CNBC interviews Senator Nelson about healthcare but before they talk about that issue, Senator Nelson talks about cap and trade.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Climate Bill Clears Senate Committee 10-1
FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - 2009 NOV 05
A Senate committee cleared its version of a climate and energy bill, despite a Republican boycott of the vote and a "no" from powerful Montana Democrat Max Baucus.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's 11-1 vote to approve the climate proposal may have little long term significance in shaping the final bill. Negotiations to shape a Senate climate bill have already moved beyond the committee and its chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.). Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) is working with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman to develop a compromise package that would give more benefits to the oil and nuclear-power industries.
The vote tally was initially given as 10-1. Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware showed up after the vote and said he would have voted "yes." The panel changed the tally to reflect his support.
Republican members of the committee boycotted the vote to protest a lack of a complete analysis of its potential economic impact. Republicans have called the Senate climate measure and a similar measure passed by the House of Representatives a "tax" that the country can ill-afford at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.
It isn't clear how much progress Senate Democrats will make on the climate issue before a United Nations conference in Copenhagen in December, where global leaders are supposed to discuss a new international treaty on climate change.
Mr. Baucus's no vote highlighted the doubts among Democrats from states dependent on coal and manufacturing about the Boxer proposal.
The proposal approved by Environment and Public Works committee Democrats calls for a 20% cut in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020. Lawmakers from coal-dependent states say that target will hurt their economies. When the House of Representatives cleared a companion measure earlier this year, it was able to win support for reductions of only 17% by 2020.
Lawmakers from some manufacturing states have told President Barack Obama that any climate bill should allow for tariffs on goods from countries that don't adopt climate policies comparable to those of the U.S.
Farm interests are also flexing their muscles as negotiations continue, pushing for bigger financial rewards for activities that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Gwen Kautz, Customer Service Manager
Dawson Public Power District
A Senate committee cleared its version of a climate and energy bill, despite a Republican boycott of the vote and a "no" from powerful Montana Democrat Max Baucus.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's 11-1 vote to approve the climate proposal may have little long term significance in shaping the final bill. Negotiations to shape a Senate climate bill have already moved beyond the committee and its chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.). Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) is working with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman to develop a compromise package that would give more benefits to the oil and nuclear-power industries.
The vote tally was initially given as 10-1. Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware showed up after the vote and said he would have voted "yes." The panel changed the tally to reflect his support.
Republican members of the committee boycotted the vote to protest a lack of a complete analysis of its potential economic impact. Republicans have called the Senate climate measure and a similar measure passed by the House of Representatives a "tax" that the country can ill-afford at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty.
It isn't clear how much progress Senate Democrats will make on the climate issue before a United Nations conference in Copenhagen in December, where global leaders are supposed to discuss a new international treaty on climate change.
Mr. Baucus's no vote highlighted the doubts among Democrats from states dependent on coal and manufacturing about the Boxer proposal.
The proposal approved by Environment and Public Works committee Democrats calls for a 20% cut in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020. Lawmakers from coal-dependent states say that target will hurt their economies. When the House of Representatives cleared a companion measure earlier this year, it was able to win support for reductions of only 17% by 2020.
Lawmakers from some manufacturing states have told President Barack Obama that any climate bill should allow for tariffs on goods from countries that don't adopt climate policies comparable to those of the U.S.
Farm interests are also flexing their muscles as negotiations continue, pushing for bigger financial rewards for activities that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Gwen Kautz, Customer Service Manager
Dawson Public Power District
Monday, November 2, 2009
Cap and Trade COMMON SENSE
Public power districts and electric cooperatives are prepared to work with Congress to develop responsible climate change legislation. We would like to urge congress to:
Gwen Kautz, Customer Service Manager
Dawson Public Power District
- Oppose auctioning allowances in the electricity sector
- Give allowances to retail electric utilities, based upon CO2 emissions associated with the production of electricity sold by the retail utility.
- Set CO2 caps consistent with the commercial availability of technology.
- Do not allow Wall Street speculators to set electricity rates by treating CO2 allowance as just another money-making commodity.
Gwen Kautz, Customer Service Manager
Dawson Public Power District
Thursday, October 29, 2009
When will my power be back on?
It is 1:00 a.m. and I woke up thinking about all the people who want you to tell them exactly when their electricity will be restored after an outage. We understand your need to know but
A) we usually don't have enough information to give you a definite time -- we get our info from listening to linemen talk to each other on the radio system and looking at stacks of paper that represent people who have called about outages in your area... and
B) if we ever gave you the wrong information about when power will be restored -- and it took a lot longer -- you wouldn't be very happy with your power company.
Someday we will have a "smart grid" that will tell us which people do not have electricity (even before they call) and it will probably show us exactly where all our red trucks are, but until then we make due. We don't have a map on our computer that shows exactly which lines are out and which lines are working – right now that comes from the stacks of paper. This "smart grid" thing will probably be in place within the next 4 years.
Even with the smart grid, outage restoration will require people. Someone has to drive the path of the power line and see why a breaker has turned the power off. The cause could be a tree branch that fell to the ground and is no longer a problem or it could be a car containing a mom and her kids who skidded off the road – who are safe because the breaker turned the power off. We don’t simply flip the switch without checking for the cause. It takes time to “run out the lines” and it takes time to make the repairs.
I really feel for the people affected by power outages... the elderly people who need oxygen concentrators and might get very cold, quickly... the mother at home with kids who have H1N1... the people with new babies that they just brought home from the hospital... the people who have livestock that need water. I relate. I empathize. I wish I could push a button and fix it but I can't. Fixing power lines isn't a fast thing. We put all our resources (skilled linemen and trucks) into place and work hard.
With that said, during large scale power outages, sometimes the decision is made to pull the crews back in before power is restored to everyone. This is not a decision taken lightly. Many linemen tell stories about connecting “just one more” before they turn back towards the shop. The decision to stop working is made when weather conditions are bad enough that we are losing more ground than we can possibly gain by continuing to work. Sometimes the decision is made because the outage is so large that crews will be working to restore power for several days or weeks and they need rest so they can safely continue. Remember that the linemen and the people answering the phones
may be going home to a dark, cold house without power.
Nobody likes power outages. Although a young lineman may be excited to work their first big storm job, major ice storms take their toll on utility employees. Dawson PPD is prepared to handle power outages. We have the training and equipment we need. And one of the most important tools is caring about you, our customers.
Marsha Banzhaf, Public Relations Coordinator
Dawson Public Power District
A) we usually don't have enough information to give you a definite time -- we get our info from listening to linemen talk to each other on the radio system and looking at stacks of paper that represent people who have called about outages in your area... and
B) if we ever gave you the wrong information about when power will be restored -- and it took a lot longer -- you wouldn't be very happy with your power company.
Someday we will have a "smart grid" that will tell us which people do not have electricity (even before they call) and it will probably show us exactly where all our red trucks are, but until then we make due. We don't have a map on our computer that shows exactly which lines are out and which lines are working – right now that comes from the stacks of paper. This "smart grid" thing will probably be in place within the next 4 years.
Even with the smart grid, outage restoration will require people. Someone has to drive the path of the power line and see why a breaker has turned the power off. The cause could be a tree branch that fell to the ground and is no longer a problem or it could be a car containing a mom and her kids who skidded off the road – who are safe because the breaker turned the power off. We don’t simply flip the switch without checking for the cause. It takes time to “run out the lines” and it takes time to make the repairs.
I really feel for the people affected by power outages... the elderly people who need oxygen concentrators and might get very cold, quickly... the mother at home with kids who have H1N1... the people with new babies that they just brought home from the hospital... the people who have livestock that need water. I relate. I empathize. I wish I could push a button and fix it but I can't. Fixing power lines isn't a fast thing. We put all our resources (skilled linemen and trucks) into place and work hard.
With that said, during large scale power outages, sometimes the decision is made to pull the crews back in before power is restored to everyone. This is not a decision taken lightly. Many linemen tell stories about connecting “just one more” before they turn back towards the shop. The decision to stop working is made when weather conditions are bad enough that we are losing more ground than we can possibly gain by continuing to work. Sometimes the decision is made because the outage is so large that crews will be working to restore power for several days or weeks and they need rest so they can safely continue. Remember that the linemen and the people answering the phones
may be going home to a dark, cold house without power.
Nobody likes power outages. Although a young lineman may be excited to work their first big storm job, major ice storms take their toll on utility employees. Dawson PPD is prepared to handle power outages. We have the training and equipment we need. And one of the most important tools is caring about you, our customers.
Marsha Banzhaf, Public Relations Coordinator
Dawson Public Power District
Monday, October 26, 2009
Custer Power and NPPD talk Climate Change
Ron Asche is the CEO of NPPD and Rick Nelson is the general manager of Custer Public Power District. Great interview!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
WINTERY WEATHER CAUSES SOME POWER OUTAGES
Social Media is PERFECT for keeping customers updated about outages. Yes, we know customers without power obviously cannot get online - but their family and friends can. Plus many of the cell phones today are equipped with data plans and those phones can accept Twitter or FaceBook updates quite easily.
PRESS RELEASE - OCTOBER 22, 2009 - 11:00 A.M.
Dawson Public Power District crews are busy restoring power to customers throughout their territory. Isolated outages have affected about 500 customers between North Platte and Smithfield. In many cases the outages have been caused by trees breaking under heavy snow and ice, sending branches through power lines.
Larger-scale outages have been reported at Bullhead Point at Johnson Lake and in a rural area south of Maxwell.
Ice and tree problems have also caused lights to blink in some areas.
“If you are experiencing blinking lights, we suggest that you unplug sensitive electronics. Report any outages by calling 800-752-8305 or 308-324-2386,” instructs Marsha Banzhaf, Public Relations Coordinator.
Dawson Public Power District crews are busy restoring power to customers throughout their territory. Isolated outages have affected about 500 customers between North Platte and Smithfield. In many cases the outages have been caused by trees breaking under heavy snow and ice, sending branches through power lines.
Larger-scale outages have been reported at Bullhead Point at Johnson Lake and in a rural area south of Maxwell.
Ice and tree problems have also caused lights to blink in some areas.
“If you are experiencing blinking lights, we suggest that you unplug sensitive electronics. Report any outages by calling 800-752-8305 or 308-324-2386,” instructs Marsha Banzhaf, Public Relations Coordinator.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
THIS, I didn't know....
Beef by-products enable us to use 99% of every beef animal, and these products are a part of our daily lives. Beef by-products include leather, candles, toothpaste, deodorants, crayons, textiles, cosmetics, rubber tires, insulin, high glass for magazines, asphalt, fertilizers, cement blocks, hydraulic brake fluid, car polishes and waxes, detergents, shaving cream, soaps, shampoo, paint, chewing gum, marshmallows, and the list goes on, and on, and on. Can you go a day without using a cattle by-product? (When is a Cow More Than a Cow?) OK, I knew we had beef by-products but I didn't know (or didn't want to know) I might be putting them in my hair or on my face.
American agriculture is sustainable for the future. In the United States, 98 percent of farms are family farms. Today’s American farmer feeds about 144 people worldwide. 2009 versus 1960: 1.8 million less farms are feeding a U.S. population that has increased 61 percent. BEEF: From Pasture To Plate. GOD BLESS our farmers and ranchers!
Other cow facts (from cattlefacts.com): More than 100 medicines, including insulin and estrogen, come from cattle. Cattle outnumber humans in 9 states: Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
American agriculture is sustainable for the future. In the United States, 98 percent of farms are family farms. Today’s American farmer feeds about 144 people worldwide. 2009 versus 1960: 1.8 million less farms are feeding a U.S. population that has increased 61 percent. BEEF: From Pasture To Plate. GOD BLESS our farmers and ranchers!
Other cow facts (from cattlefacts.com): More than 100 medicines, including insulin and estrogen, come from cattle. Cattle outnumber humans in 9 states: Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
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