Three of the world’s leading financial institutions announced the formation of The Carbon Principles, climate change guidelines for advisors and lenders to power companies in the United States. These Principles are the result of a nine-month intensive effort to create an approach to evaluating and addressing carbon risks in the financing of electric power projects. The need for these Principles is driven by the risks faced by the power industry as utilities, independent producers, regulators, lenders and investors deal with the uncertainties around regional and national climate change policies.

The Principles were developed in partnership by Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, and in consultation with leading power companies American Electric Power, CMS Energy, DTE Energy, NRG Energy, PSEG, Sempra and Southern Company. The Environmental Defense and the Natural Resources Defense Council and environmental non-governmental organizations also advised on the creation of the Principles.

The Principles, according to a press release, recognize the benefits of a portfolio approach to meeting the power needs of consumers, without prescribing how power companies should act to meet these needs. However, if high carbon dioxide (CO2)-emitting technologies are selected by power companies, the signatory banks have agreed to follow the Enhanced Diligence process and factor these risks and potential mitigants into the final financing decision.

Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have pledged their commitment to the Principles to use as a framework when talking about these issues with clients. The Principles and associated Enhanced Diligence, according to the press release, represent a first step in a process aimed at providing banks and their power industry clients with a consistent roadmap for reducing the regulatory and financial risks associated with greenhouse gas emissions. The Principles are:

Energy efficiency—An effective way to limit CO2 emissions is to not produce them. The signatory financial institutions will encourage clients to invest in cost-effective demand reduction, taking into consideration the value of avoided CO2 emissions. We will also encourage regulatory and legislative changes that increase efficiency in electricity consumption including the removal of barriers to investment in cost-effective demand reduction. The institutions will consider demand reduction caused by increased energy efficiency (or other means) as part of the Enhanced Diligence Process and assess its impact on proposed financings of certain new fossil fuel generation.

Renewable and low carbon distributed energy technologies—We will encourage clients to invest in cost-effective renewables and distributed technologies, taking into consideration the value of avoided CO2 emissions. We will also encourage legislative and regulatory changes that remove barriers to, and promote such investments (including related investments in infrastructure and equipment needed to support the connection of renewable sources to the system). We will consider production increases from renewable and low carbon generation as part of the Enhanced Diligence process and assess their impact on proposed financings of certain new fossil fuel generation.

Conventional and advanced generation—Investments in conventional or advanced generating facilities will be needed to supply reliable electric power. Due to evolving climate policy, investing in CO2-emitting fossil fuel generation entails uncertain financial, regulatory and certain environmental liability risks. It is the purpose of the Enhanced Diligence process to assess and reflect these risks in the financing considerations for certain fossil fuel generation. We will encourage regulatory and legislative changes that facilitate carbon capture and storage (CCS) to further reduce CO2 emissions from the electric sector.

Posted by djones at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court agreed to remove himself from a pending case involving Massey Energy Co., days after vacation photos surfaced showing him in Monaco with the coal producer’s top executive, The Associated Press reported. Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard said he was stepping down from the matter "despite the fact that I have no doubt in my own mind and firmly believe I have been and would be fair and impartial in this case." But in his statement, Maynard said "it has now become an issue of public perception and public confidence in the courts."

Maynard helped form a 3-2 majority in November that overturned a multi-million-dollar judgment against Richmond, Va.-based Massey that another company, Harman Mining, and its president, Hugh Caperton, had won in a contract dispute. Caperton had asked Maynard to step down from the case before the high court reconsiders that ruling. With interest, the damages are worth $76.3 million.

"It’s unfortunate that the motion had to be filed," said Bruce Stanley, a lawyer for Caperton. "It’s even more unfortunate that it took this long to get to this point." Stanley also suggested that Maynard’s recusal should negate his vote on the ruling, leaving it a 2-2 tie affirming the 2002 verdict.

A lawyer for Massey, D.C. Offutt, called that analysis absurd. "I don’t think it can act retrospectively," Offutt said.

Lawyers for Harman and Caperton have argued that Maynard had previously failed to disclose his ties to Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship. Offutt noted that their friendship was raised in an unsuccessful bid for Maynard’s recusal in a 2004 case involving flood litigation.

"The relationship between Justice Maynard and Blankenship has been known for a long time," Offutt said. "They sat on this until they got these pictures."

The photos of Maynard and Blankenship together in Monaco in 2006 were included in a revised court motion. Both men have said they were on separate vacations, and that each paid his own way. Maynard has also said his friendship with Blankenship has not affected his impartiality on the court. In one picture, the men are sitting side-by-side, smiling over empty glasses at a cafe along the Riviera. In others, they are posing by the seaside. Ten other photos were filed under seal and depict the men with two female companions, the motion said. The court was scheduled to hear the pending reconsideration motion. It must now appoint a replacement, likely a circuit judge or retired jurist, to sit in Maynard’s place.

While that duty normally falls to the chief justice, Maynard’s recusal sends the task to the next in line for that post, Justice Brent Benjamin. But Harman has also challenged Benjamin’s impartiality, renewing an earlier, rejected call for him to step down as well.

The company’s lawyers cite millions of dollars that Blankenship spent on an ad campaign attacking a Democratic incumbent on the court that helped to boost Benjamin into office in 2004.

"We think it’s now incumbent upon Justice Benjamin to reach the same conclusion" as Maynard, Stanley said.
Massey had earlier sought Justice Larry Starcher’s recusal. Starcher has made a series of public comments critical of Massey, its track record, Blankenship, and his 2004 ad campaign. Starcher declined to step down, but Massey may renew its motion, Offutt said, citing Starcher’s dissenting opinion attacking the November ruling. "We’re looking at that," Offutt said. "We haven’t ruled out doing that."

A Democrat elected to the court in 1996, Maynard announced plans earlier to run for a second, 12-year term in 2008. November’s ruling reversed a 2002 Boone County jury verdict that found that Massey had ruined Harman and Caperton after hijacking a lucrative coal supply contract.

Maynard, Benjamin, and Justice Robin Davis concluded that while Massey’s misconduct justified the ruling, the lawsuit never should have been brought in West Virginia because a related case was filed earlier in Virginia, yielding a $6 million verdict for Harman against Massey.

Posted by djones at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kentucky, the state with the most coal mines in the nation, made history with only two mine fatalities in 2007, neither underground, in the nationwide total of 33 miners who died on the job during the year, reported by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Kentucky’s record is no small achievement, state officials said. The state has the second largest mining work force in the nation and ranks as the third largest coal producer. They credit new mining laws for the low-toll feat, laws prompted by the Sago disaster that killed 12 West Virginia miners in 2006, and later the Kentucky Darby explosion in which five miners died.

"This is a positive indication that the new mine safety laws, including Kentucky’s new drug testing program, are having the desired effect," said the State Natural Resources Commissioner Susan Bush. She referred to the first testing program of the kind in the nation for miners, which has led to the suspension of 443 Kentucky miners since the program was enacted in July 2006. Notwithstanding the achievement of low mine deaths, Bush said, "We cannot let down our guard or lessen our effort to ensure that every miner returns home safely every day. The goal remains zero fatalities."

Posted by djones at 07:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Easy to use and comfortable to wear, the Draeger X-plore 1700 range of Filtering Half Masks is ideal for use where particulates may present a respiratory hazard. Available in three-color-coded versions for easy identification, these lightweight, folded masks are designed to meet the needs of different applications and offer FFP1, 2 and 3 protection levels. Incorporating Synsafe filtering material for high filter efficiency and low breathing resistance, the X-plore 1700 also benefits from a soft, comfortable inner layer and a bend-to-fit nosepiece. www.draeger.com

Posted by djones at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Texas House Energy Resources Committee Chairman Rick Hardcastle recently applauded the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for adopting final rules for the implementation of House Bill 3732, the most significant clean energy bill approved by the Texas Legislature in 2007. Using a mix of tax, financial, and regulatory incentives, HB 3732 encourages the development of clean energy projects, will help local communities build clean power facilities, and will spur energy companies in Texas to make existing plants cleaner. The legislation gives Texas the most stringent emissions standards in the nation for plants seeking to be designated as advanced clean energy projects.

A 1994 amendment to the Texas Constitution allows owners of pollution-control equipment to apply for exemptions from ad valorem taxes on that equipment. The process for granting those exemptions at the TCEQ, however, has been lengthy and the new rules will expedite that process. Hardcastle pointed out the Texas Conference of Urban Counties and the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association supported the new rules, testifying at the TCEQ hearing that HB 3732 is unlikely to adversely affect county tax revenues.

To be designated as an advanced clean energy project, and to be eligible for the incentives, under the TCEQ rules, an energy plant in Texas will have to meet the following emission standards—emission goals the federal government has set as targets for the year 2020: reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 99%; reduce mercury emissions by 95%; have a nitrogen dioxide emissions rate of no more than 0.05 lb per million Btus; and be carbon-capture ready.

Posted by djones at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coalcorp Mining Inc. recently announced that it has completed its review of available port concessions in Barranquilla and has elected to partner with an existing concession holder to jointly develop a multi-purpose port, initially to be designed to handle 10 million metric tons of coal per year (mtpy) and ultimately
30 million mtpy. Preliminary design work is already underway and Sandwell Engineering has been retained for the detailed design and engineering for a state-of-the-art direct-loading port, fully in accordance with
Colombian and international environmental requirements. This port will take advantage of the Magdalena River to provide export capacity in cape size ships for all coal producers and ultimately other cargoes.

Posted by djones at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)