Moderate Republicans: An Endangered Species

Since the surprise election of Scott Brown (R-MA) to replace the senate seat owned by the late liberal lion Ted Kennedy, Democrats have been shifting gears towards corralling Republicans instead of leaving them in the dust. Even though Obamacare passed the house and Senate under reconciliation, the political victory almost seems a tiny bit pyrrhic. My opinions about process and how the bill was written and passed aside, Democrats have hit a nearly immovable wall in the run up to the Midterm elections.

It’s no secret that process in Washington moves at a snail’s pace. Arguments about the definition of biomass for Agricultural states and appeals to use political time to change the nature of the college football BCS system are a just a few roadblocks to meaningful progress. But, in a time where a snail’s pace has turned into something akin to the velocity of plate tectonic movement, the ability to compromise and move to the middle has become an anomaly, even for lawmakers who had a history of such an act.

The prime example for such a description would be Arizona Senator and multi-presidential candidate John McCain. This is the same John McCain who supported rights for gays, was waffly on the Republican pro-life litmus test, cosponsored campaign finance reform with liberal Russ Feingold, supported a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants (with Ted Kennedy cosponsoring) and helped draft one of the first (but failed) climate bills with, then Democrat (now Independent), Joe Lieberman.

Where is he now? Since losing the election in 2008, he has abandoned his centrist ideals, stuck his tail between his legs and scampered towards the right. He has abandoned support for any climate legislation, released a statement that practically supports an Arizona immigration law that would amount to ethnic profiling and has dropped his support of gay marriage. He was also the supporter of an actual strategy of opposing every Democrat supported bill, even on traditionally bipartisan issues like nuclear non-proliferation and defense spending. He recently called the Supreme Court decision that specifically shot down his campaign finance law (I will try to post on the Campaign Finance law decision in the near future) “disappointing.” That is surely a tepid answer to a direct assault on ones principles.

McCain is not alone, unfortunately. The once-cool Senator Lindsay Graham from South Carolina has recently dropped his support of a tripartisan (Democrat John Kerry, Independent Joe Lieberman and himself in cahoots) comprehensive climate bill. Once a senator who dismissed hecklers who said he was a RINO and repeatedly voiced his support for bipartisanship on issues like immigration reform, has also bowed to pressure from his own party. By announcing that he is discontinuing his negotiations with his two counterparts on a climate bill because of the White House’s ambition to pass immigration reform he is essentially destroying his bipartisan credentials (besides the fact that he threatened to abandon his support of immigration if healthcare passed).

But, there is some hope. One of the first things that Scott Brown voted on when he got into office was a small jobs bill supported by the White House. His affirmative vote on the bill to pass out of cloture included yes votes from Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Kit Bond (R-MO) and George Voinovich (R-OH). The bill passed on the Senate floor with support from the likes of Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and (GASP!) James Inhofe (R-OK). I also suspect that the new Supreme Court nomination will not be filibustered by Republicans (although anything could happen) and that the nuclear non-proliferation treaty signed by Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and President Obama will also pass with some Republican support.

Although there have been small incidents of bipartisanship, the overall environment in Washington has been one of extreme opinions and lot of yelling. From the tea parties to the unprecedented breaks in procedural décor (“It’s a baby killer” and “you lie”), it does not seem there will be much fruitful negotiation on any important issue in the next couple of months. I have a feeling that this warning will ring true, especially when our lawmakers choose to gain political points instead of political progress, and move farther towards the fringe and away from the middle.

As for financial market reform, which has a 66% support from the public, bipartisan support has broken down. But, hey…who wants to regulate a derivative market with a $600 trillion (yes, that is trillion) value? Maybe some people like bailouts with taxpayer money and investment companies who use “naked” derivatives (credit default swaps, etc) for low return and high risk. But, of course, those are the people who didn’t think bubbles could burst.

Coal Power in Los Angeles

I know I haven't updated my blog in over 3 months...so here it goes!

Since I started my position in LA as Program Assistant for the Beyond Coal Campaign at the Sierra Club, I have been graced with a slew of information that I was not aware of in relation to the city's power mix. In other words, I learned a whole bunch about how Los Angeles gets its power. In a less surprising note, I found out that many who live in Los Angeles are unaware of how they get their electricity. Here it goes...brace for impact....

Los Angeles gets 44% of its power from coal-fired power plants in Utah and Arizona.

Well...it may not be so dramatic. But, it has implications that affect the average ratepayer living in Los Angeles. Lets take a look on how many problems are caused by these coal fired plants, and how the cost will affect YOU, the ratepayer of Los Angeles, in the near future:

The Plants

Intermountain Power Plant - A 1,640MW coal fired power plant located near Delta, Utah, owned by Intermountain Power Agency and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Amongst a slew of other small utilities, the LADWP owns 45% of the power from this plant.

Navajo Generating Station - A 2,409MW coal fired plant located on a Navajo reservation near Paige, Arizona that is owned and operated by the Salt River Project. The LADWP owns a 21% share in the power that Navajo produces.

The Cost

Intermountain Power Plant - Coal supply cost represents the highest expenditure for Intermountain Power. The plant buys its coal from the Sufco, Dugout Canyon and West Ridge mines in Utah and is transported via Union Pacific railcars. Starting in 2008, the price of coal began to fluctuate coinciding with an increase in price for all coal markets in the US. Cost fluctuation was caused by increasing demand and decreasing supply from the closing of several mines in Utah. New contract prices for Intermountain Power will be set higher than the historic average due to high commodity price in UT and increases in transportation costs. The new average price for coal is forecasted to be $65/ton. An increase from the historic average price ($36/ton) by just $10 would result in a yearly cost of $35 million. Because the utility has a "take-or-pay" contract with Intermountain Power, any reduction in use of coal power from the plant will result in the same cost. A take-or-pay contract sets a price at the beginning of the contract agreement, and the utility pays that price regardless of whether or not they decide to get the same amount power from the plant they agreed upon in the agreement. These costs will be shouldered by the utilities that have a share in Intermountain Power and their ratepayers.

Navajo Generating Station -

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled that the Navajo Generating Station must install the best available retrofit technology to reduce its emissions. The EPA has set pollution concentration benchmarks that Navajo must achieve in order to continue operation. The costs to reduce pollutants, according to the Salt River Project (owner and operator of Navajo) will be shouldered by utilities like LADWP, and their ratepayers. Coupled with a rise in the cost of coal per ton (due to increases in the cost of transporting coal to the station on railcars) Navajo Generating Station’s operations will translate to higher costs for utilities (and their ratepayers) who purchase power from the station.

Conclusion - Due to volatility in the price of coal caused by mine closures, contract renegotiations, pollution retrofits, increased cost of transportation and impending carbon controls and regulations from federal and state governments, the cost to operate these coal plants will go up. This means one thing:

The costs will be shouldered by the utilities and customers that get their power from these plants, including LADWP ratepayers!

Pollution

Together, Intermountain Power Plant and Navajo Generating Station produce 36 million tons of carbon dioxide, 75,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 1,973 pounds of mercury. Here are some "fun" facts about these pollutants:

Mercury (Hg) -

Once mercury is absorbed into the body as a vapor, the health affects can be both physical and psychological. Symptoms associated with high mercury exposure include tremors, emotional changes, insomnia, neuromuscular degeneration (twitches, weakness, atrophy), headaches, changes in nerve sensations and performance deficits. Higher exposure can produce kidney failure, respiratory failure and death.

Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) -

The health impacts of Nitrogen Oxides, according to the EPA, include airway inflammation in healthy individuals and increased respiratory problems in those suffering from asthma. There has also been a correlation between short-term exposure and increased hospital and emergency room visits. Nitrogen oxide emissions come from both stationary sources (coal fired boilers, etc.) and non-stationary sources (vehicles, etc). Nitrogen oxides react with ammonia, moisture and other components in the air to form small particles that can penetrate into the lungs. This can lead to complications associated with bronchitis and emphysema and can exacerbate symptoms of heart disease. This leads to increased visits to the emergency room and premature death. When nitrogen oxides react with sunlight, they form ozone, which can be dangerous to children, the elderly, those with respiratory illnesses and people who work outside. Some of the symptoms of ozone exposure include decreased lung function, respiratory illness and premature death.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) -

Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by man made behemoths like coal-fired plants is the main driver for global climate change. Some of these affects include dramatic sea level rise, increased extremes of drought and flood, less snowpack, glacial melt, irregular snowpack melt, increased severity of wildlfires hurricanes

and

global warming. Drought, flood, sea level rise and increased severity of wildfires and hurricanes have a direct effect on the pocketbooks and livelihoods of Southern California residents. Drought and flood will affect the growing of produce in the Central Valley, hurricanes will affect oil rigs causing short term price spikes in the cost of gasoline and wildfires will be more frequent causing higher property damage and destroy sensitive forest ecosystems.

Pending & Existing Regulations

Mercury - By 2011, the EPA will introduce a new rule, regulating mercury emissions from power plants (obviously including coal fired plants). The two plants that LADWP gets its power from will have to spend millions of dollars installing maximum achievable control technology to meet these standards.

Greenhouse Gases (carbon dioxide included):

1. EPA Endangerment Finding - The Supreme Court decision Massachusetts v. EPA gave the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. In 2009, the EPA declared that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health and therefore can be regulated by the agency.

2. Tailoring Rule - Sources of pollution that emit more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases must get a permit that says they are investing in the best available control technology. Installation of best available technology will result in high costs for the power plants, which will be shouldered by utilities and ratepayers. The businesses effected represent about 2% of total businesses in the country.

3. AB32 - A bill that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California to 1990 levels by 2020. Like the aforementioned bills, this will put a price on carbon emissions for the electricity sector. High emitters, like coal fired plants, will have to pay more and will most likely translate those costs back onto consumers.

4. AB1368 - California based utilities cannot renew a long term contract with a electricity source or plant that does not have the efficiency and pollution of a combined cycle natural gas plant. This will prevent the LADWP (or any other CA utility w/coal power) from renegotiating contracts with coal plants.

CONCLUSION

Residents of Los Angeles can no longer divorce themselves from coal power and the consequences of coal mining. While we may live in a progressive city which is willing to invest in clean energy, we cannot ignore the fact that our power comes from mostly coal. This coal is mined in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, shipped to massive coal plants on Native American Lands and transmitted to homes in Los Angeles. The price to extract, burn and transport coal are out of state, and out of our control, but we end up facing higher electricity bills because of it. The only solution is to get Los Angeles OFF of coal and replace it with clean energy.