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Post by Rich Fisher on Mar 25, 2009 12:45:45 GMT -4
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The Senate Finance Committee has approved legislation to give Maryland regulators more authority to direct utilities to build new power plants. The 6-4 vote on Tuesday sends the measure to the full Senate. The bill would restore some of the authority the state's Public Service Commission lost after the state decided to deregulate in 1999. High energy bills have caused many lawmakers to consider the 1999 decision a mistake, but industry representatives say markets simply haven't had enough time to translate deregulation into cheaper electricity bills. Supporters say the bill won't have an effect on energy bills for at least several years, but they say the plan will lower rates in the long term.
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Post by mikerobe on May 24, 2009 10:39:53 GMT -4
What type of power plants are we talking about here? Building a nuclear plant is almost impossible, and coal has been demonized as an enviromental villan. Perhaps natural gas?
What needs to be done is a rebuiling of the power grid (the infastruture that distributes the electricity) because up to 30% of the power is lost during transmission.
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Post by funnel101 on May 27, 2009 18:12:57 GMT -4
We could probably get wind power plants here, or maybe solar... ? But it will probably end up being coal.
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Post by linda712 on May 27, 2009 22:03:12 GMT -4
I wish they'd try those windmills -- it's not like we don't have SOME open areas left .....
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Post by tankermate on Jun 7, 2009 13:12:48 GMT -4
Natural gas- it's not as dangerous as people think.
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Post by bchevy on Jun 7, 2009 17:31:31 GMT -4
I wish they'd try those windmills Why is it OK with Obama that IRAN gets Nuclear POWER, and we can't build a new Nuc. Plant? Isn't that something....
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2009 22:34:57 GMT -4
People are OK with building this stuff right to the point that they find out it's going to be in their neighborhood. You know, nimbyism.....the not in my backyard syndrome.
Similar to why there is no new bay bridge being built somewhere. Everybody wants it, nobody wants it built near them though. Plus there's that other little issue with a new bridge, nobody wants to pay for it. Other than those two things, everyone is on board.
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Post by bluecrabber on Jun 8, 2009 8:38:21 GMT -4
The major reason why I don't want another bay bridge (parallel to the existing ones) is the impact of added traffic and congestion here in QA county. The infrastructure is just not here to support even more traffic on route 50 and 301.
Just look at the traffic patterns now.. on many days it is not the bay bridge that is causing the backup, it is the Severn river bridge, or the Annapolis exits and 97 merging.. even route 97 is sometimes stop and go and when you get to the bridge you sail across.
What they need is the southern crossing they have been talking about for years. Why in the heck do those of us who live here in Anne Arundel and Queen Annes county have to be the whipping boy for all the northern VA and D.C. and suburbs?
In my book, any politician that even mentions a parallel bridge to the existing ones needs to be crab bait.
Best regards, BC Sorry for getting off the subject of the thread.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2009 10:24:11 GMT -4
A nuclear power renaissance? Maybe not. Don't expect more than three new plants to be built in the next 10 years, experts at a session on nukes at Fortune's Brainstorm: Green conference agree.
FORTUNE 500 Laguna Niguel, Calif. (Fortune) -- Three new nuclear power plants in the next ten years, max. That was the consensus among the experts attending Tuesday's morning session on nuclear power at Fortune's Brainstorm: Green conference. Maybe five, said one lonely voice. Either way, that's far from the nuclear renaissance we were reading about just a couple of years ago. What happened?
No. 1, the global recession. As economic activity slows, so does demand for energy. More cars with batteries would help. "The electric car," says NRG Energy CEO David Crane, "is the air conditioner of the 21st century." Maybe later. For now the market's way too small to spark big demand.
No. 2, sinking natural; gas prices. At $13.69 per thousand cubic feet, not just nuclear, but any alternative to natural gas for making electricity looks pretty good. At $3.48, where natural gas futures stood last week, the economic incentive shifts.
No. 3, the credit crunch. Big loans are hard to get these days, no matter what the infrastructure project, but they're all but impossible for one with all of nuclear's uncertainties. Among the persistent question marks: No clear idea yet of where the cost of carbon will land, if and when we get a climate-change bill in Washington; continued uncertainty surrounding the government's nuclear loan guarantee program, considered vital to unlocking private investment; and oh yeah, what do we do with the waste? Yucca Mountain will never happen.
Where does the new administration stand on nukes? Good question. President Obama is not anti-nuke but neither is he an active proponent. And while Energy Secretary Steven Chu might be open to new nukes, said one participant, speaking not for attribution, Carol Browner, President Obama's special assistant for climate, decidedly is not. And Browner, this participant added, is calling the shots.
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Post by moosie on Jun 8, 2009 13:03:49 GMT -4
The major reason why I don't want another bay bridge (parallel to the existing ones) is the impact of added traffic and congestion here in QA county. The infrastructure is just not here to support even more traffic on route 50 and 301. Just look at the traffic patterns now.. on many days it is not the bay bridge that is causing the backup, it is the Severn river bridge, or the Annapolis exits and 97 merging.. even route 97 is sometimes stop and go and when you get to the bridge you sail across. What they need is the southern crossing they have been talking about for years. Why in the heck do those of us who live here in Anne Arundel and Queen Annes county have to be the whipping boy for all the northern VA and D.C. and suburbs? agreed. this has been discussed in previous threads. no way a third span could be supported. what they might do--tho i don't know how--is have an emergency lane or span or something the way some bridges have to handle traffic when there is a major incident.. In my book, any politician that even mentions a parallel bridge to the existing ones needs to be crab bait. Best regards, BC Sorry for getting off the subject of the thread.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2009 17:12:03 GMT -4
I wish they'd try those windmills Why is it OK with Obama that IRAN gets Nuclear POWER, and we can't build a new Nuc. Plant? Isn't that something.... I'm not really sure if Obama is OK with it, I thought not. He might not be worrying about due to the fact the Israel's will do something about it and then we will have bigger things to worry about.
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