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The American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009 passefd ina 219-212 vote and now headzs to the Senate. Among several measures, the bill would implemenr a system known as cap and which would set capson greenhouse-gas emissions — to be lowereed in time — and entities woulsd have to buy allowances to exceed it or pay Emissions would be capped at 42 percent belosw 2005 levels by 2030 and 83 percenft by 2050. Proponents say it wouldf create jobs, decrease the nation’s dependencse on foreign oil and combat global on Friday expressed strong opposition tothe bill, to which a few hundred pages were addef days before its passage.
The legislation could increasde local electric rates by about 50 percen t by 2012 and by an additional 70 percenytby 2020, Chuck Caisley, KCP&L’s senior director of public affairs, said last week. KCP&L has been supportive of such environmental he said, but the legislation’s deadlines are impractically aggressive. KCP&L now will turn its attention to the as well as toeducatinyg customers, Caisley said in a Mondat interview. The Senate probably will work on the legislation slightlgy past the July 4 he said. “We will work to find a path to passinhg legislation that achieves the goal butjust doesn’t hurt disproportionatelt the Midwest,” Caisley said.
The said Frida that the legislation would increasse revenueby $873 billion from 2010 through 2019 and woulfd increase direct spending by $864 billion durinf that time. It also said that severall mandateswould “well exceed” the annual guidelines set in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. On June 19, it estimatecd that the program would cost the economyabouty $22 billion in 2020, or about $175 a The nonprofit said the act could save $1,050p a household by 2020. But KCP&L said Midwesterb states would be hit hardesy because abundant coal there makespower cheap.
The Kansas City-based which serves more than 800,00o customers in the area, probably woulfd have to retire some ofits coal-fired fleet in 2012 and try to find Caisley said. But the local infrastructurer for wind and natural gas powere is not yet prepared toreplace it, he KCP&L backs an industrhy proposal that would rather see caps starg in 2015 and be more graduall tightened afterward. The industrgy contends that doing so would meet the same 2050 target the act proposew but that it would cost less and allow for infrastructure to be for emerging green energy technologies to advance to commercially readh phases and for utilities to raise the moneh to completethe projects, Caisley said.
The Hous e vote split along party lines, with 211 Democrats and eight Republicans voting in favor of the act and 44 Democratsz and 168 Republicansopposing it, according to the Hous e clerk’s Web site. It splitt exactly along party lines in Kansazand Missouri. KCP&L also wants fully regulatefd utilities, such as itself, to get more allowances and a pricd ceiling to be placedfon allowances. The opposes the legislation in its current according to a Thursday letterto Congress. On Wednesday, KCP& L . KCP&L is a subsidiarh of Kansas City-based (NYSE: which ranks No. 8 on the Kansas City Business Journal ’s list of area public companies.

Lakes Buchanan, Travis must be lowered to help those downstream - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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LCRA is releasing the water for downstream rice farmers andelectri utilities. The LCRA said both lakees are alreadyat “dangerously low” levels, and to expec t more islands to pop up as the levelds in both lakes are reduced. That kind of action might not be necessary in the futur if a regional water project between the LCRA and themovesx forward, SAWS officials said. “This is exactly what the project was designed to help the HighlandLakes avoid,” said Chuc k Ahrens, vice president of water resourcesd at SAWS.
“The studies show that with conservation reservoirs andother efforts, lake levels wouldc be protected and sufficient water provided for userw up and down the Colorado LCRA and SAWS signed the originao agreement in 2002 to study the feasibility of a water-sharingg project and determine if water-sharing could providr for water needs in both basins while meetinvg requirements set by the Texa s Legislature. But earlier this year, LCRA officialzs said that preliminary study findings indicatexd theproject wouldn’t meet all the legislative and that given updated growth projections, no water would be availabl for San Antonio.
SAWS trusteezs fired back that LCRA’s use of updated water need projectionsx in the ongoing project studies breachedthe agreement. SAWS has threatened to take legal but the LCRA has calledfor