We Energies CEO Sees Investment Opportunity in State-Owned Plants

Friday, September 07, 2012

An excerpt of an article from energy writer Thomas Content in the Journal Sentinel.


Acquiring some of Wisconsin's state-owned heating plants could be a "significant investment opportunity" for We Energies, the utility's top executive said.

We Energies CEO Gale Klappa discussed the utility's interest in buying the state facilities during a presentation to Wall Street analysts in New York City this week.

He also discussed the company's transition away from massive engineering and building projects such as new power plants and environmental control systems toward a lower-risk strategy centered on renewing the company's aging utility poles, transformers and natural gas pipelines.

The final "megaproject" is about to be completed, he said. The addition of pollution controls is nearly finished at the original Oak Creek power plant, at a cost of nearly $900 million.

It's the second-biggest project in the company's history, after the construction of the new coal plant in Oak Creek, just to the south of the original plant.

Looking ahead, Klappa said, the utility is considering the purchase of state-owned heating and cooling plants, some of which are under pressure to reduce pollution linked to burning coal.

"That could be a significant investment opportunity for us, and a significant (additional) investment opportunity because of the modern environmental controls, or the conversion from coal to natural gas that would be necessary," Klappa said.

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Madison wants to cut auto traffic 25 percent by 2020

Thursday, June 04, 2009

From an article by Mike Ivey in The Capital Times:

The city of Madison is poised to add another hoop for developers to jump through when considering new projects: how many car trips will be generated.

A resolution working its way through City Hall sets a goal of reducing the total amount of vehicle miles traveled here 25 percent by 2020. That could make it harder to build homes, offices or stores on the urban fringe where cars are the sole means of transportation.

But supporters say reducing automobile dependency will bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the city. They also contend it won't tie the hands of the private sector or drive investment out of town.

"These are goals, just one more thing to consider when making decisions," east side Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway told the Madison Plan Commission at its meeting this week. "It doesn't require the council or Plan Commission to do anything other than pay attention."

Approved by the Plan Commission on a 7-1 vote, the resolution says automobiles are "a major contributor to environmental degradation, including air emissions that increase levels of ozone, particulates, greenhouse gases, stormwater runoff, heat island effects, habitat and agricultural land destruction."

It further states that transportation inefficiency is a "major contributor to social inequity," making it harder for the poor or disabled to get to work or meet other daily needs.

The resolution calls for coordinating transportation and land-use planning on a citywide scale, noting that mixed-use development within individual neighborhoods alone won't make much difference

Automakers, Obama announce mileage, pollution plan

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

From an Associated Press article by Ken Thomas, published in The Capital Times:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's new fuel and emission standards for cars and trucks will save billions of barrels of oil but are expected to cost consumers an extra $1,300 per vehicle by the time the plan is complete in 2016.

Obama on Tuesday planned to announce the first-ever national emissions limits for vehicles, as well as require an overall or industry average fuel efficiency standard at 35.5 miles per gallon.

Carol Browner, the White House energy and climate director, publicly confirmed the new initiative in appearances on morning network news shows, calling it a "truly historic" occasion and saying tougher standards are "long overdue."

The plan also would effectively end a feud between automakers and statehouses over emission standards — with the states coming out on top but the automakers getting the single national standard they've been seeking and more time to make the changes.

Obama's proposed change in rules would for the first time combine pollution reduction from vehicle tailpipes with increased efficiency on the road. It would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil through 2016 and would be the environmental equivalent of taking 177 million cars off the road, said senior administration officials speaking anonymously, ahead of the announcement.

New vehicles would be 30 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by the end of the program, they said.

Bus fare hike? We're still not convinced

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

From an editorial in The Capital Times:

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz is not an enemy of buses or public transportation.

The mayor's proposal to raise bus fares to $2 per ride is a response to genuine budgetary challenges. And we reject the notion that this veteran environmental activist -- who has long been an advocate for alternative modes of transportation -- has somehow abandoned his principles during the course of the protracted struggle to balance the books at Madison Metro.

But we are not ready to embrace the $2 fare.

The mayor has worked hard to make the case for this increase. He has done his best with charts and statistics. And we have been sympathetic to his presentations. There is no question that he believes that only a fare hike will prevent serious cuts in services.

But it strikes us that this is a managerial response to a creative challenge.

We continue to be more influenced by those who oppose the fare hike, who are currently arguing:

-- Public transit is a basic service that benefits everyone, not just bus riders.

-- Higher fares will hurt low-income people the most, and the proposed low-income monthly pass will be available for only a maximum of 400 people.

-- There will be no significant improvements in service from a further fare increase -- much of it will go into reserves, at a time when many people need the bus more than ever.

-- Service cuts will not be necessary because we stop the fare hikes.

-- Metro says that raising fares will raise more money, but it won't if it decreases ridership, as fare increases have done historically. We need to make our bus system stronger, not weaker.

-- Getting people out of cars and on the bus is one of the best things a city can do to be cleaner.

Comments about the fare hike can be sent to the mayor via mayor@cityofmaidosn.com and to alders via allalders@cityofmadison.com.

City of Madison to buy more hybrid buses for Metro

From a story by Lynn Welch on The Daily Page of Isthmus:

It’s a good problem to have, says Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, reflecting on the city’s need to decide quickly where to spend gobs of federal stimulus money headed its way from the federal economic stimulus package.

“There’s probably tens of millions of dollars coming to the city,” Cieslewicz says. “I've asked each of the managers who have stimulus money coming to them, or who can apply for stimulus money, to put together a memo to me by end of [this] week outlining their suggestions on how the money might be used.”

Len Simon, Madison’s Washington D.C. lobbyist, has been scouring the voluminous economic stimulus bill signed last week by President Barack Obama, and reporting back details of what’s in it for Madison. Among the bigger items: $9.5 million in transit funds, earmarked for new capital spending. The city plans to use the money to order 18 new hybrid buses; these will be delivered in 2010 to replace buses retiring from Madison Metro’s aging fleet.

The buses, which cost about $500,000 each, will join five existing Metro hybrids, added to the fleet in 2007. The hyrbids, says Cieslewicz, have worked out well. They’re quiet, emit much less exhaust than regular diesel buses, and get an estimated 20% to 30% better gas mileage.

EPA targets Dane County over bad air quality

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

From an article by Anita Weier in The Capital Times:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to declare Dane County out of compliance with air quality standards for fine particle pollution on Thursday, according to Dave Merritt of the Dane County Clean Air Coalition.

The designation means that the county could lose federal funding for road projects and face strict pollution controls for new or expanded businesses, but Merritt is hopeful that the decision can be reversed before it actually goes into effect in April.

Fine particles are extremely tiny pollutants — about one-30th the diameter of a human hair — that can easily be inhaled and accumulate in the lungs, where they can worsen breathing and heart problems.

The particles, which typically consist of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, are produced by coal-burning power plants, some industrial processes, motor vehicles and wood burning.

The designation was based on three years of pollution data, from 2005 through 2007, but Merritt says the EPA now plans to consider data from 2006 through 2008, when Dane County had a much better record.

"Because we have had relatively clean air for fine particle pollution in 2008, we are hopeful that we will be in compliance," he said.