Monday, February 5, 2018 -- Americans Push Back On Wind

For the archives: the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New England Patriots. But that's still not enough to turn this market around. Apparently one of the most exciting Super Bowl games in NFL history (I don't know; I did not watch it).

Was it Timberlake singing Prince, or was it Pink singing the National Anthem? Super Bowl LII had lowest ratings in eight (8) years.

Missed it by that much:  The Eagles (with their back up coach; back-up offensive coach; backup quarterback) prevented the defending champion Patriots from claiming a sixth Super Bowl to match the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most wins ever.

Making America great again, from EIA via Twitter:

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Back to the Bakken

Active rigs:

$65.04↓	2/5/2018	02/05/2017	02/05/2016	02/05/2015	02/05/2014
Active Rigs	58	40	42	136	191

RBN Energy: US oil, gas, NGLs now inextricably linked to global energy markets.

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Wind

Two stories sent to me by readers. First, this one from Fairmont, MN.

Wind Locked, LLC is a non-profit company made up of residents and landowners in Faribault and Martin County who oppose the construction of a wind turbine industrial zone on agricultural land and rural homesteads.

According to the company’s website, “Members feel these projects are unsafe and an inappropriate use of land rights, privacy, and federal tax subsidies.”

With the goal to keep large wind turbines out of the area, the company acquires and holds the wind easement rights of its members’ properties for conservation and environmental purposes.

And then this from The Christian Science Monitor: Oklahoma, America's #2 wind producer, sours on the industry.

With ever more spiky wind turbines cropping up across its open lands, Oklahoma has just become the #2 state in the country for wind energy production.

Now a new project -- Wind Catcher, which is slated to be one of the largest wind farms in American -- is facing stiff resistance and could be scrapped altogether.

The Wind Catcher case comes amid a pushback on wind incentives, galvanized by a state budget crisis and influential oil and gas interests. In the past year, Oklahoma has ended two key incentives that even wind proponents admitted were in some ways "too generous."

But some are pushing not only to remove all subsidies, but to levy a new tax on wind.

Enid stands to benefit from the $4.5 billion Wind Catcher project, which includes plans to build a 350-mile transmission line that would pass through the area.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) which is investing $1.3 billion in the project, says Wind Catcher will save Oklahoma electric customers an estimated $2 billion over 25 years. That would be a relief for many in a state where summer electric bills often run $400 r more a month

But there's a problem.

PSO skipped a required competitive bidding process for building the transmission line. That was intentional; it wanted to finish the project before a federal tax credit expires at the end of 2020. Now it needs an exemption from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (CC), which regulates public utilities.

The state's attorney general is not buying into it.

Much more at the link.