It’s Time to Upgrade Missouri’s Grid!

February 10, 2017

Tell Your Legislator It’s Time to Upgrade Missouri’s Grid!

Did you know Missouri’s electric utility laws are nearly 100 years old? Our state’s aging electric infrastructure is also 50 to 60 years old and dated regulations won’t allow it to be upgraded for another 40 years! Even worse, Missouri’s ability to restore power after a storm is among the worst in the nation.

Fortunately, there’s a solution.

Your legislature is considering a bill that will expand customer choices, modernize the grid and prevent power outages. It will also create jobs and ensure continued consumer protection from rate shocks at the Public Service Commission.

Tell your legislators its time upgrade Missouri’s grid!

Dear Senator/Representative,

I’m writing to share my support for an improved electric grid and stress that this is important to my family and my community. It is my understanding that SB 190/HB 628, or the “Missouri Economic Development and Infrastructure Investment Act”, does just that.

Much of Missouri’s electric infrastructure is more than 50 years old. While we are among the nation’s leaders in reliability – when we do get power outages they generally occur because of winter storms or tornados – our state is near the bottom in time taken to restore service. We must improve our ability to restore service, while maintaining our excellent reliability record.

Fortunately, the Economic Development and Infrastructure Investment Act offers solutions by helping to update our nearly 100 year-old utility regulatory structure with a forward-looking plan that would generate up to $1 billion in private investment in electric infrastructure, while enhancing consumer protection and oversight.

These upgrades for Missouri families would include new electric infrastructure and the inclusion of more smart-grid technologies to prevent power outages, grid security threats and restore power more quickly. The proposed legislation would also create thousands of new jobs for families all across the state, while adding incentives for Missouri’s renewable energy.

I urge you to pass the Missouri Economic Development and Infrastructure Investment Act to bring the Show Me State’s electric grid into the 21st Century for Missouri’s families and communities.

Sincerely,

Proposed Pipeline Could Create 1,000 Jobs

February 8, 2017

Increasing production in Oklahoma has quickly filled the capacity of existing pipelines. New proposals to expand our energy infrastructure will inject more money into local communities and employ local construction workers.

Barr said current estimates project the pipeline could cost as much as $1 billion and could create 1,000 jobs during construction.

“Opportunity is the key word,” he said. “There is a great opportunity for Oklahoma to tap that growing resource.”

Federal Regulators Approve Appalachian Pipelines Before Quorum Dissolves

February 8, 2017

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved permits for three pipelines in the Mid-Ohio Valley, with construction expected to begin within the coming months, employing thousands of workers across multiple states.

Preparing for a lack of a quorum for the foreseeable future, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made a series of rulings last week that might speed up the development of natural gas pipelines and the drilling of wells that will supply them in Appalachia.

David Holt Joins Shale Gas News to Talk Energy Infrastructure

February 6, 2017

David Holt, president of Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), joins Shale Gas News to discuss the various benefits and growing importance of pipelines and CEA’s latest report on how a lack of infrastructure expansion and the loss of other energy generation options could result in an electricity shortfall nationwide.

American Steel Companies ‘Fully Prepared’ to Supply Pipelines, US Steel CEO Says

February 1, 2017

As President Trump pushes to upgrade and expand our nation’s energy infrastructure, steel manufacturers across the United States have pledged to provide the steel necessary to accomplish this.

United States Steel and other American manufacturers are “absolutely” prepared to produce steel for the pipelines President Donald Trump wants built, the company’s CEO told CNBC on Wednesday.

Pipelines, Trains and Automobiles

January 31, 2017

Gifford Briggs looks at the benefits – from transporting oil in a more environmentally safe manner to new jobs – Louisianians will see with modern infrastructure like the proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline.

The Bayou Bridge pipeline will transport crude oil from its terminal hub facilities in Nederland, Texas to terminal facilities and refineries in Lake Charles, arriving at the listing market hub in St. James. Finally, the crude will be redistributed to refineries throughout the Baton Rouge area. The pipeline will increase the access that Gulf Coast refineries have to North America and increase our nation’s ability to deliver refined product throughout our state, strengthening national security and making us less dependent on foreign and imported oil.

Utility Plans to Build Two Natural Gas Power Plants in Upper Peninsula

January 31, 2017

With power plants serving the Upper Peninsula set to be closed as a result of federal regulations, utilities are planning to construct state-of-the-art natural gas power plants, in addition to modernizing pipelines to bring in additional fuel.

The newest subsidiary of Wisconsin’s largest utility company is seeking approval in Michigan to build two natural gas generation projects in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

In an application filed Monday, the sister utility of We Energies said it wants approval for generation projects located in Baraga and Marquette counties, at a cost of $277 million.

Keystone XL, Dakota Access Pipelines: Good for the Environment and the U.S.

January 30, 2017

Stanford Levin, a former Illinois Commerce Commission, the utility regulatory agency in Illinois, recently discussed the importance of transporting oil via pipeline in contrast to alternative methods.

Pipeline transportation for oil is safer and expected to be better for the environment than the alternative, which is usually rail transport. While the trans-border segment of the Keystone XL pipeline is missing, in spite of two environmental impact studies by the State Department that found less environmental harm than if the oil moves by rail or barge, the oil still moves by rail. The State Department must approve the pipeline since it crosses a U.S. border.

Union Members Rally For Pipeline

January 30, 2017

Across the country, union laborers are standing up for construction jobs, like the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, that pay family-sustaining wages.

Dozens of union members held a rally at Capitol Square today (1/30 in support of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. If approved the 600-mile natural gas transmission pipeline would run from West Virginia through the western part of Virginia and into North Carolina with a lateral line running to Chesapeake.

Labor representatives say the project would support 8,800 jobs during the two-year construction period and 2,200 jobs in manufacturing and related industries once the pipeline is complete.

Stop Blocking Gas Pipelines

January 27, 2017

The editorial board of The Intelligencer recently called for a stop to the political posturing blocking new pipelines and the economic opportunities construction and end-use will create in the region and across the nation.

Among the headlines President Donald Trump made this week was one citing his executive order to clear obstacles standing in the way of the proposed Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.

That is a good start, many local residents may have reacted. Now, let’s move on to accelerating federal action on natural gas pipelines important to our region of the country.

Consumer Energy Alliance

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