Trump Halts Orsted Wind Project Off Rhode Island -- Saturday, August 23, 2025

Locator: 48935WIND.

Payback is hell! Payback is delicious! Doug Burgum remembers very, very well how the Keystone XL pipeline was canceled even after all permits were obtained and construction had already begun. The Orsted "stop" is even more delicious: the project was almost complete. Sure, Judge Boasberg will step in but it will be tied up in court for a long time.

Tag: wind New England. Revolution Wind Project

This project has been mentioned several times on the blog. 

Links everywhere; here's one.

From the linked article:

Wow. Does this administration ever sleep?

See also this blog from just the other day, earlier this week.

Wind Energy Projects Off New York -- Update -- November 1, 2023

”Locator: 45891WIND. 

Nice update on NY wind: link here.

An assortment of recent obstacles to projects in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are almost certain to delay — and possibly derail — Northeastern states’ grand ambitions to harness the winds blowing over the Atlantic Ocean.

Four projects that were supposed to provide electricity to New York City and its suburbs are in limbo after being denied big increases in subsidies.

And on Tuesday, the world’s biggest developer of offshore wind farms shocked New Jersey officials by backing out of two projects off the state’s southern coast.

“Macroeconomic factors” including inflation and rising interest rates had made the projects too expensive, the company said. “Certainly, these project cancellations are arrows in the quiver of offshore wind opponents,” said Timothy Fox, vice president at ClearView Energy Partners in Washington.

Still, he added, he did not expect any states to abandon their offshore wind plans because all of the ones that have made big commitments, except Virginia, are controlled by Democrats.

The nine gigawatts of offshore wind power that New York is chasing was supposed to be a major piece of President Biden’s goal of creating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind nationally by 2030. (The Biden administration says 30 gigawatts could power more than 10 million homes.) That goal was considered unattainable even before the developer, Orsted, backed out of the two New Jersey projects, which the company said would have produced 2.25 gigawatts.

“Frankly, even by this past summer we were recognizing the inevitability of missing the 30-by-30 target,” said Kris Ohleth, director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, a nonprofit organization that advises companies and policymakers.

The about-face in New Jersey has reignited a political battle over the headlong rush to induce companies to build wind farms in the ocean. New Jersey’s governor, Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat with national ambitions, said Orsted’s decision to abandon its commitments called into question “the company’s credibility and competence.” He insisted that the “future of offshore wind” along the state’s 130-mile coastline remained “strong.

RBN Energy: New York will need unprecedented increase in wind, solar to hit 2030 target. Archived.

Every state has its unique set of advantages and challenges, but very few face the number of contrasts that makes New York and its ambitious decarbonization goals so interesting. The Empire State ranks fourth in population (behind California, Texas and Florida) and is home to the biggest city in the country, yet most of the state would be considered rural. It has the nation's third-largest economy, but because its key industries — including financial and business services — are not energy-intensive, and many in the New York City area use mass transit, its per-capita energy use is lower than all but two states (Hawaii and Rhode Island). And while the state gets about 30% of its power from renewable sources (most of it large-scale hydropower), solar and wind generation are still very limited there. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how the state’s plans to ramp up renewable generation — which have long been plagued by problems with incentives, permitting and project cancellations — are running headlong into the difficulties of adding so many resources in a short period of time.  

This is the fourth blog in our series on the ongoing efforts to decarbonize U.S. energy networks. While developments are playing out very differently from state to state, based on any number of factors, one thing has become clear over the past couple of years as climate-related initiatives have gained momentum: Economic and logistical realities that may have been initially overlooked are being brought to the fore. Americans expect the energy industry to deliver fuel and power where they need it, when they need it, and for a price that everyday people can afford — what’s referred to as the trilemma of availability, reliability and affordability. But those goals not only clash with each other at times, they can also conflict with environmental priorities and economic realities.

Is Off-Shore Wind Dead? July 24, 2023

Locator: 45189WIND.

Updates

July 25, 2023: hope springs eternal.

• link here;

Original Post

All of a sudden this has become a big story. Big article in Barron's this month about the demise of off-shore US wind projects due to inflation.

Off-shore wind:

Link here.

• dead?
• Spanish-based Iberdrola to abandon Massachusetts off-shore project.
  
• the US east coast elite can rest easy; off-shore projects delayed, deferred, defeated.
  
• let Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Oregon carry the load
• few Americans have a dog in this fight; most don't care;
• Texas: maybe a pleasant surprise for faux environmentalists.
  
• other links:
  
• 2023: Rhode Island's wind strategy is unraveling -- climate change goals now endangered.
• 2023: inflation, interest rates, whales -- why offshore wind projects are on the rocks.
• 2023: wind turbine costs.
• 2016: cost of wind farm.

Pitiful -- September 8, 2022

Link here.

ISO NE Was Trending Toward $1,000 / MWh Earlier This Morning -- March 29, 2022

Updates

Later, 7:27 p.m. CT: a reader explains how to read the graphics at ISO NE:

 It is tough keeping up with all these rapidly evolving events. 

If you click/tap on the top of that spike on the 5 Minute LMP graph, the precise number will show/display. 

Alternately, one can click/tap the 3 grey horizontal lines atop the graph (the default 'chart' icon is next to it), and one can scroll through all the exact pricings which are recorded in ~ 5/10 minute increments. 

From 5:05 to 5:20 AM this morning, spot wholesale prices were $896/Mwh. Simply insane. 

I checked neighboring PJM's site for comparative purposes, but they have changèd the format so as to be difficult to navigate. However, Real Time wholesale spot at 5:15 PM was $74 in PJM region while New England was over $250. 

[My hunch: this is where the wind turbine companies really make their money.] 

ISO NE: I posted the rush hour commute numbers earlier this morning.

But I missed this. 

Note that electricity costs spiked trending toward $1,000 / MWh:

Currently, ISO NE demand is a paltry 13,000 MW and electricity is still over $100 / MWh. 

Boston will get down to 26°F overnight.

And This Is When The Wind Turbine Consortiums Make Their Money -- March 29, 2022

Link here. 

Holy mackerel! I was wrong. In the twelve+ years that I have blogged I have always said that we will never see the price of electricity get into the ninth decile. Wow, was I wrong. Boston did it overnight. 

Look at the overall demand: not all that much.

Oil! 3%. 

Wind contribution is at the highest I've ever seen. Renewables at 12% -- very respectable -- and of that 12%, wind is accounting for 64%. I've never seen wind contribution that high. This is where wind is making its money. Wind is sold on a sliding scale and at this level, the margins are "to infinity and beyond." The other components, oil, natural gas, nuclear, I assume are pretty flat-lined at contractural prices.  A reader might know more about pricing.

Boston, MA: 20°F this morning. Link here.
Bangor, ME: 18°F

From Max Gagliardi:

That Martha Vineyard Off-Shore Wind Farm? It's Dead, Fred; Any More Proof Needed That Global Warming Is A Scam? -- August 27, 2019

Updates

Later, 7:51 p.m. Central Time: a reader sent me this note earlier this afternoon but this was as soon as I was able to get back on line -- the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protetion (MassDEPA) over-ruled Edgartown. MassDEPA says "lay the cable." Edgartown will appeal the decision. And then look at this sh*t:

Edgartown conservation agent Jane Varkonda told The Times Edgartown didn’t receive the August 5 superseding order of conditions from the commonwealth in a timely manner. Varkonda said she learned by happenstance the decision had been made during a conversation with a state official. Upon learning Edgartown was without the decision, the official sent it.

“He sent it to me on Friday [August 16], and the last day to appeal was Monday the 19th,” she said. 

Varkonda said town counsel was able to pull together the appeal in time. “It was a scramble to say the least,” she said. 

Reynolds, Rappaport, Kaplan and Hackney director Michael Goldsmith, who drafted the appeal, declined to speculate on why the order didn’t initially get to Edgartown. 
Varkonda said it’s plausible it was lost in the mail. Comment: my hunch. The MassDEPA letter was accidentally addressed to Jeff Epstein.

Later, 2:48 p.m. Central Time: from a reader who knows and follows this much more closely than I do -- minimally edited --

There are several more "happenings" related to that offshore wind project near Martha's Vineyard. Basically, it's dead, Fred.

Opposition was growing this spring from commercial fishing groups.

Then, the Gloucester office of the NOAA (?) fisheries division released a report saying the important draft EIS (draft Environmental Impact Statement) was inadequate.

Although the BOEM is the lead permitting agency, the Coast Guard, NOAA, and the EPA all refused to sign off on a required evaluation saying they were satisfied with the project's overall impacts.

In early July, BOEM kinda rocked the entire offshore wind industry when it announced that a comprehensive analysis would be undertaken to assess how ALL these several offshore wind farms might effect the East Coast maritime universe.

Vineyard Wind is only a few weeks away from probably announcing that it is aborting/suspending its project as they will lose their needed tax credits if construction does not start prior to this coming December 31, 2019 deadline.

If you google "New York City gas shortage", you may see some amusing/puzzling reports of how local politicians are excoriating the local utility - National Grid - for not providing the much needed natgas to New Yorkers.

Had the reader not add this last line, I would have:

You just can't make this stuff up.

Original Post 

Martha's Vineyard to be underwater in less than ten years due to rising seas / global warming.

President Obama to buy oceanfront property for $15 million on Martha's Vineyard. I assume his daughters are aghast.

That wind farm off Martha's Vineyard?

February 28, 2019:

• Update on off shore wind farm off Martha's Vineyard at this link. Rhode Island approves permit.

May 9, 2019:

• Massachusetts permitting update here. Permit granted.

July 14, 2019:

• Just kidding, never mind. Key cable permit denied. Why is this not surprising. Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard (island) says "no" to  the necessary undersea cable. Why does this not surprise me. 

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

Connecting Dots

Black Water: July 19, 1969.

Quick: name the major NASA event just one day later, July 20, 1969.

One of the most enjoyable books I ever read was Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates.  I generally don't care for fiction but this one I enjoyed. Again, of course, it may not have been fiction.

Bakken CBR Is Back! -- RBN Energy -- January 24, 2019

Spring is here? The robins have now returned to north Texas. I saw many of them early this morning in the DFW area. 

ISO Australia: heat wave continues. Electricity at $300/MWh now and will spike to $14,500/MWh at peak demand today.

Remember Falmouth, MA? That was the bellwether city in Massachusetts that led the state into wind energy. I blogged about it often in the early days of the blog. One can find posts about the two wind towers in Falmouth at this link. From The Boston Globe today: "Green energy blues" in Falmouth. The city will tear down the two wind towers that cost $10 million to install. Will cost $2 million to take down. City of 450 people see huge debt for many, many years. Developers said the wind turbines would eventually return $1 to $2 million to the city annually. If unable to get past the paywall, many other links to the story, including this one.

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

Back to the Bakken

Wells coming off the confidential list today --

Thursday, January 24, 2019

• 35035, drl, XTO, FBIR Youngbear 31X-9D, Heart Butte, no production data, 
• 33972, 1,126, Enerplus, Lead 147-93-16B-21H-TF, 33 stages; 6 million lbs; 20/40 sand; Moccasin Creek, a very nice well, a "heavy metal" well,
• 30051, SI/NC, WPX, Good Voice 34-27HU, Spotted Horn, no production data, 

Active rigs:

$52.55	1/24/2019	01/24/2018	01/24/2017	01/24/2016	01/24/2015
Active Rigs	63	56	38	47	157

RBN Energy: Brent-WTI spread spurs gulf coast crude shipments to PADD 1 refineries.

Earlier this decade, East Coast refineries found it cost-effective to ramp down their crude imports and turn to the price-advantaged U.S. shale oil they could rail in from the pipeline-constrained Bakken or send up by tanker from the crude-saturated Gulf Coast.

Things changed, though.

New southbound crude pipelines out of the Bakken came online, the ban on most crude exports was lifted — providing a new outlet for Texas crude production — and the economic rationale for railing or shipping in domestic crude to PADD 1 refineries withered.

Now, things have changed again.

Most important perhaps, is that the price spread between WTI and Brent has widened, and once more it can make financial sense for these refineries to revert to crude-by-rail out of the Bakken and to shipping in crude on Jones Act tankers from Corpus Christi and other Gulf Coast ports. Today, we discuss these recent trends, what’s driving them, and how long they might last.

The nexus of East Coast refineries’ crude supply, including CBR from North Dakota (PADD 2) to PADD 1 refineries, and shipments of Eagle Ford, Permian and other light, sweet crude from the Gulf Coast to PADD 1, has been a frequent topic in the RBN blogosphere — especially in the early years of the Shale Era.

Bakken production growth in the early 2010s far outpaced the addition of new pipeline capacity, and building rail-loading terminals represented a logical, near-term fix. For one thing, these terminals could be constructed quickly and at relatively modest cost; for another, using the rails gave shippers destination flexibility (allowing oil to be moved to wherever the netbacks were highest). The East Coast turned out to be a logical market — refineries there were set up to process light, sweet crude, the vast majority of which they imported from West Africa and other foreign sources, generally at prices tied to the Brent benchmark. If the delivered cost of price-discounted Bakken crude (including the cost of transportation by rail) was lower than the cost of imported crude — and it was — why not rail in more Bakken crude and back off on the volumes being imported?

Archived. See also this note.

The Road To California -- January 11, 2019

Just wait until the rats take over. 

This is quite a story, homeless in Los Angeles. Link here to Hollywood Reporter.

Venice is now home to the largest concentration of homeless anywhere on L.A.'s Westside, with nearly 1,000 non-domiciled people.

During the past 18 months, several encampments have swelled in more residential areas where homes can easily sell for eight figures and up. Tents, many of them equipped with mini refrigerators, cupboards, televisions and heaters, vie with pedestrian traffic.

Crime denial.

Residents who live near the encampments say mail regularly goes missing. Break-ins have jumped. Hypodermic needles and human waste are appearing on sidewalks and at local playgrounds. Residents have complained to police about harassment and even physical assaults. "This is more of a criminal problem than a homeless problem," says nonprofit worker Carly Voge, who lives next to the so-called Frederick camp adjacent to the Penmar Golf Course.

"There are crime problems in Venice," concedes Mike Bonin, whose Council District 11 includes Venice Beach. Bonin has come under intense criticism for his handling of the homeless crisis by Venice residents displeased with his support of a measure to introduce a massive, $5 million transitional housing project in their city. At the same time, Bonin says, "I can't accept the idea that there is an inextricable link between crime and homelessness. It is wrong, it is not backed up by the data, and it leads to bad policy."

Ninth Circuit Court to blame?

The most common refrain heard when discussing the cause of L.A.'s homeless crisis is soaring housing costs.

But there are other forces at play in Venice and throughout the city involving various laws and ballot measures that date back more than a decade. A 2006 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Jones v. City of Los Angeles required that law enforcement and city officials no longer enforce the ban on sleeping on sidewalks anywhere in the city until a sufficient amount of permanent supportive housing could be built.

Further complicating matters were two state ballot measures that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2016 — Propositions 47 and 57 — which decriminalized certain felonies to misdemeanors in an effort to address the state's overburdened prison system. Officials, including Bonin, admit that those measures have complicated matters for law enforcement, who make arrests only to see the same perpetrators back on the street days later.

California saw this same problem decades ago when mental health facilities were forced to shut down.

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

The Road to Boston

From Chesto over at The Boston Globe:

Scoring another wind win: This country’s nascent offshore wind industry doesn’t yet have its own capital city. But Boston could be in the best position of any place to earn that title.

Boston’s reputation gets a significant boost on Friday when executives at MHI Vestas Offshore Wind meet with Governor Charlie Baker to announce plans for the Danish turbine manufacturer to put its US headquarters here.

The new office will be small at first, just a handful of staffers. Employment will grow over time, along with the sector. But its opening is important symbolically, the kind of move that can build momentum by encouraging others to take a look.

The precipitating event: a 2016 state law that requires utilities to buy up to 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power.

Vineyard Wind was picked in May to develop an 800-megawatt wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard.

In November, the developer said it chose MHI Vestas as its preferred turbine supplier; the project would consist of 84 turbines made by MHI Vestas, with blades reaching as high as 600 feet in the sky. Around the same time, MHI Vestas hired Jason Folsom away from rival Siemens Gamesa to be its national sales director, making him the company’s first US hire.

Folsom plans to relocate from Florida to run the new office. He says he hasn’t picked a Boston site yet, but wants to open one within the next three months.

AGW? No. Ahhhh! -- January 7, 2019

If this is AGW, give me more.

It's not just mild, it's downright balmy.

At least that's what the curmudgeons in Starbucks said this morning at 8:30 a.m.

And it is balmy. It was forecast to hit 71 degrees, but it's already 73 degrees and it could get a degree warmer.

It will get a bit cooler later in the week, down to 66 which the radio guy said was a "more normal" temperature for north Texas this time of year. Sixty-six degrees is the "more normal" temperature, and right now its 73 degrees.

I'm lovin' it.

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

New England Renewable Energy

From a reader:

Brief rundown on upcoming (2 weeks out - January 22, 2019) meeting of Rhode Island coastal regulatory commission ...

Rhode Island fishermen's  advisory council unanimously voted down proposals from Vineyard Wind developer in November regarding turbine layout and compensation for lost revenues.

Week later, RI coastal commission - which DOES have regulatory authority to approve/block project - postponed decision for 2 months to see if stuff could be 'worked out.'

Last week, fishermen's group said no progress is being made.

Right now, January 22, 2019, is the date for scheduled vote to give or deny needed permit.

The fact that 2 fishermen just lost their lives on New Years day right where the existing Block Island farm is located does not bode well for developers. 

(52-foot-long boat took on water and quickly sank at 1:30 a.m.. One survivor. No more details available).

Project manager has stated permit denial will kill off project.

Did Chesto Get Ahead Of His Headlights? -- December 16, 2018

A reader updates this story:

A few weeks back, a Rhode Island fishermen's advisory council unanimously voted down Vineyard Wind's project due to the turbines' placement. Shortly thereafter, the Rhode Island Maritime regulatory body postponed a scheduled permitting vote - necessary for the project to proceed - in order for the fishermen and Vineyard Wind to come up with an agreeable compromise (HIGHLY doubtful).

The vote is now scheduled for the end of January.

A Vineyard Wind spokesman has already stated that, absent a positive, timely approval, both Vineyard Wind and all northeast offshore projects might be scuttled.

Fishermen and wholesale fish marketers up and down the East coast are mobilizing to block these wind farms.

The original "Chesto" story was posted yesterday, December 15, 2018;

Winds of change: The blockbuster auction for offshore wind leases that wrapped up today should leave few doubts: The industry has finally arrived in New England.

Three developers backed by major European energy companies won access to 390,000 acres of federal waters nearly 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, after numerous rounds of spirited bidding that stretched over two days. These firms will each pay a record $135 million for the rights to build massive windmills in their respective slices of the ocean.

Walter Cruickshank, head of the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, told reporters: “We are completely blown away by this.” He was speaking for the agency that oversaw the auction, of course.

But he also summed up the industry’s reaction. Although these areas will take many years to fully develop, BOEM says the three lease sites combined could eventually support 4,100 megawatts of wind generation, enough juice for 1.5 million homes.

Much more at the link.

The Young And The Beautiful, The Great Gatsby, Lana del Rey

Finally, Cape Wind -- RIP -- December 2, 2017

I've blogged many, many times about Cape Wind. I actually heard developer Jim Gordon promote the off-shore wind farm while visiting Harvard University's school of business some years ago. One Harvard MBA student was very skeptical (as was I) about the viability of Cape Wind. That was about five years ago.

Today, Don sent me the link to a Boston Globe story: the Cape Wind project is finally dead.

But it’s finally over: Gordon filed a notice this week with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to end the firm’s Nantucket Sound lease.

Gordon also issued a brief statement, taking credit for sparking the discussion about offshore wind here.

He also took a jab at his opponents, in part for the significant funding they get from wealthy Cape homeowners. Their repeated legal challenges likely played a key role in the project’s demise.

We’re embarking on a new era. Wind turbines are on their way for deeper waters, south of Martha’s Vineyard. They won’t be Gordon’s. But at least he can take some credit, in his defeat, for being a pioneer.

************************************ 

Tilting At Windmills

I am quite surprised how long Jim Gordon put up with this nonsense. This must have cost him the better part of the best years of his life. Of course he was well paid for this endeavor and I'm sure he met a lot of friends along the way, but at the end of the day, this is probably his legacy, a Don Quixote of the 21st century, literally tilting at windmills.

Silly Rabbit -- I Thought This Project Was Dead -- September 12, 2017

This project has more lives than the proverbial cat. From S&P Global, Market Intelligence, the wind farm that will not die.

Horseshoe Shoal is a familiar seafloor hazard for boaters in Nantucket Sound, about equidistant from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, rising in places to less than 5 feet underwater at low tide. It is also the scene of one of the most drawn-out fights over renewable energy in the United States, now in its 16th year with no resolution in sight: the struggle to build the Nantucket Sound Offshore Wind Farm (Cape Wind).

First proposed in 2001 by Cape Wind Associates, headed by longtime energy executive Jim Gordon, Cape Wind was to be America's first offshore wind farm, with 130 turbines producing, at capacity, 468 MW. It has been blocked by a combination of environmental concerns, the loss of its two original utility customers, and, above all, the opposition of a small group of wealthy and influential islanders who oppose the "industrialization" of Nantucket Sound and the sight of tall wind turbines from their mansions and beaches.

But it is not dead yet. Last month, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a final supplement to the earlier environmental impact statement, or EIS, approving Cape Wind. The supplement was required under a July 2016 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which found that the original EIS did not fully satisfy the requirements of the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The federal government, meanwhile, is set to issue a final decision on the project this fall.

Less Expensive To Drill; Gasoline Supply / Demand Starting To Narrow -- March 30, 2016

EIA:

The profitability of oil and natural gas development activity depends on both the prices realized by producers and the cost and productivity of newly developed wells.

Costs per well generally increased from 2006 to 2012, demonstrating the effect of rapid growth in drilling activity.

Since 2012, costs per well have decreased because of reduced overall drilling activity and improved drilling efficiency and tools. Changes in costs and well parameters, such as the need to drill deeper or longer lateral wells, have affected the onshore oil plays differently in 2015, with recent per-well costs ranging from 7% to 22% below 2014 levels. --- EIA 

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

Gasoline Demand

Starting to see supply/demand narrow, from John Kemp:

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

Silly Rabbit -- I Thought This Project Was Dead

The Boston Globe is reporting:

The Cape Wind energy project suffered another big blow on Tuesday when a state agency recommended that the developer’s request to extend its permit for two power lines for the proposed offshore wind farm be denied.

A spokesman for Cape Wind Associates noted that this represents the Energy Facilities Siting Board staff’s “tentative decision” and that the board is scheduled to act on that recommendation next week.

Cape Wind had sought to extend a permit for the proposed power lines for two additional years, through May 1, 2017. Cape Wind, which wants to build as many as 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, filed its extension request just weeks before its permit was set to expire last May.

On Tuesday, the board’s presiding officer wrote that Cape Wind Associates has not been able to demonstrate that it will be able to start construction on the project by mid-2017. In particular, the likelihood of project construction has seemed more distant since the developer lost two key contracts with National Grid and Eversource Energy in early 2015. 

At some point, one has to ask: what's driving this Quixotic windmill project. To say the least, something is very, very peculiar.

Health Care Costs In California -- A Random Update -- May 4, 2015

For the archives. 

Health care of undocumented Californians could cost state taxpayers almost $1 billion annually -- LA Times. But when you read the story, one gets the feeling that a) no one really knows; b) no one really cares -- after all, it's other people's money; and, c) it's the right thing to do.

I thought I had blogged about California's Proposition 65 some time ago, but I can't find the post, so maybe I have not blogged about that proposition. Out in California the proposition has become a joke: everyone now posts the label warning "this establishment" or "this product" contains a cancer-causing agent. Any product made for sale in California now carries that warning label (there may be some exceptions but they are few and far between). I was reminded of that proposition today when I went to have new brake pads placed on my bicycle. Mind you, the brake pads are all of two inches long and about one-half wide, appear to be solid "rubber" or some such thing and are about as likely to promote cancer as the broccoli in my refrigerator. Be that as it may, the Proposition 65 cancer-warning label was on the brake pads. LOL. If Texas legislators had any sense of humor they would pass a law forbidding California Proposition 65 cancer-warning labels to be placed on any product sold in Texas.

Meanwhile another day with no news out of Greece and barely any news out of the Mideast except for this from The Wall Street Journal:

 A surge in car bombings renewed security concerns in the Iraqi capital on Sunday, after Islamic State claimed seven attacks in the past week.

The bombers struck locations across Baghdad, including an open-air market Saturday night in the commercial district of Karrada, where some people had gathered to distribute sweets for a Shiite holy celebration.

At least 20 people were killed and 79 were injured in the string of bombings, according to a security official. Eleven died in Saturday night’s attack alone.

Car-bombings, which were a hallmark of life in Baghdad nearly a decade ago when Islamic State’s predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq, was ascendant, had become more sporadic in recent years, even as Islamic State took power in parts of the country.

Intensified fighting last week in Ramadi, capital of Anbar Province to the west of Baghdad, led to the flight of 90,000 residents from the area. Officials said that at least 50,000 of those people had come to Baghdad.

Officials and Baghdad residents said they feared the influx of Sunnis fleeing the fighting in Anbar, the current front line in the fight against Islamic State, had provided cover to the bombers to slip past checkpoints.

For those who might have forgotten, ISIS is the JV team -- one we can take out any time we want, at least according to the president (of the United States).

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

New Bedford

One of the places we enjoyed while visiting Boston over the past four years was New Bedford. At one time it was the whaling capital of the world. Whale oil was to New Bedford what light sweet crude oil is to Tioga. Down on the riverfront I always had the impression the city had seen much, much better days. From the linked article article:

In the opening chapters of Moby Dick, Herman Melville illustrates what was once the wealthiest city on earth. But the end of the whaling age, and later the city’s massive textile industry, brought depression to New Bedford. The city that lit the world now has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state.

Cape Wind might have changed that. WBUR.org is reporting:

New Bedford was supposed to stage the assembly of Cape Wind turbines, the country’s first large-scale offshore wind farm. To make it happen, the state built a marine commercial terminal in the city. But Cape Wind recently ended its lease contract with New Bedford, leaving the terminal without a tenant.

So far the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal has cost taxpayers $113 million. It doesn’t look like much yet, but the ground is fortified to support the heaviest components of a wind turbine.

The "worst" two words in the preceding paragraph: "so far." Does this mean they have spent $113 million just for foundation preparation and pylon formation? Does this mean they plan to continue to go forward with this terminal?

Even without Cape Wind, the terminal will bring new cargo capacity to the port of New Bedford. A study commissioned by the clean energy center estimates in each of its first three years, the terminal will take in a net $622,000 in non-wind revenue.

At that rate it would take nearly two centuries for the terminal to pay for itself. Still, officials in New Bedford insist that offshore wind is not a matter of if, but when.

Much, much more at the linked article.

Strong Interest In Apple's New Watch -- April 10, 2015

Locator: 10010APPLEWATCH.

 

Updates

July 11, 2026: see this update. 

Later, 10:21 p.m. CT: early this morning I walked by the local Apple Store (Southlake, TX); there was a short line and I had an "appointment" to be with the youngest granddaughter at 10:30, so I didn't go in. This evening my wife and I stopped by the Apple Store. Not busy at all. Lots of people there but one could see things were winding down. We saw the Apple Watch for the first time, both in the display case -- about 24 different models -- mostly different bands -- and then several in various places around the store where one could test them out at one's leisure. In addition, it appeared that at this particular store at about 8:00 p.m. this evening, two or three employees were, probably by reservation, showing an assortment of 12 models to prospective buyers. I assume that if the individual decided to buy, they placed an on-line order. No one was walking out of the store with an Apple Watch as far as I could tell.

My impression of the watch: incredible. Absolutely incredible. Like all Apple products, exquisite; a feeling of a very solid watch; gravitas and heft. It was incredibly easy to switch among the various apps. Easy to read e-mail. Easy to read maps. I was very, very impressed. If I had an iPhone, I would have ordered the least expensive and then gone on from there.

I think folks will be surprised who actually buys the watch. This is a pretty big deal. It won't move the needle with regard to Apple's bottom line but that's not the point.

The Apple Watch is another Apple item that defines the "new" Apple. I think there will be an initial surge in Apple Watch sales, but they will quickly taper off; over time, the Apple Watch will simply become a steady performer. It's kind of interesting: the Apple Watch was so elegant, it looked out of place in the Apple store. It really needs to be seen and sold in the upscale jewelry stores. It almost looks out of place in the Apple store.

By the way, the foot traffic that is brought in by the interest in the Apple was also incredible. My wife and I walked to the back of the store to look at all the new accessories. Apple has really broadened what they sell -- they also sell drones now -- they had but one Parrot Bebop drone, at $499, left on the shelf. There were also some mini-drones. A lot of non-Apple products.

And, of course, we saw the new MacBook -- that, too, is incredible. It is what the Google Chromebook should have been. There are a lot of "negatives" to say about the MacBook but that's because folks are comparing it to a "full" laptop. It's not. I think the MacBook is a direct competitor to the Apple tablet, the iPad, or to the Microsoft Surface. For reading in bed, I love the iPad, but in almost all other situations I would prefer the new MacBook to an iPad.

Later, 5:07 p.m. CT: Reuters is reporting --

Customers preordering Apple Inc's smartwatch on Friday will have to wait at least a month for delivery, an early sign of strong demand for company chief Tim Cook's first new major product.

People flocked to Apple's stores around the world to get a close-up look at the Apple Watch, the tech company's first foray into the personal luxury goods market.

The device was available for preorder online and to try out in stores by appointment, but not to take home. Cook, interviewed on cable television channel CNBC, said initial orders were "great."

Apple predicted on Thursday that demand would exceed supply at product launch.

Without knowing how many watches consumers have ordered, Wall Street analysts said it was too early to adjust their estimates for sales of the gadget. Another key factor in the watch's success will be demand once an initial wave of interest from Apple enthusiasts subsides.

The watch goes on sale officially on April 24, online and through appointments in shops, including trendy fashion boutiques in Paris, London and Tokyo, part of Apple's strategy of positioning the wearable computer as a must-have accessory.

But soon after online preorders opened on Friday, Apple's website listed shipping times in June for some models of the watch and four to six weeks for others.

June? Two months from now.

Original Post

Reuters is reporting:

Consumers in Australia flocked to Apple Inc's store in Sydney on Friday to get the world's first up-close look at the tech giant's smartwatch, which the company expects will be its next runaway hit.

The Apple Watch, CEO Tim Cook's first new major product, was available for pre-order online and to try out in stores - but not take home.

On April 24, consumers will be able to buy it online or by reservation at retail locations including high-end fashion boutiques in Paris, London and Tokyo, part of Apple's strategy of positioning the wearable computer as a must-have accessory.

About four weeks ago, when Tag Heuer reiterated that they would not develop a smart watch and had no concern over the Apple Watch, I visited the Tag Heuer site to see the prices of watches that do only two things: a) provide the time; b) provide the date (and sometimes the day of the week).

Ever since, I've been getting Tag Heuer advertisements on various sites (Yahoo, Drudge).

And now, Tag Heuer has announced it will market a smart watch. 

The Apple Watch has nothing to do with short term profits for Apple. It's all about widening the moat.

Since I don't have the iPhone, I won't be getting an Apple Watch. By this time next year, I assume my wife, who has an iPhone 6, will also have an Apple Watch. We'll let the dust settle before we start looking for an Apple Watch. But I might walk by the Apple store here in South Lake in a few minutes.

I'm more interested in the new MacBook.

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The Great Gatsby Turns 90 This Month

Link here.

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Jobs Program

The WSJ reports:

China will build a pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan to help address Pakistan’s acute energy shortage, under a deal to be signed during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad this month, Pakistani officials said.

The arrival of President Xi Jinping is expected to showcase China’s commitment to infrastructure development in ally Pakistan, at a time when few other countries are willing to make major investments in the cash-strapped, terrorism-plagued country.

The pipeline would amount to an early benefit for both Pakistan and Iran from the framework agreement reached earlier this month between Tehran and the U.S. and other world powers to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. had previously threatened Pakistan with sanctions if it went ahead with the project.

It's ironic that a non-free-market country like China is all in favor of free market capitalism and helping its neighbors and allies, and then we have an ObamAmerica that no longer believes in free-market capitalism and certainly won't build a pipeline that helps it neighbor and ally.

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It Wasn't The Koch Brothers

Why Cape Wind failed -- the Boston Globe is reporting:

In the end it was about money and politics, as are so many things in Massachusetts. But it was not Koch cash or Kennedy pique that may have killed a commercial offshore wind plant in Nantucket Sound. It was the hubris of Cape Wind’s developers themselves.

Almost 14 years after Cape Wind Associates unveiled plans to erect 130 wind turbines across 24 square miles of pristine Horseshoe Shoal, Jim Gordon and his investors seem to have run out of time, money, and political capital. The decision by NStar and National Grid to walk away after Cape Wind missed a December 31 contract deadline appears to leave Cape Wind “dead in the water,” as Gordon’s nemesis, Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, so poetically put it.

Gordon blamed the collapse of what would have been the first offshore wind facility in the United States on litigious obstructionists financed by Bill Koch, the conservative scion of his family’s oil refining fortune, and other wealthy property owners protective of their ocean views. Then, without apparent irony, he promptly lashed out at the utilities that abandoned him, essentially claiming the relentless legal battle he has been whining about for more than a decade was an unanticipated disaster akin to an act of God.

I agree completely. I heard Jim Gordon speak to a small Harvard University MBA class a few years back. His presentation was well-balanced, calm, but when a student called him on the economics of the program, it was clear he was an emperor with no clothes.

The article continues:

The truth is, Gordon simply could not deliver. He never won the lasting support of the people of the Cape and Islands whose homes bear no resemblance to Koch’s Oyster Harbors manse or the Kennedys’ Hyannis Port compound. The Town of Barnstable opposed him. So did a Wampanoag tribe. Among the legal challenges the project has faced was a suit by struggling fishermen from Martha’s Vineyard who argued that the massive wind plant threatened their livelihood. (The fishermen withdrew their lawsuit only when they found themselves unable to pay their lawyers and Cape Wind offered them an undisclosed settlement.)

Fifty-nine percent of respondents to a Cape Cod Times online poll in January pronounced themselves “happy” that Cape Wind looks doomed.

Yet, from the outset, Gordon has cloaked himself in environmental virtue and cast any and all critics as defenders of “dirty energy.” To doubt the merits of this particular project was to oppose renewable energy itself. To object to this specific site was to reject offshore wind power entirely.

To express safety concerns — as regional airports and ferry operators who serve the mainland and the Islands did — was to brand yourself a dupe of the fossil-fuel lobby. To want to protect the aesthetic beauty of Nantucket Sound was to cast your lot with climate change deniers. 

Good article; excellent writing. The Boston Globe has the best writing of all daily newspapers; New York Times also has great writing. 

Brent To Rise Monday -- Commerzbank -- March 1, 2015; WTI-Brent Spread Widest In More Than A Year; Numbers To Watch: 410; 110

 Updates

Later, 10:44 p.m. CT:  Saudi oil imports of crude oil into the US (most recent data reported by EIA is for December, 2014):

The EIA also reported a summary of crude oil imports at this site: Canada, #1; Saudi Arabia, #2; Mexico, #3; Venezuela, #4; and, Iraq, #5.

Later, 10:36 p.m. CT: Bloomberg Business is reporting:

Oil fell after posting the first monthly gain since June as Saudi Arabia stepped up production, lifting OPEC’s output beyond its collective quota for a ninth month.

Futures decreased as much as 1.1 percent in New York. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 30.6 million barrels a day in February, according to a Bloomberg survey. Oil sank almost 50 percent in 2014 as Saudi Arabia led the group’s decision in November to maintain output target at 30 million a day, exacerbating a global glut.

West Texas Intermediate’s discount to European prices settled at the widest in more than a year on February 27 as U.S. crude stockpiles expanded to the highest level in weekly data that started August 1982. The oversupply has driven U.S. drillers to cut the number of rigs in service for a 12th week to the fewest since June 2011, Baker Hughes Inc. data showed.

Original Post

Bloomberg is reporting:

Commodities including iron ore, oil and copper are set to extend gains on Monday as China’s interest-rate reduction spurs demand from the construction to energy industries.

China’s second cut to benchmark rates in three months will fuel gains as investors anticipate that cheaper credit will stimulate demand, Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity research at Commerzbank AG, said by e-mail on Sunday.

A Chinese factory gauge reported on Sunday signaled contraction in February. 

The big question is whether Brent and WTI will continue to diverge or whether Brent will pull WTI along in its wake.

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Sea Levels To Rise In 2015

The seas should rise in 2015, all things being equal, simply from all the Boston snow that melts and flows into the harbor. It is being reported that a new round of snowfall should set all-time record for Boston.

After cold and snow that set February records, southern New England is entering March with another round that could push Boston over its 20-year-old snowfall record.

With 102 inches, Boston needs 5.7 more to break the 1995-1996 record of 107.6. Snowfall of 4 to 6 inches was expected by early Monday across the area, with up to 8 inches in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Less is expected in northern Massachusetts and New York state, and on Cape Cod.

410: ppm of atmospheric CO2 in 2015
110: inches of snow in Boston winter of 2014-2015

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Turns Out I Was Wrong

Quite some time ago, I opined that the White House had the resources to force Prime Minister Netanyahu from coming to America to give his speech. Not only was I way wrong, but there are now indications that the White House is trying to make nice (posted earlier). It looks like the seats boycotted by some House members are "oversubscribed"; looks like it will be an over-sold, standing-room only event. Everything points to this speech being the Washington event of the month (March) -- the attendees will be all "A-List." This might be the Speaker's salvation.

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Dead Turbines

The Boston Globe is reporting:

Cape Wind, whose plans to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm were thrown into upheaval in January when two utilities terminated contracts to buy the project’s power, is not throwing in the towel, the company’s chief executive said Saturday.

In his first extensive comments to the media since the contracts were canceled, Cape Wind president Jim Gordon vowed to press ahead with the $2.5 billion project slated for Nantucket Sound and restore its agreements with National Grid and Eversource Energy, formerly known as Northeast Utilities.

The $2.5 million project would install 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. 

“We will be contacting them soon to talk with them and see if we can amicably resolve the situation so that this important clean energy project that has been under development for the last 14 years can be built,” Gordon said in an interview.

He spoke at a rally on Boston Common attended by a couple of hundred people and organized by Better Future Project in Cambridge, which advocates for clean energy. Craig S. Altemose, the organization’s executive director, said more than 95,000 people have signed a petition asking Marcy Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts, to reconsider its agreement with Cape Wind.

“We are not giving up,” Gordon told the crowd, drawing cheers. “We have just begun to fight.”

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From Dead Turbines To Dead Flowers

Dead Flowers, performed by Townes Van Zandt, written by Keith Richards/Mick Jagger

"A Major Setback" Or Deal-Breaker -- January 7, 2015

The Boston Globe characterizes it as "a major setback." Everything I've read suggests this is a "deal-breaker." There is another interesting bit of trivia in the article that also suggests this is much more than "a major setback."

The story:

The Cape Wind plan was dealt a major setback Tuesday when two power companies that had agreed to buy energy from the Nantucket Sound wind farm terminated their contracts with the developers, raising questions about the future of the $2.5 billion offshore project.

National Grid and Northeast Utilities said Cape Wind had missed the December 31, 2014, deadline contained in the 2012 contracts to obtain financing and begin construction, and chosen not to put up financial collateral to extend the deadline.

More:

In a separate e-mail, National Grid spokesman Jake Navarro said the utility was “disappointed that Cape Wind has been unable to meet its commitments under the contract, resulting in today’s termination of the power purchase agreement.”

Under the 2012 agreement, Northeast Utilities and NStar agreed to buy 27.5 percent of Cape Wind’s production. National Grid had previously signed on to purchase 50 percent.

A Cape Wind spokesman said the developer does not “regard these terminations as valid” because of provisions that, the company argued, would extend the deadlines.

And deep in the story:

Ian Bowles, who as Patrick’s first energy and environment chief helped shepherd the offshore project, said Tuesday’s news may have spelled the end for Cape Wind.

“Presumably, this means that the project doesn’t go forward,” he said in a telephone interview.

The jeopardy in which Cape Wind finds itself reflects a changed energy market, in which developers bear more risk than the eventual ratepayers, Bowles said.

“The risk is on the developer to either build it or not. And in this case, the developer appears to have failed,” he said.

Advances in the state’s renewable energy and efficiency policies have lessened the importance of Cape Wind in its overall energy landscape, Bowles said.

And here is that bit of trivia I alluded to in the beginning, another nail in that coffin:

Governor-elect Charlie Baker is set to take office Thursday. Once a critic of Cape Wind, Baker shifted positions during last year’s campaign, calling the project “a done deal.”

On Tuesday night, a Baker spokesman issued a statement that hinted that the new governor would not interject himself into the contract dispute.

By the way, "...the state's renewable energy and efficiency policies have lessened the importance of Cape Wind...." I assume they mean the state has already backtracked or is likely to backtrack on renewable energy mandates. 

Update On Cape Wind -- Only Thing Taking Longer Is Keystone XL -- September 12, 2014

Updates

December 2, 2017: dead, RIP. 
 

Original Post

Boston Bz Journal is reporting:

It looks like Cape Wind Associates LLC is going to stay closer to home after all: The developer has reportedly signed a lease agreement with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to use an industrial terminal that the agency is building on the New Bedford waterfront, presumably for staging and assembly of Cape Wind's 130-turbine wind turbine project that would go up in Nantucket Sound.

Cape Wind, the paper reported, will file paperwork next week to modify its permit with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to allow extensive construction work for the Cape Wind project to take place in New Bedford. The federal permit, as it stands now, requires the bulk of the on-land work to take place at a marine industrial park in North Kingstown, R.I. In July, the overseers of the Quonset industrial park in North Kingstown approved a lease option with Cape Wind for 14 acres there.

At the time, a Cape Wind spokesman was cagey when I asked him about what Cape Wind would be doing in North Kingstown and if the Quonset lease option meant New Bedford was off the table. Cape Wind President Jim Gordon is well aware that the Patrick administration has long made it a priority for the work to be done in New Bedford instead.

They hope to get started sometime in 2015.

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A Note to the Granddaughters

We spent some time in New Bedford over the past four years when the granddaughters were living in the Boston area.

New Bedford was the "whale oil capital" of the world at one time; it was known as the city that lit the world. The city supplied the oil that lit the gas lamps. Moby Dick and Herman Melville started there; we visited the church where Melville sat.

Today, New Bedford looked to be in a deep economic depression. My hunch is that the wind turbine manufacturing there will help, but not much. It was a very, very depressing city to visit because of the history it was, and the present it is. The whaling museum was incredible. I would go back to New Bedford just for the museum. And the quaint little coffee shops across the street. And the US National Park Service in the immediate area.

Wind Off Rhode Island

Euronews is reporting that GE may buy Alstom.

Why?

Alstom will build the first large off-shore US wind farm. The press release:

Alstom signed a contract to supply 5 offshore wind turbines for Deepwater Wind’s 30-MW Block Island pilot Wind Farm located off the coast of Rhode Island, USA, in the presence of Arnaud Montebourg, French minister of economic recovery; Amy Ericson, Country President Alstom USA and Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater CEO. The project, scheduled for commissioning in 2016, will be one of the first offshore wind farms in the U.S. and will be the world’s first to feature Alstom’s Haliade™ 150-6 MW - the largest turbine installed in offshore waters today. The five turbines will produce approximately 125,000 MWh of electricity a year, enough to power over 17,000 homes (I suppose about the size of Williston?).
The contract scope includes the manufacturing of 5 Haliade™ 150-6 MW wind turbines and 15 years of operation and maintenance support for the Block Island Wind Farm owned and operated by Deepwater Wind.

Each wind turbine: 150-meter rotor diameter on a 100-meter tower; rated at 6 MW

I assume that would be five turbines (5 x 6 = 30 MW).

Later in the press release:

This project represents an important technological step for the Haliade 150-6MW. Along with the installation of 2 wind turbines in Europe - the first onshore at le Carnet site (in the western region of France), and the other in Ostend, Belgium - this pilot farm in the U.S. will enable Alstom to develop its offshore technology to the point where it can launch serial production. 

In France, Alstom will equip 3 wind farms (Courseulles-sur-Mer, Fécamp and Saint-Nazaire) won by EDF EN and its partners as a result of the first French call for tender offshore, and today participates with EDF to the second call for tender for Le Tréport wind farm and the two islands wind farm (Yeu-Noimoutier). In Germany KNK Wind (the project development company for Arcadis Ost 1) has chosen the Haliade™ 150-6MW in December 2013 in support of a building permit for a project to install 58 wind offshore turbines on an area of about 30 square kilometres in Baltic Sea.

Newbies may want to put these 30 MW into perspective. At this link, note the amount of new energy placed in service in the US in the entire calendar year, 2013.

The year 2013 was a big year for US wind (tax credits ran out at the end of the year) and a total of 1,032 MW of wind-generated electricity was added for the entire year. This project off Rhode Island would represent about (30/1,032) about 3% of that total. That's just wind.

A start. I guess. My hunch is the lure of tax credits is the prime mover.