QUICK NEWS, July 2: LONG ISLAND UTILITY GETS F-I-T; ANOTHER STEP AHEAD FOR CAPE WIND; $30BIL FED SUPPORT FOR COAL

LONG ISLAND UTILITY GETS F-I-T Long Island Power Authority Approves Solar Feed-In-Tariff Program

29 June 2012 (Solar Industry)

“The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has approved the CLEAN Solar Initiative (CSI), which the utility says is expected to result in the deployment of 50 MW of local solar energy generation within two years…Under the CSI program, LIPA will purchase all of the energy generated by 50 MW of local solar projects at a fixed rate of $0.22/kWh for 20 years…”

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“Projects must be at least 50 kW, and LIPA expects that the largest projects will be in the 3 MW range…Because all projects must be interconnected to LIPA’s distribution grid, no new transmission lines will be required…The utility will begin accepting applications on July 16…”

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ANOTHER STEP AHEAD FOR CAPE WIND Lawsuit Dropped, Fishermen and Cape Wind Vow to Cooperate

Sara Brown, June 29, 2012 (Martha’s Vineyard Gazette)

“In a reversal this week, Vineyard fishermen dropped their lawsuit over the Cape Wind project, with Cape Wind in turn agreeing to support access and a new permit program for fishermen who make a living in the waters around Horseshoe Shoal…

“…[T]he fishermen’s association [will] instead work with Cape Wind…[I]nitial concerns that an exclusionary zone would be created around the turbines had been assuaged, with Cape Wind agreeing not to limit fishing access for the fishermen who harvest conch, scup and sea bass in the area…”

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“About 100 commercial fishermen, represented by the fishermen’s association…[have agreed] to support the Cape Wind project, as well as vibrant and sustainable local commercial fishing communities on Martha’s Vineyard…

“The settlement guarantees that there is no exclusionary zone…[and sets up] the newly-formed Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, which will buy fishing permits and lease them at affordable rates to Island fishermen…[It] will be operated through the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard. The amount of any monetary contributions from Cape Wind toward the permit bank was not disclosed…”

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$30BIL FED SUPPORT FOR COAL Almost $30 Billion in Revenues Lost to Taxpayers by “Giveaway” of Federally Owned Coal in Powder River Basin; With Almost No Accountability, BLM Failure Created Boom in Electric Power Industry Use of Artificially Cheap Coal from Montana and Wyoming; Next Major Coal Sale Set for Thursday.

June 25, 2012 (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)

“Taxpayers missed out on an estimated $28.9 billion in revenues over 30 years due to the failure of the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to get fair market value for U.S.-owned coal mined in the Powder River Basin, which currently produces 44 percent of the nation's coal, according to [The Great Giveaway: An analysis of The United States' Long-Term Trend of Selling Federally Owned Coal for Less Than Fair Market Value] by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)…

“…The report calls for a moratorium on additional Powder River Basin coal sales and a full-scale federal investigation of the deeply flawed BLM program…Since 1991, only four out of 26 major Powder River Basin (PRB) coal sales have had more than one bidder, and the small handful that were ‘competitive’ only had two bidders each…[due to] a lack of transparency under which BLM coal-leasing activities neither have been audited nor subjected to any other publicly available external review for almost 30 years…”

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“…Located in southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming, Powder River Basin in the U.S. coal picture has increased significantly in the last 40 years. The Department of Interior (DOI), through its agency the Bureau of Land Management, is responsible for the sale of PRB coal. Given that the United States owns almost all the coal in the region, the U.S. government holds an effective monopoly of western coal. As a result, the DOI is extremely influential, shaping U.S. annual coal production levels and the market price of coal…

“The report recommends..,[DOI]…should implement an immediate moratorium on the sale of federal coal leases in the Powder River Basin…reinstate the PRB as a Coal Production Region…[to] help the BLM address broader economic issues and set a fairer price…Congress must conduct a fundamental review of the federal coal-leasing program…The General Accounting Office should conduct an audit…[DOI’s] Inspector General should conduct oversight activities… An independent entity should evaluate the [BLM's] coal-leasing program, with specific attention paid to fair market valuation…”

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