The Permian, An Update -- Michael Filloon -- Seeking Alpha -- September 21, 2015

This is another keeper: an update of the Permian by Michael Filloon. A word to the wise: it will be archived for Seeking Alpha subscribers in the not-too-distant future.

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One To Watch

Earlier today I was updating the blog with tags on posts that I had forgotten to tag with "Road to New England" with regard to the possibility of another nuclear plant being shut down in the northeast.

A reader sent me this very, very interesting article. For background, see this post on the Yankee nuclear power plant.

Okay, now that you've refreshed your memory on this one, see this article being reported by VTDigger:

VERNON – In a town hit hard by the shutdown of Vermont Yankee, officials say a natural-gas plant – with development costs estimated at $750 million – may be in the works.

The optimism in Vernon is carefully qualified, however. For one thing, the plant is far from a sure bet, and it’s not yet been disclosed which sites are under consideration. Also, there have been a few recent hints of opposition from the general public, though the town government has been generally supportive of the concept so far.

“We’ve probably got four or five sites under consideration,” said Don Campbell, a Winhall resident who has experience in utility finance and is guiding the gas-plant effort. “The one that we would go forward with is the one that has the most appeal to Vernon.”

A meeting to gauge the public’s support for a plant proposal may be imminent, and those who are backing the project say time is of the essence.

“We have an opportunity to cause this to happen now,” Campbell said. “We won’t have that opportunity in another year.”

Vernon, like all of Windham County, still is in the early phases of grappling with the economic blow of Vermont Yankee’s shutdown. The workforce has been cut roughly in half since the plant stopped producing power Dec. 29, and more job losses are scheduled for 2016.

It will be interesting to see if the Luddites Keystone this one also. I don't have a dog in this fight but it will be interesting to watch.