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CEA seeks to shape energy debate in Kentucky

Brydon Ross, the vice president of regional affairs for the southeastern region of CEA, is interviewed by cn|2 on his organization’s new office in Lexington, Kentucky and CEA’s growing voice in the energy debate throughout the southeast.

While legislators fret over newly proposed carbon emissions regulations from the EPA, a new group is seeking to join the debate and bring consumers and stakeholders together on energy issues.

The Consumer Energy Alliance is active in more than 20 states. And the group, which seeks to unite common energy and agriculture organizations, is expanding into the southeastern portion of the United States opening an office in Lexington, Kentucky just one week ago.

Brydon Ross, the vice president of regional affairs for the southeastern region of CEA, said the focus of the group is to inform consumers, and take part in discussions with governmental agencies.

“We are not a political organization. We don’t endorse candidates. We’re really out there to educate consumers and speak on their behalf when policy issues come about that impact the price of energy and energy production,” Ross said.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed capping carbon emissions in Kentucky 18 percent by 2030, and Ross said the regulations which are a staggering 645 pages long has not gone over well with CEA’s membership.

“There’s a lot of concern about what this means for reliability especially in the southeast and midwest — the Ohio Valley areas,” Ross said (at 2:38 in the interview).

“I think when you see gosh 18 percent – that doesn’t seem all that bad, but when you think about a state like Kentucky that’s over 90 percent coal…those are substantial impacts. There’s not a lot of spare capacity left sitting around being idle.”

The proposed EPA rule will take one-year barring legal challenges to become official with a comment period and public hearings across the United States.

Ross said CEA plans to take part in several of the public hearings including one at the end of July in Atlanta. Governor Steve Beshear has indicated that state officials would also take part in the public hearings.

States will also have one-year to turn over their plans to the EPA on how they will meet the carbon emissions standards something Ross said he feels it too short given the task of cutting 93 million tons of carbon dioxide in Kentucky.

“One of the things we want to get out to folks is that this timeline being envisioned by EPA is really truncated,” Ross said (4:00). “Typically under clean air rules you get four to six years to put together an implementation plan for pollutants that are really, really small.”

 

Texas-Oklahoma segment of Keystone XL pipeline spouts big dividends, says study

CEA Executive Vice President Michael Whatley tells Fox News how the Texas-Oklahoma segment of the Keystone XL Pipeline has spouted big-time economic dividends of communities throughout both states.

A new study claims that a just-built 485-mile stretch of the Keystone XL pipeline has been a huge economic boon for two dozen rural and poor Oklahoma and Texas counties—and will create the same significant impact in five other states if the project’s long stalled northern segment ever wins White House approval.

As the debate rages over the future of the $5 billion mega-project, a team of university researchers has released a report showing the economic benefits of Keystone’s Gulf Coast Pipeline, which just opened in January after 17 months of construction, linking Cushing, Okla., and Nederland, Tex. The study by the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University says the pipeline has pumped $3.6 billion into the Texas economy and $2.1 billion into the Oklahoma economy, while creating thousands of jobs directly and indirectly. It has also boosted tax revenues by millions of dollars, according to the study.

“Similar state and local economic benefits can be anticipated should the United States give the go-ahead for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Hardisty, Albert, to Steele City, Neb.,” the report concluded.

TransCanda Corp. spent $2.3 billion to build the Gulf Coast Pipeline, which generated nearly 5,000 construction jobs. The firm spent $6 million each month, the study said.

“Local restaurants, hotels, and businesses experience a significant boost thanks to the construction of the Gulf Coast Project,” the report said.

The study’s author, Bernard Weinstein, told FoxNews.com the governments in the 24 counties the pipeline crosses collected more than $72 million in tax receipts as a result of the pipeline.

“These are small rural counties, and they are also low-income counties, so this project was a real shot in the arm for them,” he said.

The report was commissioned by the Consumer Energy Alliance, a proponent of the Keystone project. Members of the alliance include some of the world’s biggest energy firms, such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell Oil.

“These are real numbers,” Michael Whatley, the group’s executive vice president, said in an interview with FoxNews.com. “What it shows is the construction of the southern half has been immensely helpful and the economic impacts in those counties are very real.”

But a pipeline opponent from Nacogdoches County in East Texas wasn’t so sure the numbers were real.

“This report feels inflated,” environmentalist Vicki Baggett of the group NAC STOP told FoxNews.com. “Our message is the tar sands pipeline poses a danger to the health and safety of our community, which I think is more important than any economic gain there might be for the county.”

Alec Johnson, of Tar Sands Blockade, an environmental group based focused on the Gulf Coast, said oil companies are guilty of distort the purported economic benefits of their business, and said the study is an example of that.

“It makes no mention of the fact that the fossil fuel industry spews 98 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day, treating out vital public commons – the atmosphere – as an open sewer,” Johnson said. “They pay nothing for that.”

Three phases of the Keystone Pipeline system have been completed. The fourth phase, which has caused the most controversy, needs President Obama’s approval because the project crosses Canada. In April, the White House said it was putting off a decision indefinitely. A decision is now not expected until after the mid-term elections in November. The project was announced in 2008.

Supporters say Keystone will create jobs and increase energy independence. They also say it will reduce safety concerns because shipments of crude oil won’t have to be carried by rail. Opponents warn of possible spills and say production of the Canadian tar sands oil will contribute to global warning.

Construction on the Gulf Coast Pipeline began in August 2012. The pipeline will have the initial capacity to transport 700,000 barrels of oil from day from underground storage tanks in Cushing to Gulf Coast refineries.

Study says Texas pipeline proves Keystone’s benefits

The Houston Chronicle reports on the findings from an in-depth CEA analysis that details how the Gulf Coast Pipeline has boosted economic activity by $2.1 billion in Oklahoma and $3.6 billion in Texas.

An Oklahoma-Texas leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline produced economic benefits that support approval of a northern leg still subject to hot debate, according to an industry group.

The Consumer Energy Alliance, whose membership includes a number of major oil companies, commissioned a study on the economic effect of the 485-mile portion of the Keystone pipeline known as the Gulf Coast Extension, which runs from a pipeline hub in Cushing, Okla., to Nederland in Jefferson County. It opened earlier this year.

The study found that during construction, Trans -Canada Corp. – the company behind the pipeline – spent $6 million each month directly with local businesses in Texas and Oklahoma.

The project required $2.3 billion in private-sector investment and the work of more than 4,800 people, researchers wrote.

The Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas prepared the study for the Consumer Energy Alliance, which lists among its members energy companies including Anadarko Petroleum Corp., BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell Oil Co.

The report argues that the country lacks the pipeline capacity to support booming North American energy production and says the growing use of railroads to ship crude is inefficient and unsafe.

Three of the four phases of the Keystone XL pipeline system have been built. Because the proposed northern leg from Canadian oil sands crosses an international border, it requires a State Department finding that it’s in the national interest.

Environmentalists and other critics have spent years fighting the pipeline, arguing that it has the potential for dangerous spills and that oil sands crude is especially harmful to the environment.

The Gulf Coast Extension crosses 24 counties, most of which are rural and have population growth that historically has trailed state averages.

“Against this backdrop of slow population growth and below-average per capita income, the Gulf Coast Project has been an important contributor to the economic health of many of the 24 affected counties,” the authors wrote.

In Oklahoma, the report says, TransCanada’s spending boosted economic activity by $2.1 billion, and in Texas, the project contributed $3.6 billion to the economy. They say the northern length could have similar big economic benefits to communities along its route.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration announced that federal agencies would have more time to weigh in on the project, essentially guaranteeing that a final decision won’t be made until after the November elections.

Some federal lawmakers have tried, so far unsuccessfully, to force a decision sooner.

 

Consumer Energy Alliance Report: Pipeline injected $2.1B into Oklahoma economy

In a story for The Oklahoman, CEA Executive Vice President Michael Whatley explains how the Gulf Coast Pipeline, which carries crude oil from Cushing to refineries in the Houston area, injected more than $2 billion into Oklahoma’s economy during the 17 months it was under construction.

The Gulf Coast Pipeline, which carries crude oil from Cushing to refineries in the Houston area, injected more than $2 billion into Oklahoma’s economy during the 17 months it was under construction, according to a report released Wednesday by the Consumer Energy Alliance.

 

The pipeline also added $72 million in local tax revenue while bolstering small businesses in eight counties along the construction route. “Local restaurants, hotels and businesses experienced a significant boost,” the report prepared by the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University says. “Business owners in Texas and Oklahoma reported large increases in volume due to the construction of the pipeline.”

 

The report was commissioned by the Consumer Energy Alliance, a vocal supporter of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Developer TransCanada opted to proceed with the southern leg of the project after being denied a presidential permit by the Obama administration for the northern section. TransCanada spent $2.3 billion and hired nearly 5,000 construction workers on the 485-mile pipeline connecting the crude oil storage hub in Cushing with refineries along the Gulf Coast.

 

The project created $5.7 billion in economic activity: $3.6 billion in Texas and $2.1 billion in Oklahoma, according to the report. Report author Bernard Weinstein said the pipeline provided a tremendous “economic tonic” to the 24 counties where it was built. Most are in low-income, rural areas. “We have documented some pretty significant financial benefits to Texas and Oklahoma,” Weinstein said. Michael Whatley, executive vice president of the Consumer Energy Alliance, said the pipeline will continue to benefit those communities…He said the Consumer Energy Alliance favors legislation that would force the Obama administration to decide on the project, which has been at a “political stop” for more than five years.

 

Mark Rodriguez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, also endorsed the project in a conference call Wednesday about the economic report. “A project of this magnitude creates a direct benefit for every business in every county along the way,” he said.

Tim Johnson’s opportunity to move Keystone XL pipeline forward

In an op-ed penned for The Hill, Michael Whatley, Executive Vice President at Consumer Energy Alliance, explains how South Dakota’s Sen. Tim Johnson (D) now has opportunity to move the Keystone XL pipeline one step closer to construction.The-Hill-Logo

In the twilight of his Senate service, South Dakota’s Sen. Tim Johnson (D) has an opportunity to continue his support for a strong United States energy policy by supporting legislation that will permit the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. As a legislator, Johnson has long been a strong advocate for sensible U.S. energy.  He supports both renewable and traditional energy sources such as oil and natural gas. On his website Johnson notes, “I support expanding oil and gas production in areas with proven oil reserves and the pipeline and refining infrastructure necessary to bring additional supplies to market quickly and efficiently.”

A pretty definitive statement.

Johnson has never given full throated support to Keystone XL Pipeline. The Senator should be credited with voting, just a few days before he announced he was retiring in March ‘13, for a budget amendment which symbolically supports the pipeline. He has on a number of occasions made statements backing the process which reviews the necessary permit, but he has never given a definitive thumbs up or down.

Until now.

The U.S. Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee is set to take up legislation today which would approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The politics of the situation are such that the next senator elected from South Dakota is likely to support construction.

There is an old saying in politics, “be for what is going to happen.”

A quick tally based on predictions being made about the next session of Congress by political forecasters like Charlie Cook and the math in the Senate starts to stack in Keystone’s favor.

The 2.5 million miles of energy pipelines in the United States are by far the safest and most efficient mode to deliver energy from its source to its destination.  South Dakota knows this because the original Keystone pipeline traverses north to south through the eastern section of the state.

There are plenty of other reasons for the Senator to support Keystone XL.  The jobs it will create.  The economic activity it will generate.  Completion of the most environmentally advanced pipeline ever constructed.  And, not often mentioned the energy stability it will create for the United States.

Escalating sectarian violence in Iraq is driving up the market price for a barrel of oil. Prices will continue to rise as long as there is uncertainty around the security of Baghdad.  Stakes are high.  Rising costs in crude oil quickly translate over to increased costs in a gallon of gasoline.

Politicians often claim energy policy is a national security issue; Iraq is the real world example. Iraq is a member of OPEC and is the world’s 8th largest producer of crude oil. Instability inside Iraq, especially Baghdad, will ricochet through financial markets affecting not only oil prices but also the health of the global economy.

South Dakota is 6,600 miles away from Iraq. It would take a 20-hour flight, if one could fly direct from Sioux Falls to Baghdad. Despite the distance, South Dakota will see the ripple effects of higher energy prices. Energy costs already weigh heavily on both household and business budgets.  Increase the cost of diesel to a trucking company or home heating costs to any household and you understand why politicians talk about energy policy as a national security issue.

There is a better option.  Canada is America’s closest trading partner and one of its closest allies. The two countries share the longest unguarded border in the world, yet Canada has been trying for nearly five years to cross the 49th parallel between Alberta and Montana and build an oil pipeline that would deliver lower priced Canadian oil to Gulf Coast refineries. Canada is already safely exporting 1.14 billion barrels of oil a year to the U.S. and Canada is expanding its infrastructure to export to countries outside the U.S. as well.

Increasing North American supplies of crude oil will shield the U.S. economy from disruptions caused by Middle East violence.  The Keystone XL Pipeline, the proposed fourth leg of the Keystone Pipeline system, would transport 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada’s oil sands and the Bakken shale in North Dakota to Gulf Coast refineries where it would be turned into gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel to be sold in the United States.

Critics, ranging from Hollywood celebrities to foreign leaders, are making claims that the pipeline would only exacerbate the release of carbon into the atmosphere. However, the Obama Administration has concluded that other means of transporting oil to the Gulf Coast refinery complex will actually emit more carbon. Further, the amount of carbon that we are talking about here is nowhere near “significant” (to use President Obama’s litmus test language). Using EPA data, a Washington Post reporter recently put the carbon issue into a context everyone can understand:

“So, 18.7 million tons sounds like a huge number on its own, but consider that more than 10 times that much CO2-e gets released into the atmosphere each year from methane produced by cows. We could say that in terms of overall CO2-e emissions, Keystone amounts to a little over one tenth of U.S. cow flatulence.”

The House has passed multiple bills that would allow the project to move forward, now it is Senator Johnson’s opportunity to move Keystone XL one step closer to construction.

 

The Deal with Denton

What is happening in Denton, TX?

Despite a strong record of economic growth and environmental improvement, anti-energy activists across the nation are working to ban energy production at every level. In Colorado, ballot initiatives seek to ban hydraulic fracturing across the state. In Pennsylvania, activists continue to push tired old talking points about environmental degradation in an attempt to limit production in the Marcellus Shale.

Now that fight is coming to Texas, the nation’s top energy producer.

A small group, led by a philosophy professor at a local university, wants to ban hydraulic fracturing in Denton a city in the heart of the Barnett Shale natural gas field. The Barnett Shale accounts for almost 40% of economic growth in the region and $30 million to the city in taxes.

A ban on hydraulic fracturing would put an end to natural gas production and the jobs and millions in tax receipts it creates. Natural gas production from fields like the Barnett Shale also help the U.S. to lead the world in lowering carbon emissions, reducing the impacts of climate change.

Banning energy production is bad for everyone. The energy industry should continue to be held to a high standard on health, safety and the environment at the same time that we reap the economic benefits of drilling for oil and natural gas. America can, and does, have both environmental protection and energy production.

Simply saying “NO” benefits no one.

UPDATE: Attend a City Council hearing in Denton to make your voice heard. The hearing is on Tuesday at 6:30PM at the Denton City Hall located at 215 E. McKinney Street. Registration for speakers at 1:00pm. Speakers will be called on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

NEWS ARTICLES:

Associated Press: Denton, Texas Considers Fracking Ban, Hopes To Attract Sriracha Factory
NPR: What a Ban on Fracking in Denton Could Mean For the Rest of Texas

 

 

Construction of Keystone’s Gulf Coast Pipeline added $5.7B to local economies

Michael Whatley, Executive Vice President of CEA, is quoted in an E&E News story about a CEA report shows how the Gulf Coast pipeline has brought billions of dollars to numerous rural Texas and Oklahoma counties.

Construction of the southern segment of TransCanada Corp.’s politically fraught pipeline has brought billions of dollars to the rural Texas and Oklahoma counties the conduit touches, according to a report out today from the Consumer Energy Alliance.

The industry-backed CEA hopes its latest research, conducted by Southern Methodist University’s Maguire Energy Institute, will help support approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, a proposed connection of Alberta’s oil sands and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale with TransCanada’s existing transmission lines.

“We still have a very anemic and weak economy, and we have folks that are fighting like hell not to have a project like this,” said Michael Whatley, executive vice president of CEA.

Over a two-year period, construction on the Gulf Coast pipeline boosted economic activity by about $3.6 billion in Texas and by about $2.1 billion in Oklahoma, the report says. It contributed 43,000 person-years, a unit indicating the amount of work done by a single person over a 12-month period, of employment in both states.

 

 

CEA: Dramatic change needed for energy consumers

In an op-ed penned for The Republican, CEA President David Holt discusses the dramatic change needed for energy consumers in the region and why opposition to projects like Northern Pass Transmission, Portland-Montreal Pipe Line and Cape Wind will discourage future energy projects.

There’s no easy way to say this: New England’s energy future is dim. Limited pipeline capacity, federal and state regulations, and a change in the mix of electricity and heating generation are just a few of the things that exacerbated the price spikes from this winter’s polar vortex. Temperate spring weather will provide some respite from sky-high bills. However, high electricity prices may be a new norm for New England.

Experts cited limited natural gas pipeline capacity and increased demand as the primary causes for this winter’s price spikes. As the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) concluded, a strong cold snap in January caused an increase in natural gas demand for heating, a surge that “taxed the region’s natural gas pipeline capacity, causing a run-up in regional natural gas prices.” Wholesale prices for natural gas supplies for Boston averaged $22.53 per million British thermal units (Btu) from January 1 to February 18 – a record high price that exceeded by 50% last year’s record of highest prices since 2004.

Higher utility bills aren’t too surprising in Nor’easter season. But New Englanders may be frustrated to learn that families across the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic spent much less to survive the polar vortex. Illinois residents, including Chicagoans who suffered through the worst winter on record, paid an average of $8.32 per million Btu this February while Massachusetts families paid $14.57 per million Btu – or 75% more – to heat their homes. In Pennsylvania, where production from the nation’s largest natural-gas field has led to an historic depression on natural gas prices, residential prices were 25% cheaper than the Bay State.

So, we should build more pipelines, right? Yes, expanding the region’s energy infrastructure is part of the immediate solution. The boom in oil and natural gas production in new areas, such as Pennsylvania, requires that we match that new production with new, efficient ways to send energy to consumers. Regulators across the region are evaluating ways to encourage pipeline expansion in order to militate against future price spikes and ensure New England consumer also benefit from our nation’s low cost natural gas.

However, new energy infrastructure isn’t in itself enough to protect consumers. In order to make New England truly competitive, the region will need to address head-on how it generates its electricity. A dramatic shift from coal-fired power to natural-gas has already contributed to natural gas price spikes. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that in 2000 “only 15% of the electricity used in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine came from natural gas. That has increased to nearly 50% as coal and fuel-oil plants have been phased out to meet tighter clean-air regulations.”

Unfortunately, this problem will only get worse in the future. The DOE predicts that the New England region will retire more than 1,369MW of generation between 2013 and 2016. This figure includes the forthcoming retirement of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which supplies four percent of -electricity for the entire region, and announced retirements for coal-fired plants such as Dominion’s 750-MW Salem Harbor facility. The same report estimates that 1,193MW of capacity will be added in the same period, half of it from natural gas.

Retirements of coal-fired and nuclear plants will have real consequences for New England consumers. Over-reliance on one fuel source for electricity generation leaves consumers more susceptible to price spikes. Furthermore, the retirement of baseload sources of coal-fired and nuclear power will create challenges for grid operators and could threaten the reliability of the grid.

Federal, regional and state policymakers will need to confront today and tomorrow’s energy challenges with rational, balanced solutions. Consumers and residents will also need to better understand their roles in advancing a sound energy future. We should all adopt smarter consumption behaviors, particularly in winter and summer when demand peaks. We should also strive to support a responsible build-out of our nation’s energy development and infrastructure. “Not-in-my-backyard” opposition to projects like Northern Pass Transmission, Portland-Montreal Pipe Line and Cape Wind will discourage future projects, leaving New England out in the cold.

 

Why North Carolinians should support fracking

In a letter to the editor to The Daily Tar Heel, CEA’s Michael Whatley explains why North Carolinians and native singer and songwriter James Taylor should support fracking – and its accompanying economic boom – in their home state. The_Daily_Tar_Heel_logo

In a recent letter to the editor, Bob Keefe of the Natural Resources Defense Council points out that longtime NRDC trustee, singer, songwriter and native North Carolinian James Taylor opposes hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in his home state.

So what?

What exactly does James Taylor know about fracking? Is he really the person North Carolinians should look to when considering our state’s energy policy? Keefe mentions Taylor’s comments in a series of commercials run by the organization calling fracking, “reckless” and “dangerous.” That would be news to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and more than 20 other states that currently allow well-regulated and orderly energy production through fracking.

The letter further argues that North Carolina policy makers have taken steps that “disregard common sense health and environmental safeguards regarding fracking.” That would be news to N.C. regulators who have drafted 120 new rules and regulations that will govern safe extraction of resources via fracking — rules that have been developed after thorough public outreach and work with experienced regulators from other states.Fracking already supports over 2 million jobs and has enabled an expansion of U.S. manufacturing. Moreover, because of natural gas production from fracking, the U.S. is at a 20-year low in carbon emissions — an amazing feat that Mr. Keefe and Taylor seem unaware of.

If Carolina was really in Taylor’s mind, he would support fracking for the economic boom it could bring, the jobs it would create and the environmental benefits it provides.

Four Things for the U.S. to do to Lower Gas Prices

Person at Gas Station

Here are four things Consumer Energy Alliance recommends the U.S. do right now to make sure a gallon of gasoline is affordable by this time next year.

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