Leonard Bentz, has maintained this technology has been “thoroughly tested”, I contend that he is does not even understand this project and merely a stooge for Miss. Power and its parent, the Southern Co.of GA. I don’t believe he understands anything about the technology or anything about the risks and potential hardships involved for the citizenry/ratepayers of Mississippi. He actually publicly scolded us in the most recent PSC hearing he chaired in Jackson to grant Miss. Power rate increases to pay for this boondoggle and ultimate debacle. He accused all of us for putting out false information. Thus, he immediately showed his lack of understanding and disrespect in an afternoon session of the cost implications. As Forrest Gump told us: ”Stupid is as stupid does.” Mr. Bentz should watch the movie “Forrest Gump” again.

So let us explore briefly the record of “clean coal” technology to generate electrical power. I will include my sources here for you to read but frankly it ain’t rocket science to understand the scam and atrocity being imposed on us in the State of MS. So I will attempt to summarize as best I can.

THE HISTORY AND RECORD OF IGCC (COAL GASIFICATION) PLANTS

There are numerous sources here which you can easily explore yourself just by searching (Google). I will present a few of those here and present excerpts from those articles. This is about the plant that the Southern Co. (yes the parent of Miss. Power!) is attempting to build in China! I will add to that the experience of Duke Power in Indiana. Oh how wonderful this “web” of progress, huh?

Some Recent History

This source now is nearly a year old but is still significant. Read this message!!

“GreenGen and the handful of other IGCC coal plants in various stages of construction worldwide—including another plant in China and two in the United States—are the sole survivors among dozens of IGCC projects proposed and shelved over the past decade. Most fell by the wayside only in the past few years. A push for carbon legislation in the United States collapsed, as did the 2009 climate treaty negotiations held in Copenhagen. Without such measures, utilities have no incentive to invest in carbon capture. Over the same period, coal progressively lost its status as the cheapest fuel for power generation, as hydraulic fracturing operations flooded the natural gas market and slashed gas prices.  

The resulting IGCC casualties include even FutureGen, the flagship project in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Coal program and the inspiration for GreenGen. The Bush administration killed FutureGen in 2008 amid rising costs. The project may return under President Obama but as a test of a simpler but even less-proven low-carbon coal scheme known as oxyfuel combustion.” 

Source: The above is from a source entitled: China’s first coal gasification power plant opened in Tianjin. http://www.whatsontianjin.com/news-3524-china-s-first-coal-gasification-power-plant-opened-in-tianjin.html

I don’t want to overload with you with data or information here. Just some facts, mam and gents. This little 3 billion dollar plant that Miss. Power and the Southern Co. of GA are building in Kemper County represent an enormous risk and potential disaster and the citizenry of MS are being asked to assume all of the risks by their corrupted state government.

Let’s look at another specific example in the U.S. The Edwardsport, Indiana, IGCC plant by Duke Energy was begun in 2007. I can’t determine whether it is running yet but I believe the cost overruns were almost exactly what is being projected for Kemper, about one billion dollars. It’s not clear whether it is even operational or not. Here’s a report on that from the latest one I could find and here are some excerpts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwardsport_Power_Stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwardsport_Power_Station

IGCC units

“In 2007, Duke Energy Indiana began construction of a 618 megawatt (MW) integrated gasification combined cycle power plant. This plant was to be the first of its kind of its size. The gasification process at the new plant involves converting coal into a combustible syngas that will be used in a combustion turbine. The exhaust gases are routed through a large heat recovery steam generator that will be used in conjunction with a steam turbine to further increase the plant’s efficiency.The new plant is slated to be a base-load station. The construction of the plant has reserved the necessary space required for carbon capture and storage if Duke Energy decides to add this component to the plant at a later date.^[2] However, when the plant was originally planned, it was thought the site was ready for carbon injection. After conducting further research, it was determined that the site is actually not geologically suitable for underground storage of carbon. Instead, Duke Energy Indiana would need to seek approval to construct a pipeline to transport carbon to a more suitable site.

Edwardsport’s pollution per unit of energy produced will be greatly reduced, as particulate matter and mercury will be removed from the syngas. The coal-derived synthetic gas is much cleaner than conventional coal combustion to begin with, and it is easier to clean to greater extent. Coal gasification allows carbon capture to occur before the fuel is combusted — a much easier and economically feasible operation than carbon capture of exhaust gases.

It is expected that Edwardsport IGCC will be online during 2012.

Cost overruns and controversy

The construction of the Edwardsport IGCC has been clouded in controversy and legal troubles for both Duke Energy Indiana and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Thus far, the legal issues have resulted in the firing of the second highest ranked executive for Duke Energy, the dismissal of the Chairman of the IURC, David Lott Hardy, and Hardy’s subsequent indictment for three felony counts of official misconduct in cases concerning Duke Energy.^[3]^”

So what are we to believe? Well certainly not the arrogant attitude of Leonard Bentz, our PSC representative from So. MS. I can’t put into words that might appear in the press anywhere which would describe my attitude toward this man. And this is only a brief blog which represents much more to come!

THE FINANCIAL DISASTER

This part has become clear and the MS Sierra Club has done an extraordinary job of bringing this to the forefront. It is so complicated with a web of political deceit that it is hard to simplify in a paper like this. But it is analogous on a smaller scale to what the big banks have been doing to us for hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. Basically these big corporations like the Southern Co. are trying to use their political power to drive the rest of us into total poverty and dependency by gaining control over our political institutions including our Executive and Legislative branches of government. This is the essence of corporate fascism. And folks, they’re winning their war and especially in MS!

Exhibit: The Mississippi Power Kemper Plant.

Kemper was originally proposed as the grand state of the art “clean coal” power plant near Meridian, MS even outside the Miss. Power territory. When no other state wanted to build it, our former Governor Haley Barbour realized it was a great idea to serve his long term client, the Southern Co., and bring it to Mississippi. There was about 300 million dollars from the Department of Energy to build a clean coal facility somewhere and Barbour said we’ll do it for you in MS. The Southern Co, Mr. Barbour and others thought it was a great idea. But the Southern Co., a large private company could not get private investments to supplement their plans to do this. Amazingly there was a bill in the Mississippi legislature in 2008 to allow public utilities like Miss. Power to charge their ratepayers to build a facility (whether it would come online or not) for the construction charges of a commercial private and experimental power plant. Governor Barbour quickly signed a bill in the state legislature to fund it and guess what happened? Lo and behold, a Kemper Coal Plant with hundreds of acres of a strip mine in Kemper County was designed.

It was touted as the numerous “jobs” it would produce. Yes, there were construction jobs for a couple or more years and they were supposed to be for those in MS. But that has not been the case. The permanent jobs created were to be about 260 or so and no one knew whether they would be transfers or even new jobs. But at the costs proposed for this plant, they would represent about 15 million dollars invested for each job with the “left overs” going to Miss. Power. Not bad, huh? Then there is the cost for each ratepayer (186,000) expected to pay for this monster. That’s about 15-20 thousand dollars a piece.

But of course, Mr Bentz, our PSC Commissioner was obviously not good in math either. He has continuously touted what a great service he did by just authorizing Miss. Power to allow it’s first step in increasing rates for electricity by 12% followed by an additional rate increase of 3% within a year. And this does not even include the rate increases which is anticipated by the additional one billion dollar bond issue to pay for cost overruns which could include an additional 5% cost increase in rates. In other words, within a year, the total cost increase of our electricity in So. MS could be at least 20% or nearly what Miss. Power requested in the first place!

The financial aspects of this picture are a big “duhhhh”. Never has any alternative like the uses of solar, wind, renewable energy sources, or conservation been considered. This would create many more jobs and represent the future. But that’s because the Southern Co. under the “leadership” of CEO Tom Fanning, and Miss. Power under the “leadership” of CEO Ed Day can’t figure out how to make money over “controlling” the energy from the sun.

Oh my. Is this what our corporate world which is controlling our government has come to??

**Photos are all from previous publications: Top photo is by Ralph Solonitz. Others are originals and authorized for use by Thomas Baldwin.

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About the author: In approximate terms, Dr. Thomas Baldwin has had a 20 year career as a Physicist (Ph.D.) and a 30 year career as a Management Consultant (MBA). He is currently retired in Biloxi, MS and looking for work other than just writing blogs like this which is a labor of love! Have computer; will travel!

WHAT MIGHT ST. PATRICT SUGGEST ABOUT SNAKES IN WASHINGTON?

doctom2010 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 03:07:12 +0000

Photo from Wikipedia: Saint Patrick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

by Thomas Baldwin, Biloxi, MS March 15, 2013

The celebration of the Irish and St. Patrick’s Day is widespread in the U.S. today and many cities recognized it with parades and ample green beer, whiskey and Irish food, including corn beef and cabbage. But with the selection of a new Pope from South America (Argentina) it seems like an interesting time to explore St. Patrick, too. I’ve always been curious about the legend of him driving the snakes out of Ireland since we are always dealing with snakes in politics. Washington and some state capitals are absolutely infested with them.

First let me state that I am not Catholic nor am I a traditional Christian although I was raised in that tradition as a Methodist. At the relatively young age of 20 I was exposed to a Methodist minister in a college town in Columbia, MO about this time in 1960 who railed against John Kennedy who was running for president. He consistently told his congregation of the grave dangers of electing a Catholic president. Although I didn’t quite walk out in protest of his service, I left the Methodist Church in total disgust. I have never gone back to an organized religion.

But I have always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and even associated it with decisions I have made in my personal and professional life. Perhaps it’s because I have a younger brother who was born on that day and named Patrick. And when I was a much younger physics professor I really enjoyed going to the local pub and spending March 17 drinking green beer and shots of Irish whiskey with my good friend and colleague Bruno, an MIT graduate and Italian from NYC.

But this relatively short blog is about snakes in Washington who are actually psychopaths or worse and very devious and corrupt. I keep wondering how we’re going to deal with them. They exist in both political parties even though they try to behave like good snakes and bad snakes. So I thought I’d find out how St. Patrick actually drove the snakes out of Ireland. I thought maybe he had used some special techniques. What a disappointment to learn more about the legend and recognize it is a bit more complicated than we might think!

St. Patrick banishes all snakes from Ireland (from Wikipedia)

“The absence of snakes in Ireland gave rise to the legend that they had all been banished by St. Patrick. ^[65] chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill.^[66] This hagiographic theme draws on the mythography of the staff of the prophet Moses. In Exodus 7:8–7:13 , Moses and Aaron use their staffs in their struggle with Pharaoh’s sorcerers, the staffs of each side morphing into snakes. Aaron’s snake-staff prevails by consuming the other snakes.^[67]

However, all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes, as on insular “New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica… So far, no serpent has successfully migrated across the open ocean to a new terrestrial home” such as from Scotland at one point only eight miles from Ireland, where a few native species have lived, “the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake”, as National Geographic notes,^[68] and although sea snake species separately exist.^[66][69] ”At no time has there ever been any suggestion of snakes in Ireland, so there was nothing for St. Patrick to banish”, says naturalist Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, who has searched extensively through Irish fossil collections and records.^[66] The List of reptiles of Ireland has only one land reptile species native to Ireland; the viviparous or common lizard. The only biological candidate species for appearing like a native snake in Ireland is the slow worm, actually a legless lizard.” So maybe our problem in Washington is only dealing with venomous legless lizards? That could work.

Apparently the mythology is that St. Patrick may be associated with his ability to convert pagans and others to Christianity. Some may have had snake tatoos on their arms. Here’s more of what this source says about snakes for example:

“Snakes are cold-blooded creatures, and they can’t knit cozy sweaters to survive in Ireland’s chill. The country was covered by glaciers for ages, and it only thawed about 15,000 years ago. By then, no land bridges existed between England and Ireland, so any snakes pining for a Guinness were trapped in the land of fish and chips”.

“St. Patrick is also credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland. There were probably no snakes in Ireland for him to drive out, and it is very likely that the story was meant to be symbolic. Since he converted the heathen, the snakes are thought to stand for the pagan beliefs or evil. Where he was buried is a mystery. Among other places, a chapel to St. Patrick at Glastonbury claims he was interred there. A shrine in County Down, Ireland, claims to possess a jawbone of the saint which is requested for childbirth, epileptic fits, and to avert the evil eye.

Here’s a nice summary in addition to Wikipedia of St. Patrick and the source of the photo just above: http://privateislandparty.com/pages/st-patricks-day-lies-you-believed

And here is another: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090316-st-patricks-day-facts.html

How do we drive the Snakes out of Washington?

That seems to me to be the big question. But the problem seems to exist in both political parties of our two party political system which is under total control of the corporate sector. They feed off of each other like parasites playing roles which have little or nothing to do with “public service.” And yet with each electoral cycle the masses keep buying into this process as a “lessor of two evils.” The decision making process is fundamentally flawed. The people are much more intelligent and caring than those who presume to represent us in these seats of power, especially Washington D. C. But they are brain washed and become addicted to not having other choices by the corporate media which propagates the myth that there may be change with another election.

Gary Larson, the famed cartoonist had great insights into the brains of animals, including Reptiles. He framed the issue best in a famous Far Side cartoon. A Stegosaurus behind a podium addresses an audience of his fellow dinosaurs at a convention and the caption was: “The picture’s pretty bleak, gentlemen. ..the world’s climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut.”

I have used that cartoon in the past in many of my lectures on the brain and management and have continuously tried to find it to reproduce in a blog. It is brilliant and especially applicable for the times. But I think it portrays exactly what we are experiencing in Washington today with a gathering of either political party. They just haven’t learned the words to utter yet.

Driving the snakes out of Washington requires action and organization. Perhaps it will require us getting pitch forks first to remove the cow manure in the houses of Congress or even the White House. But it a task that is necessary or we are all going to allow the complete collapse of our political system. Any thoughts of democracy will just be a fantasy. The system is not just dysfunctional; it is nearly defunct (dead). Your image should be of Humpty Dumpty and we know from our childhood what happened to him!

Michael Payne: The Washington Kabuki Theater of the Bizarre Presents: “The Height of Political Deceit and Manipulation”

doctom2010 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:31:03 +0000

OpEdNewsOriginal Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Washington-Kabuki-Thea-by-michael-payne-130227-231.html
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Associate Member, or higher).

February 27, 2013The Washington Kabuki Theater of the Bizarre Presents: “The Height of Political Deceit and Manipulation”By michael payneA version of what is called a Kabuki Theater of the bizarre is taking place in Washington D.C. This presentation features President Barack in the lead role, backed by a cast of political actors that are unfit to appear on this nation’s center stage. All of these ethically-challenged individuals, charged with the responsibility of governing our county, are performing in a manner best described as bizarre, despicable.::::::::
Kabuki theater of the bizarre by ramirami
A version of what is called a Kabuki Theater of the bizarre is taking place in Washington D.C. This presentation features President Barack in the lead role, backed by a cast of political actors that are unfit to appear on this nation’s center stage. All of these ethically-challenged individuals, charged with the responsibility of governing our county, are performing in a manner that could best be described as both bizarre and despicable.

The American people are watching this charade going on in the nation’s capitol and are shaking their heads in utter amazement at what they see. This is like some kind of nightmarish presentation that continues on with no seeming end. If this theater production were being presented on Broadway, the actors would be jeered, pelted with eggs and tomatoes, and booed off the stage.

While this country remains under economic siege and is bleeding profusely from many self-inflicted wounds, those who were given the responsibility to find the ways to stop this hemorrhaging have now proven that they are not up to the task. This country and its society are staggering under the weight of endless wars, joblessness, corporate greed and corruption, and mounting violence. The people cry out for help but none is forthcoming.

While a typical Kabuki presentation is generally well choreographed with impeccable acting, what is going on in Washington with this Congress and the Obama administration is anything but that; it has turned into an ugly standoff between two sets of bad actors, opposing political entities that are locked into their own ideologies with no common ground or any ability to begin to compromise in any way.

This dark specter of sequestration, as has been pointed out by numerous respected economists and academics such as Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, is something that could easily be prevented; it is no more than a fabricated emergency, one that involves governmental incompetence of the highest degree. The real danger lies in the fact that this sequester has the potential to severely damage this economy at the very time that it is struggling to recover. Those in the know say that austerity is not the way to go and that the time-tested method of infusion of government funds to stimulate the economy is what is badly needed at this crucial time.

But the most troubling part of this entire bizarre process is the fact that so many of these pathetic politicians are perfecting willing to take this nation to the brink of disaster and to allow this country to absorb yet more blows to its economic foundations. That’s not just being disloyal to this country; it’s committing political treason.

The position of the Republicans could not be more clear; they are totally committed to the advancement of the interests of Corporate America and the wealthiest Americans who they serve; in doing so they have not the slightest feeling of shame or guilt as they answer only to their masters who use the power of their money and influence to control this government. Their actions represent the height of irresponsibility; their actions and behavior are reprehensible and they are beyond recovery or rehabilitation.

But what of the performance of Mr. Obama who likes to view himself as a president who stands up for their interests and welfare of the people of America no matter how difficult that might be. Once again, he seems to be headed in the direction of last minute appeasement and capitulation to the GOP and its axis of political hacks, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Eric Cantor who seem to hold some kind of spell over him.

Here we have a president who, in his foreign polity, remains very aggressive and on the offensive by launching deadly drones into the air space and across the borders of nations with which we are not at war. But on the domestic front, this same president is continually on the defensive as he is seemingly incapable of launching a counterattack to the Republican’s crazed obsession with a program of misguided austerity that will further cripple this already weak and declining economy.

What’s going on with this impending sequester can be likened to a poker game, one in which the stakes are very high. The Republicans are past masters at the art of bluffing even when they know they don’t have the winning hand. Conversely Mr. Obama is not a very good poker player and he has been known to throw in a winning hand because of his fear that his opponents may have an ace up their sleeve.

He seems to have a predisposition for snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. And if he bends and breaks at the last moment and comes up with more concessions involving this sequester the losers in this game will be the people of this nation. He has had the Republican sociopaths up against the ropes but he apparently can’t deliver the knockout blow. This is the man who handily won the election and had the majority of the American people solidly behind him. But you would never know it by his failure to take charge of this terrible dilemma that now faces this nation.

One thing that continues to be a troubling point with the American people is the fact that this president keeps putting the issue of Social Security cuts back on the table. His latest move has been to offer up a “Chained CPI” that would, in effect, cancel out $130 billion of future benefits that seniors will need to keep up with inflation.

The large majority of Americans are fully aware that Social Security, which is self-funded and self-sustaining, has nothing to do with the national deficit and should have no part in this discussion. But this conflicted president continues to ignore their concerns and keeps offering it up as a concession to Republican demands. This is an absolute craven betrayal of the American people who should, by now, realize that this is a man that can no longer be trusted.

The general belief among many Americans is that President Obama’s performance in this presentation has been and continues to be extremely disappointing; that he is just not up to the task, not up to the challenge and that he is in over his head as the appears to be falling into another Republican trap. Clever and astute in the art of politics do not fit this president; naïve and susceptible to manipulation certainly do. At least that’s what, on the surface, seems to be the case.

However, there may be much more involved here than we think; that there is something much more troubling going on. It’s true that most of Americans continue to consider this a battle between Republicans and Democrats, but there is a growing number of observers in this country who see this seeming charade not so much as a massive confrontation between these two adversaries but, rather, as some sort of shrewd behind-the-scenes collusive deal; some kind of ploy that hides what’s really happening. Could something like that actually be in process, is that what these two parties are doing in concert? Whatever is going on, if the past is any indication of what the future holds, we can be sure that it will bring more pain and misery on the people of this country.

This Kabuki Theater of the bizarre and absurd presents a stark picture of political deceit and manipulation of the highest order. And as this dark theatrical presentation enters its final act over the next days, weeks and months it most certainly will be recorded in history as a most pitiful, pathetic performance by those who have been entrusted with governing this nation.

Michael Payne

Submitters Bio:

Michael Payne is an independent progressive activist. His writings deal with social, economic, political and foreign policy issues. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and a U.S. Army veteran. His primary objective is to inform readers of the fact that this nation’s agenda of perpetual war is leading it down a path to financial ruin; and that the proliferation of unjustified wars and a military empire must be ended. Secondly that we must find the ways to expel Corporate America from our government and political system before it destroys our democracy.

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