Update on Big Stone. I think I've blogged about it before -- a long, long time ago -- ah, yes, here are some links (a mixture of Big Stone and Big Stone II [Milbank, SD]):
This week it's being reported that it's likely that after $400 million in renovations and attempts to comply with EPA rules and regulations, most was for naught. Not to worry. It will only cost Minnesota rate-payers $5/month.
An environmental retrofit
of Otter Tail Power Co.’s largest coal-fired power plant has finished
significantly under budget, but the achievement is clouded by worries
that new greenhouse gas rules will curtail how much the plant operates
in future years.
In a
report to Minnesota regulators this week, the Fergus Falls-based utility
said the Big Stone, S.D., power plant owned with two other utilities
went back into full operation Dec. 29, and the project cost, while not
yet finally tallied, will be at least 22 percent below the original
budget of $491 million.
But those emissions
controls don’t reduce carbon dioxide, the gas linked to global warming.
During the Big Stone retrofit, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
proposed and later finalized its Clean Power Plan to cut greenhouse gas
emissions at coal-fired power plants.
At first,
Otter Tail officials raised alarm with the EPA that the plant — the only
coal-fired generator in South Dakota — would be forced to shut down,
stranding an investment that costs residential ratepayers in Minnesota
about $5 per month. But the final rule softened South Dakota’s carbon
targets, and the utility officials no longer are concerned about
shuttering the plant.
Even so,
the risk is that Big Stone, just across the border from Ortonville,
Minn., won’t be allowed to operate at full capacity. It might have to
shut down part of the time or run at partial output. Rudolf said it
could take years before the answer is known. South Dakota has joined
other states to challenge the carbon rule in federal court, but the
state plans to develop a compliance plan in case that effort fails.
Based on the comments at the article, it was obvious "no one" cares.
Oh, when will this craziness end?
When will all this craziness end? I'm going to have to pay for all this 20 years from now.
Best In Show: Hillary Clinton -- apparently unaware that it was the Electoral Vote not the popular vote that counted.
Hillary Clinton: wins the popular vote by 2.5 million votes (and maybe
more). Despite winning the popular vote, she says Russian hackers rigged the
system against her. She lost the electoral vote. She did not visit the
state of Wisconsin even once during the campaign; apparently she was
unaware that the US elects presidents based on the results of the
Electoral College and not the popular vote.
*******************************
Category Winners
Announced December 16, 2016
Environmental Activists and Warmists:
Prof Peter Wadhams, Cambridge, predicating as recently as late summer, 2016, the Arctic Ocean would be ice-free this year; it wasn't -- not by a long shot
Hillary Clinton: wins the popular vote by 2.5 million votes (and maybe
more); despite winning the popular vote, says Russian hackers rigged the
system against her; she lost the electoral vote; did not visit the
state of Wisconsin even once during the campaign; apparently she was
unaware that the US elects presidents based on the results of the
Electoral College and not the popular vote.
Miscellaneous:
Al Sharpton:
#BlackLivesMatter is "not anti-cop" speech; 24 hours later,
#BLM-inspired shooter kills three Baton Rouge cops; injures many more
The Nominees
Nominations for the 2016 Geico Rock
Award are coming in faster than I can manage. Because there are more
than usual this year, we will have to establish categories:
Geico Rock Award: Best In Show
Geico Rock Award: Group Award
Geico Rock Award: Intermittent Energy
Geico Rock Award: Bakken Boom, Williston Region
Geico Rock Award: Bakken Boom, Dickinson Region
Geico Rock Award: Radicalized Muslim Terror, Western Hemisphere
Geico Rock Award: Radicalized Muslim Terror, Europe
Geico Rock Award: Radicalized Muslim Terror, Mideast
Geico Rock Award: State Government
2Geico Rock Award: 2016 Presidential Election
Geico Rock Award: Miscellaneous
The
winner in each category will compete for the "Best In Show" trophy.
There can be no consecutive "Best in Show" winners: this is known as the "Obama Rule." There can be consecutive annual winners in all categories, except "Best in Show. Categories are still being added. Nominations through December 20, 2016,
will be accepted. Suggestions for nominations are scrutinized. The judges are not looking for nominations for the Darwin Award, although there can certainly be overlap (consider the Shiite cleric inciting revolution in a country not particularly lenient when it comes to such talk).
Winners will be announced, assuming I don't get bored with this activity, or that I don't forget, on/about December 31, 2016.
Geico Rock Award: Environmental activists and warmists
Hillary Clinton: wins the popular vote by 2.5 million votes (and maybe more); despite winning the popular vote, says Russian hackers rigged the system against her; she lost the electoral vote; did not visit the state of Wisconsin even once during the campaign; apparently she was unaware that the US elects presidents based on the results of the Electoral College and not the popular vote.
Geico Rock Award: Best in Show, 2013: Devon Shire over at SeekingAlpha for reporting that Bakken oil production was decreasing the day before the Director's Cut came out, suggesting otherwise. Link here.
Geico Rock Award: Best in Show, 2012:
We Can't Drill Our Way to Lower Gas Prices --
President Barack Obama with best advisers money can buy
While gas prices are low nationwide, some stations are slashing the fuel's price to rock-bottom levels to the tune of less than 50 cents a gallon.
The drastic price cuts are part of a gas price war at three Houghton Lake, Mich., stations.
During the last three days, the prices dropped below a buck per gallon, falling as low as 46 cents at Sunrise Marathon. Meanwhile, the Beacon & Bridge gas station was as low as 47 cents, said employees of each station in interviews with CNBC.
A nearby Citgo says its prices slumped to 95 cents a gallon.
