Grist, the environmental news website has a good piece about a book called Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth about “the 2 billion or so young people who will be stuck dealing with global warming and weirding for their entire lives — and who have to figure out how to do it sanely and humanely.”

As the author of the book Mark Hertsgaard notes in an article  in The Nation adapted from his book, “”My daughter and the rest of Generation Hot have been given a life sentence for a crime they didn’t commit.” Despite all scientific evidence to the contrary, there are still climate deniers out there who claim that global warming isn’t real–and we need a multifaceted, aggressive, solutions-oriented approach to overcome that hurdle and start cooling things down (so to speak). The latest paleoclimate data suggests that things are even worse than computer models have projected–up to two times worse, according to Climate Progress author Joe Romm.

States like Massachusetts are developing nation-leading strategies to reduce that life sentence, maybe even with a chance of parole. Most recently, last month, Governor Patrick announced the release of the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan, which will reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. That’s the maximum target authorized by the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act– a sign that the state is committed to combating climate change. A centerpiece of the Plan is Pay-As-You-Drive auto insurance (PAYD), a market-based, mileage-based solution that rewards drivers for driving less, and an initiative that CLF has been working on for over a decade.

But the work is far from done. Before we can implement measures that will lead New England to the clean energy future it deserves, we have to eradicate the outmoded, dirty sources of power that brought us here in the first place. CLF’s Coal-free New England campaign is designed to do just that, by pushing for the shutdown of the seven major coal-fired power plants in New England that are still in operation, and combined provide about 10 percent of the region’s power and 25 percent of the power in Massachusetts.

Generation Hot may be hot right now, but you know how trends work–they fade. And with a lot of hard work and ingenuity, Generation Hot will be on its way to becoming the most unfashionable generation yet.

Just days after Vermont regulators concluded hearings on its investigation of leaks at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power facility, there are reports of more tritium pollution in the groundwater.

The Vermont Health Department reports that contamination was found in a new well.  The location is different from the site of the pollution from the previous leak.  It also reports that contamination has been “trending upward” at this well since late December.

The new findings belie the corporate claims during the hearings that the leaks are repaired and the site is cleaned up.   Could this be a new leak and a new lie from our “trusted” friends at Vermont Yankee?

UPDATE:  Entergy denies knowing about the new problem during the hearings.  It seems they were simply not paying close attention.  Read Entergy’s letter. 

The plant is too old and its owners can’t be trusted.

In a letter to President Obama today, CLF added a regional voice to the chorus of national organizations asking him to use the State of the Union address on January 25th to show his support for the Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act’s vital public health protections are once again under attack from the nation’s biggest polluters and their supporters in Congress; the President has a chance to let the nation know where he stands. We were proud to represent New England in this important call to action to the President.

CLF Director of Clean Energy and Climate Change N. Jonathan Peress appeared on an NHPR segment yesterday to discuss the possibility of state energy utility PSNH increasing the price of power for its consumers. He argued that the proposed price increases are the result of PSNH’s struggle to cover increasing costs of their aging facilities.

“The coal-fired power plants that are utilized by Public Service of NH have either passed their useful life or are approaching the end of their useful life,” he said.

If you missed the broadcast, listen here:

Concerned about the cost of coal? Learn more about CLF’s Coal-free New England campaign.

The Vermont Public Service Board began hearings this week on what to do about the leaks at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power facility in southern Vermont.  CLF is asking the Board to shut down the plant until all the leaks are repaired and the site is cleaned up.

During the hearings Tuesday, Vermont Yankee’s owners admitted underground pipes still remain inaccessible, leak prevention efforts are limited, and the failure to follow their own plans led to ongoing leaks for two years before they were discovered.

Leaks at the plant came to light a year ago.  Tritium and other radioactive materials continue to contaminate the soil, groundwater and the nearby Connecticut River.

The public has lost faith in Vermont Yankee and the ability of its owners, Entergy, to manage the plant responsibly.  Testimony of CLF’s groundwater expert explains Entergy’s lackluster response to leaks.  Full clean up is needed to prevent harm to the environment.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (known as “FERC”) has delivered a clear message: the time to plan for a future without coal is now. This comes in response to a protest submitted in October by CLF that challenged a decision by the New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) that could have kept the 60 year old Salem Harbor Station running for years longer, despite the damage it causes to public health and the environment and the huge costs it imposes on ratepayers.

CLF argued that ISO-NE, the overseers of the regional electricity system under FERC’s supervision, should have developed an alternative to retaining units at Salem Harbor Station to meet the area’s reliability need.  CLF therefore asked FERC to step in to expedite the planning process. Today, the FERC issued a decision directing ISO-NE to find a solution that would allow shutdown of the Salem Harbor power plant – a dirty, obsolete and unprofitable plant that has long outlived its lifespan and has requested to leave the market.

“We…order ISO-NE to submit a compliance filing within 60 days that either identifies alternatives to resolve the reliability need for Salem Harbor Units 3 and 4 and the time to implement those solutions, or includes an expedited timeline for identifying and implementing alternatives.”

The news that FERC is mandating action to ensure that this dirty coal plant can retire without impacting reliability is a game changing development of national significance. The Chicken Little warning that old coal is needed to keep the lights on—brandished by coal interests primarily to delay long overdue emissions reductions requirements—simply isn’t true.  Today FERC concurred that the sky will not fall – the lights will not go out without old coal – if we envision a future without it and plan for that future.  That future starts here in New England with a concrete plan and timeline for life without Salem Harbor Station.

Students from the Environmental Law Clinic at Columbia Law School provided excellent research in support of CLF’s filing.

In the wake of Dominion’s announcement that it would not be cost effective to continue to operate and invest additional capital for pollution controls at Salem Harbor Station, the Patrick Administration has sent a message to ISO-NE calling for action.  In a letter to the President of ISO-NE, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Ian Bowles, highlighted the need to invest in clean energy instead of propping up old, environmentally obsolete coal plants such as Salem Harbor Station.  Secretary Bowles urged ISO-NE to “quickly implement” a solution to allow Salem Harbor Station to retire.

Clean energy policy has been one of the centerpieces of the Patrick Administration, and this letter signals not only the Administration’s commitment to building clean, new energy infrastructure, but also the important role they have in hastening the retirement of the coal-fired power plants that cause significant damage to public health and the environment.

ISO-NE is responsible for finding an alternative that will remove any need for Salem Harbor Station; however, after 7 years of transmission upgrades and planning, ISO-NE rejected Dominion’s request to remove Salem Harbor Station from the market over concerns that the plant could be needed on the hottest days of the year.  CLF has been pushing ISO-NE to expedite its planning process so that ratepayers will not be forced to bear the costs of keeping this 60 year old coal and oil plant on line despite its continued struggles to meet environmental regulations. 

The Secretary’s letter is particularly timely given that ISO-NE will host meetings on December 15 and December 16 to discuss the planning process for replacing Salem Harbor Station.

Photo credit: Marilyn Humphries

It may come as no surprise that Dominion Energy ‘s spokespeople don’t want to admit that Dominion’s  recent moves to “delist” Salem Harbor Station are signs that Dominion plans to shut the plant down (read recent statements here and here).  Dominion has been spinning stories about the plant to local audiences for years.  But apparently, Dominion CFO Mark McGettrick has no such trouble. At a financial conference at the Edison Electric Institute on November 2, McGettrick confirmed that the plant will shut down within five years. “We have announced that two of our coal plants will shut down in the future when the environmental rules are clear. The first is Salem Harbor in the Northeast. We’ve already tried to delist a few of those units, but the ISO has required the two biggest ones for reliability. But in the near future, certainly within this five year horizon, we would expect Salem Harbor plant to shut down. We will not be investing any capital for environmental improvements at Salem Harbor.”* No mincing words for McGettrick.

So there you have it. Salem Harbor is going to shut down within five years.  Dominion says it will not invest any more money in environmental improvements at the plant. So, if ISO-NE continues to find the plant is needed for reliability, who will pay the price for those improvements? Ratepayers. Specifically, the ratepayers who live in the shadow of this plant in northeastern Massachusetts. That’s why ISO-NE must act now to find an alternative to Salem Harbor Station.  CLF has stepped in to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order ISO-NE to meet its responsibility, so that ratepayers can avoid these costs.  CLF will continue working to accelerate shutdown to prevent further damage to public health and the environment and to stop Dominion and ISO-NE from forcing ratepayers to prop up this polluting dinosaur of a plant that should have been closed years ago.

*Listen to the announcement via Google Finance
Clip can be found at 22:30

Articles in this morning’s Boston Globe and Salem News describe an important shift in the status of Salem Harbor Station and highlight the need for ISO New England (ISO-NE) to go beyond the analyses it has done in the past so that it can finally identify an alternative that will actually solve the reliability issue that has dogged efforts to retire the plant since 2003.  That is the subject of the recent protest filed by CLF asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to require ISO-NE to perform an expedited analysis of the alternatives and establish a timeline for implementation.

ISO-NE’s failure to identify solutions that will relieve the need for Salem Harbor Station has resulted in decisions that will cost ratepayers up to $18.5 million in above market payments in 2012-2013 and up to $16.9 million in 2013-2014. ISO-NE could avoid imposing these costs on ratepayers by implementing an alternative that would allow the plant to retire by 2012.

However, if ISO-NE rejects Dominion’s recent “permanent delist bid” – its latest and most telling signal that it wants to retire the plant – on the basis of reliability, ratepayers face the risk of even higher costs. The reality is that ratepayers pay more per kilowatt for electricity from Salem Harbor Station than they pay for other sources of electricity in the capacity market ranging from natural gas to nuclear and renewable.  This dispels the perception that coal is a cheap source of electricity.   Importantly, these additional costs aren’t spread among ratepayers throughout New England; instead, they are passed on solely to the ratepayers in northeastern Massachusetts, the same people who already bear the costs of additional medical expenses from the heart and lung diseases and other illnesses caused by pollution from the plant.  A study released by Clean Air Task Force concluded that pollution from the Salem Harbor Station causes 20 deaths, 36 heart attacks and 316 asthma attacks every year.

These costs diminish any economic benefits that the City of Salem receives from tax payments and jobs at the plant, and the likelihood that Dominion will retire in 2014 if its de-list bid is accepted makes it more important than ever that an alternative use for the site be developed to replace the facility.

Dominion’s claims that it is not planning to retire the plant contradict its own filings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  Continuing a tradition of telling the story that best suits its interests depending on the audience, Dominion told the Commission in a 2009 filing that it estimated only three more years of economic viability for the plant.  Dominion spokesman Dan Genest told the Salem News, “We know what it costs us to produce a megawatt of electricity at Salem Harbor Station, and the lower price at auction is not enough to cover our costs to generate electricity.” Despite its claims that it can continue to make profits in other markets, Dominion has said in its own filings that it was likely to lose money in those markets.

The bottom line is that ISO-NE has a responsibility to find an alternative to replace Salem Harbor Station that will cost less.  Now that the threat of even higher costs looms, protecting ratepayers demands a solution by no later than 2014, and the public health and environmental harms caused by the operation of this 60 year old coal and oil-fired relic weighs heavily in favor of shutting down the plant as soon as possible.