Growth still slow at Tampa Electric

Slow customer and energy growth at Tampa Electric continued to weigh on its parent TECO Energy, the company reported Thursday morning.

Net income and earnings from continuing operations fell in the second quarter of 2008, to $52.140million and 24 cents per share, compared to $59.4-million and 28 cents per share in the year ago quarter.

Customer growth at Tampa Electric has slowed significantly due to Florida's stalled housing market, the company reported.

"Various forecasts earlier in the year indicated that the housing market was expected to bottom out in 2008, but the credit and housing issues appear to be deeper and more protracted than were forecast even a few months ago," said TECO Energy Chairman and CEO Sherrill Hudson.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Four arrests in fuel theft ring

Four Orlando men have been arrested for using counterfeit credit cards to buy gasoline, state authorities announced Wednesday.

The four were caught after investigators on Monday saw the suspects pumping gas into concealed fuel tanks in pickup trucks, according to the investigative branch of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates gasoline sales. The department had been tipped off after the fraud unit of Murphy USA Petroleum contacted state investigators after one of its gas stations in Haines City suffered losses valued at more than $25,000.

Jorge O. Garcia Llanes, 35, and Michael Cabrera, 32, were arrested on charges of unlawful conveyance of fuel. Esteban Fuentes Vazquez, 56, and Robin Corroles-Castro, 32, were also charged with trafficking in counterfeit credit cards.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Get green, get recognized

Know a Tampa Bay area business that has done something  to be more socially, economically, and environmentally responsible? Then be sure to nominate them for an Earth Charter Sustainable Business Award.

The nomination deadline is July 31.

Winners will not only be recognized for their contribution to local sustainability, but they will have a chance to participate in the formation of a Tampa Bay Sustainable Business Coalition.

Catriona Stuart, Times staff writer

A climate change activist takes on her own personal battle

My colleague Ernest Hooper recently wrote a column for the St Petersburg Times about a courageous young Tampa Bay climate change activist, Melissa Meehan, and her battle with cancer.
Since we launched The Fueling Station almost two years ago, Melissa has been one of our most active contributors. Whatever your views on global warming, Melissa's passion for her work as Florida Climate Organizer for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, is an inspiration to anyone following the issue.

Her determination in infectious. So much so, in fact, that Ernest wasn't satisfied with writing an article for our paper about Melissa's predicament. He wrote out his notes on his conversation with her. I have chosen some excerpts to share with you:

Devastated But Determined
By Melissa Meehan
(As Told To Ernest Hooper)

I’m 27-years-old, how could this be happening? I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I have energy. I’m a lobbyist. I fight global warming. I can’t have cancer.

Every day is a new challenge. Every day you learn something new and it’s a new fear or a new problem. Today, I spent three hours on the phone with my boss trying to figure out how I’m going to stay an active employee. I have to work an average of 30 hours a week to stay on the healthcare plan. I don’t know how I’m going to do that on the chemo. Am I going to be okay? Am I going to be sick? Is it going to make me tired? Am I going to be able to work? I’m a public speaker and lobbyist. How am I going to be able to do that?

Progress Energy weighs reducing its workforce

Progress Energy Florida, one of Tampa Bay’s largest employers, is considering a “reduction in our workforce,” according to a memo to employees from Michael Lewis, second in command at the St. Petersburg utility.

The utility, a subsidiary of Progress Energy in Raleigh, N.C., employs 4,300 workers in Florida. No information was released on the number of workers impacted, or when that would be announced.
The utility has been struggling with slowed customer growth because of the downturn in the real estate market.

"Progress Energy Florida strives to keep costs as low as possible for our customers, and we constantly evaluate our spending,” said spokesman C.J. Drake. “Just like thousands of business across Florida, we are looking for ways to adjust to the current economic downturn.”

Keep reading to see the memo from Lewis:

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

BlueFire Ethanol in race to build the nation's first ccmmercial cellulosic ethanol plant

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels has obtained permits to construct what it hopes will be the nation’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol production plant in California.
The plant will convert biowaste into as much as 3.2 million gallons of ethanol a year, using a concentrated acid hydrolysis technology process to convert gras cuttings, forestry and agricultural waste.

BlueFire Ethanol is also one of six ethanol companies awarded $40 million funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for construction of a larger ethanol production facility using cellulosic wastes diverted from landfills in Southern California. The facility will produce approximately 17 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year from green waste, wood waste and other cellulosic urban wastes.

- David Adams

Gas prices drop -- did Beijing Olympics do it?

Prices at the pump are clearly headed down nationwide bringing welcome relief. Tampa's metro area had the lowest average price in the state, $3.96. Some observers think regular unleaded could drop to $3.75 or lower by end of summer, says a story in today's St. Petersburg Times. But what caused it?

For one thing, all across America people are driving less. "U.S. demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended July 18 was 2.4 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging more than 9.3-million barrels a day," notes the story by Kris Hundley. "That resulted in an increase in gasoline stockpiles of 2.9-million barrels. Analysts had expected an increase of half a million."

But one expert sees the answer overseas. "The main catalyst has been China, which has taken huge steps to lower demand as well as clean air by taking 21-million cars off the road overnight," said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, referring to a government mandate to curtail driving in advance of the Beijing Olympics. "That's been the tipping point."

[AP photo from Miami]

--Craig Pittman

The pros and cons of ethanol in your tank: consumer concerns.

Consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the price of gas at the pump and the by now widespread introduction of a 10 per cent ethanol blend in each gallon.
Many consumers have heard that ethanol burns up quicker than gasoline and thus gets less gas mileage.
Others worry about recent reports indicating that turning the U.S. corn crop into ethanol has driven up the price of corn by 21 percent, contributing to the overall rising price of food. A quarter of the United States corn crop is used for biofuels, they point out.

Now, a campaign is building to remove the federal mandate that requires ethanol to be blended with gas sold at the pump. (The Enviornmental Protection Agency is due to make a ruling in August. See earlier post.)

So, I asked the ethanol industry (represented by The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council and the Renewable Fuels Association) to answer some of these consumer concerns. They responded by sending me the results of recent studies showing that ethanol blending is actually providing a benefit to consumers.

You will find a summary below. After reading it, let us know what you think.

Pinellas workforce gets $1M to train nuke workers

WorkNet Pinellas won a $1-million federal grant devoted to training welders to staff Florida’s “nuclear renaissance.”

Elaine Chao, U.S. secretary of labor, awarded the “CLEAN Energy” grant Tuesday during a visit to the Pinellas Technical Education Centers in St. Petersburg. “CLEAN” stands for certification, licensing and education of apprentices for the nuclear energy industry.

The industry hasn’t broken ground on a new nuclear plant in about three decades. Many of the industry’s workers are now nearing retirement, leaving a dearth of workers to build and staff the more than 30 new reactors planned nationwide. Progress Energy plans to build two reactors north of Crystal River in Levy County, and Florida Power & Light plans to build two reactors at its St. Lucie power station near Miami.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Arctic oil bonanza available, but not under Santa's workshop

A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey says the Arctic "may hold 90 billion barrels of oil, more than all the known reserves of Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Mexico combined, and enough to supply U.S. demand for 12 years," Bloomberg reports.

"Most of the Arctic, especially offshore, is essentially unexplored with respect to petroleum,'' Donald Gautier, the project chief for the assessment, said in the report. ``The extensive Arctic continental shelves may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth.''

About a third of the undiscovered oil is in Alaskan territory, the report found, but "a geologic formation beneath the North Pole claimed by Russian scientists last year probably holds just 1.2 percent of the Arctic's crude," Bloomberg noted.

Don't look for new rigs to start popping up all over the Alaskan tundra just yet. "Most of the oil and gas lies in waters that Canada shares with the United States and Denmark, and which are subject to boundary disputes," notes the Toronto Globe and Mail.

[St. Petersburg Times photo]

--Craig Pittman

Sahara solar farms could power Europe

European politicians are discussing ambitious plans to harvest the energy of the Saharan sun, connecting a vast network of solar panels to electricity grids across the continent, according to the Times of London.

"Solar power’s supporters say it will take ten years for it to become economically competitive, and while undersea cables to Sicily and Spain are planned for construction in 2010-2012, it is not known how they will be financed," the Times notes.

The Sahara project -- endorsed by both British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicholas Sarkozy -- has been envisioned as part of a "European supergrid that would allow countries across the continent to share electricity from abundant green sources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy," the Guardian reports.

"Scientists argue that harnessing the Sahara would be particularly effective because the sunlight in this area is more intense: solar photovoltaic panels in northern Africa could generate up to three times the electricity compared with similar panels in northern Europe," says the Guardian. Solar power from the Sahara could generate enough electricity to power all of Europe, not to mention drastically slashing CO2 emissions, reports the Telegraph.

[St. Petersburg Times photo by Graham Brink]

--Craig Pittman

Olympic masks are the hot new fashion, thanks to Beijing's choking smog

The pollution that's made China the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases is clouding the picture for athletes who hope to compete in the Olympics in Beijing next month. Beijing's smog is made of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter and dust, all produced by 3.3-million vehicles and lots of heavy industry.

So even though Chinese officials have taken some drastic steps to try to clear the air by the start of the Summer Olympics, it's probably not going to be sufficient to protect the athletes competing in any event that doesn't involve a gym or a swimming pool.

The solution? "Concerned about the pollution, the U.S. Olympic Committee is distributing a high-tech mask, developed in secrecy, to its more than 600 Olympians," the Wall Street Journal reported this week.

The masked Americans won't be alone, says the Toronto Star. "Along with the team's other essential supplies, a shipment of Canadian masks have already landed in Beijing," the paper reports. "Though the athletes will not wear them during competition, they might consider using them when moving around outdoors." The 182 Kiwi athletes from New Zealand will get masks too, although they will be encouraged to leave them off while competing.

This is not idle fearmongering. Frank Fiberto, head physician of the U.S. boxing team, saw what can happen during some Olympic trials in Beijing in November. "On a scheduled five-mile run one morning, the boxers were coughing," the Journal reported. "Five of the 11 boxers came down with bronchitis, and three required medical treatment, he says." The team spent the rest of the visit training inside its hotel.

However, some people are worried that trying to protect the athletes' lungs might be taken as an insult by the Chinese. "When you're walking around with a mask on, you're basically saying, 'You guys stink,' "  Scott Schnitzspahn, performance director of th e U.S. triathlon team, told the Journal.

[AP photo of Beijing smog taken July 8, 2008]

--Craig Pittman

Is it the end of ethanol? Don't bet on it.

The U.S. corn-based ethanol program has been getting a bad rap lately, and not without good cause. But, as we have pointed out here in the past, some of the attacks are overstated and do not tell the whole picture.

Take the latest assault on ethanol from Governor Rick Perry of Texas who says he wants the federal ethanol mandate cut from 9 billion gallons to 4.5 billion gallons. (The mandate is due to rise to 10.5 billion gallons next year.) He says this will help bring down food prices by alleviating pressure on livestock feed. (Apparently the Texas chicken company, Pilgrim's Pride, recently gave a $100,000 donation to the Republican Governor's Association which Perry chairs.)
The Environmental Protection Agency has not ruled yet on the ethanol mandate, and it may not be in a hurry to do so. The EPA was due to issue a ruling Thursday but has postponed a decision until early August to review a flood of public comments.

Don't blame the speculators for oil prices, new report says.

As most experts have argued, a new report says that speculators aren't "systematically" driving up oil prices. While they do play a role in pricing, the main factors are fundamental supply and demand issues. The report was headed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

- David Adams

Ford to unveil plan Thursday to build smaller cars

Ford is the latest car manufacturer to revamp its production lines to turn out more small cars, The New York Times reports.

Expect to see the subcompact Ford Fiesta, a common sight on European roads, to appear in the US soon.

Ford plans to unveil its new direction on Thursday. Among the changes, Ford is expected to announce that it will convert three of its North American assembly plants from trucks to cars, The New York Times says.

(Photo of Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, the most fuel efficient Ford model in Europe, which can do 62 miles on a gallon of diesel)

- David Adams

Seminole Electric plans solar plant with Spanish company

Tampa’s Seminole Electric Cooperative on Tuesday announced plans to negotiate with a Spanish company for a new solar power station.

The negotiations were announced in conjunction with a trip to Spain by Gov. Charlie Crist and state business leaders. Seminole, which generates and purchases power for 10 electric cooperatives throughout the state, signed a letter of intent to begin negotiations with Renovalia, an energy company based in Madrid.

Seminole sells wholesale power to its member cooperatives, who are responsible for 900,000 meters in portions of 46 Florida counties, said Michele Collet-Kriz, spokeswoman for the company. The company would like to build a solar thermal plant with Renovalia, but it is too early to speculate on the size, location or cost of the plant, she said. Seminole would like to conclude negotiations by the end of 2008, but has no firm time line. Seminole has 100 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, most of it from a waste-to-energy plant in Lee County and landfill gas capture projects around the state.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Court rules in favor of Seminole's coal plant

The Fifth District Court of Appeal last week ruled in favor of Seminole Electric Cooperative's plans to build a 750-megawatt coal plant at its power station in Putnam County.

The court directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to grant site certification to the plant, which will pave the way for the project to move forward. The project had been delayed since August 2007, when DEP denied its site permit.

The project was originally slated for completion in 2012, but has been delayed by "at least two years," according to a recent utilities report from analysts at Baird.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Find money for home renewable projects

Want to put up a solar panel, but you just need a little extra cash to make it happen? A new Web site lets you search by zip code for state, local and national incentives as well as special Internet offers.

The site lets you search for incentives and rebates, look for products, or find dealers in your area.

"Homeowners need a quick way to find rebates and offers available when they buy new appliances, cars or other energy saving installations, and we give them all the terms, instructions and applications in one easy search," said Bob Ellis, chief executive of GreenMadeSimple.com.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

Fuel prices force Royal Caribbean to cut cruise line jobs.

Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises says it will cut 400 jobs due to a 34 percent drop in earnings, The Miami Herald reports today.

Royal Caribbean already charges passengers a fuel supplement fee of $10 per person per day. But the company says it's not enough to cover its costs. The company's fuel bill has jumped $180 million since the beginning of this year, and it expects it to increase about $300 million next year.

- David Adams

Offshore drilling: Are there worse things than oil spills? Try clouds of poisonous gas

As the presidential candidates debate the pros and cons of offshore drilling, everybody focuses on the risk of a spill. But there are other things to worry about, according to David McGrath.

McGrath lives on Dauphin Island, Ala., surrounded by what he calls a "brightly lit crown of oil and natural gas rigs" just offshore. At one time McGrath, an English instructor at the University of South Alabama, an author and an avid angler, liked seeing the rigs because they attracted fish.

But McGrath, in a column published in the Chicago Tribune, says he "changed my tune after recent accidents involving the platforms, part of more than 300 accidents worldwide in the last 25 years, according to a British study. The scariest for me occurred last September when a cloud of poisonous gas was expelled by a nearby natural gas rig and drifted over the island, sickening dozens of residents and forcing the evacuation of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab School."

Ultimately ExxonMobil "confessed to the unplanned expulsion of hydrogen sulfide, a fatally poisonous byproduct of all the wells," McGrath writes. "The noxious, sour-smelling gas is usually burned off by a continuous flame on the rig, which had inexplicably gone out, like a pilot light in the wind." In February, ExxonMobil was fined $90,000 for the release, according to the AP.

And then there was the Ocean Warwick, a rig "which was blown 66 miles from its mooring by Hurricane Katrina. Eventually it was salvaged, but its various parts and toxic chemicals remained just off our beach," McGrath wrote.

[AP photo of Ocean Warwick washed ashore on Dauphin Island, 2005]

--Craig Pittman

McCain TV ad: Drilling will solve everything

First let's get one thing straight: John McCain's new TV ad, "Pump," is not, repeat NOT, related to the new  B-52's song by the same name.

Instead, the presumptive Republican nominee is using this new ad to target Democratic candidate Barack Obama's opposition to offshore drilling in places like the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The ad actually says Obama is the reason why gas prices are so high lately (when did Illinois join OPEC?).

Here's the ad:

Of course, not mentioned in the ad is the fact that offshore drilling carries lots of risks for Florida's tourist-based economy and  won't really do anything to alleviate current high gas prices.

--Craig Pittman

"Global Warming Swindle": Who swindled whom?

The channel that broadcast "The Great Global Warming Swindle" -- a British "documentary" that has become a favorite among climate change skeptics -- has been censured by a British watchdog agency because the film misrepresented the views of top scientists to fit the filmmakers' point, according to Reuters.

The film was originally broadcast on Channel 4 in March 2007 and since then has been widely distributed on DVD by such groups as the Heartland Institute. It sought to challenge the widely accepted theory that human industrial activity is a major cause of climate change, but the program was littered with problems, and scientists at the Royal Society blasted it as misleading.

Among the scientists quoted in the show: Carl Wunsch of MIT, who subsequently became one of the 265 people who complained about it to OfCom, the British agency that regulates broadcasters. The  176-page complaint involved more than 20 scientists and other distinguished academics, says the BBC.

"The film exaggerates the credentials of its purported 'experts', changed published data to suit its own ends, and in general took a complicated scientific problem, over-simplified and changed the evidence, while suppressing all contrary views from the true experts," Wunsch told the Telegraph.

No word yet on whether it will be turned into an opera like An Inconvenient Truth.

--Craig Pittman

TECO jolts customers with higher bills, blames higher fuel costs (including coal)

Tampa Electric Co. delivered a jolt of bad news to its customers Friday: Electric bills will get a lot bigger in the new year to cover skyrocketing fuel costs.

The company plans to increase its fuel recovery charge in January, adding $25.62 to the $114.38 bill of a 1,000-kilowatt hour residential customer, a 22.4 percent increase.

"Fuel costs today make up more than half of a typical electric bill," Tampa Electric president Chuck Black said.

The company said that in the past year market prices have increased 165 percent for coal and 82 percent for oil and natural gas. It expects to pay $1.4-billion for fuel in 2009, 25 percent more than it projected in September.

That the cost of coal is going up is an intriguing development, since one of the longstanding arguments for using coal is that it's far cheaper than cleaner burning fuels like natural gas. But the rise in coal prices -- fueled by a growing global demand -- is pushing up energy costs in places like West Virginia, where coal is mined.

For more details, click here. For information on how TECO customers can save energy and thus cut their costs, click here.

[Photo from NASA]

--Craig Pittman

If warming means extinction, should we move some species to save them?

If global warming is going to doom some species, is it time to back up a moving van and help them get out of the way?

In an article just published in Science, an international team of scientists from Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. is now saying yes, at least in some cases, according to the Associated Press. They're calling it "assisted colonization" or "assisted migration," and they're saying it's time to start picking which species need help.

"When I first brought up this idea some 10 years ago in conservation meetings, most people were horrified," Camille Parmesan, a University of Texas biology professor, said. "But now, as the reality of global warming sinks in, and species are already becoming endangered and even going extinct because of climate change, I'm seeing a new willingness in the conservation community to at least talk about the possibility of helping out species by moving them around."

Not every species would qualify (so put that polar bear back). The species would need to be easy to collect, raise or move. Its habitat requirements would need to be well understood, and there would need to be viable habitat options outside of the species' current range, the scientists say.

"The idea still has some hurdles to overcome, not least the inherent horror of many conservation biologists at tampering with nature, no matter how human-dominated it is," notes Scientific American. "After all, the human record with introduced species is not good."

Mark the World Wildlife Fund as adamantly opposed to the idea. "It is rare to find an example of such an introduction that hasn't led to dire consequences for one or more indigenous species of the area of introduction, and it is naive to think that such consequences would not also be a factor under the framework the authors propose," said a WWF spokesman.

[AP photo]

--Craig Pittman

Al Gore: Ditch fossil fuels in one decade or else

Powerpoint junkie, opera inspirer and Nobel-winner Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade, because what America is doing now doesn't work.

“We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet,” Gore said. “Every bit of that’s got to change.”

Instead, he said, within 10 years America must "rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts," the New York Times reports. To make it happen, Gore called for "the kind of concerted national effort that enabled Americans to walk on the moon," the paper said.

Gore called for taxing carbon dioxide production, with an accompanying reduction in payroll taxes. “We should tax what we burn, not what we earn,” he said in his speech, which you can see here -- after he offers some odd shout-outs to the Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.I.Am. and Libertarian candidate Bob Barr:

--Craig Pittman

Hydrogen highway: it's a long, hard road ahead

Remember when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger kept talking about a hydrogen highway so he could combat global warming and still drive a Hummer?

Well, although several manufacturers are hooking up Hollywood stars with hydrogen-fueled cars, and they're apparently (pardon the pun) a gas to drive, if you thought that the Hydrogen Highway would open sometime soon, well...sorry, but there will be some delays. Oh, and it turns out the Hydrogen Highway is a toll road.

A new study released today by the National Academies of Science spells out the bad news. The only way switching to hydrogen-powered cars would have much of an impact on greenhouse gases is if they took over a large share of the auto market. But the NAS report says the maximum practicable number of hydrogen vehicles that could be on the road by 2020 is 2 million.

Not until 2023 would the total cost of fuel cell vehicles, including the cost of hydrogen fuel over a vehicle's lifetime, become competitive with conventional vehicles. At that point, the number of hydrogen vehicles on the road could at last grow rapidly, to nearly 60 million in 2035 and 200 million by 2050.

And who's going to pay for the cars until the price drops? "According to the committee, government support via strong policy initiatives as well as funding would be needed until at least 2023," an NAS press release says. "The cost to the government would be about $55 billion between 2008 and 2023; private industry would be expected to invest $145 billion over that same time period."

[St. Petersburg Times photo by Stephen J. Coddington]

Offshore drilling splits GOP lawmakers

The high price of gasoline has cracked the once solid wall of antidrilling sentiment in the Florida Legislature.

"I'm tired of spilling blood in the Middle East for oil," said Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, a drilling proponent whose son is a Marine. "If we're going to protect our nation, you've got to protect resources."

Pruitt was one of a half-dozen prominent Republican lawmakers who told the St. Petersburg Times they would support offshore drilling now. Among those opposing it, though, stands one mighty powerful lawmaker: incoming House speaker, Rep. Ray Sansom of Destin, a town famous for its pristine white beaches, and thus a place where the beach IS the economy.

"I earned the title of 'the Sandman' for protecting our white fluffy beaches to attract tourism," Jones said. "Drilling for oil is dirty and nasty and not economical. I don't care if McCain is president. That wouldn't change my mind one bit."

The tension among the Legislature's Republican majority promises a tense debate should the federal government lift its offshore drilling moratorium in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and leave the issue up to states. Last month Gov. Charlie Crist backed such a plan by Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee.

[Photo courtesy Destin Area Chamber of Commerce]

--Jennifer Liberto and Steve Bousquet

Oil demand in U.S. continues to fall. Price of a barrel is down $15 in last three days.

Gasoline demand fell by 5.2 percent last week in the U.S., according to a survey by Mastercard. That's the 12th consecutive weekly drop.
With fears that gas prices are driving inflation, some analysts believe oil may have reached its peak. Oil is now down to almost $129 a barrel. (Prices are still 75 per cent higher than a year ago). Others point out that while we may be consuming less, the developing world continues to demand more.

Does anyone remember a year ago when oil was approaching $80 a barrel some experts were predicting it would fall back to $40? So much for experts. My impression at the time was that it was wishful thinking on the part of the oil and gas industry which was worried about investors pouring money into alternative energy.

But they chose to ignore the fundamental geopolitics of oil. Political instability in oil producing countries, coupled with falling supplies of cheap, easily accessible oil and rising demand in the emerging economies of the developing world, are what drives the prices of oil today.

- David Adams

The quest for greener air travel

Airlines are looking to find ways of cutting their fuel costs and reducing carbon emissions. The New York Times describes the scene at the Farnborough annual Air Show in Britain, including one display of a tank of green algae,  considered a potential new source of  jet fuel. Pratt & Whitney is also displaying a new engine that uses less fuel, is quieter and noise and releases less emissions.

(Photo of the tail of an Airbus 380 by The New York Times)

- David Adams

Obama's latest comments on climate change and energy policy

In his latest speech on national security strategy Tuesday, Barrack Obama laid out his position on climate change and energy policy. Here are some of the highlights:

"This is not just an economic issue or an environmental concern - this is a national security crisis. For the sake of our security - and for every American family that is paying the price at the pump - we must end this dependence on foreign oil. And as President, that's exactly what I'll do. Small steps and political gimmickry just won't do. I'll invest $150 billion over the next ten years to put America on the path to true energy security. This fund will fast track investments in a new green energy business sector that will end our addiction to oil and create up to 5 million jobs over the next two decades, and help secure the future of our country and our planet. We'll invest in research and development of every form of alternative energy - solar, wind, and biofuels, as well as technologies that can make coal clean and nuclear power safe. And from the moment I take office, I will let it be known that the United States of America is ready to lead again.

Solar power in the Sunshine State: FPL gets 1st OK from PSC

Florida Power & Light, already the biggest generator of solar power in the country, won unanimous approval from the Florida Public Service Commission this week to make its customers pay for a $688-million plan to build the first commercial-scale solar plants in Florida, according to the Miami Herald.

FPL plans to build a 25-megawatt plant in rural DeSoto County -- which FPL says would be the largest photovoltaic facility in the world -- as well as a 10-megawatt photovoltaic facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Brevard County and a 75-megawatt facility in Martin County that would link solar thermal power to a natural gas plant. The DeSoto plant is scheduled to be completed by December 2009 with the other two following in 2010.

When completed, the trio of projects would make Florida the second largest supplier of utility-generated solar power in the nation, the company says. 

The commission voted to allow the utility to recover costs through an environmental provision used to charge customers for clean-energy improvements like smokestack scrubbers. In the past utilities had to wait until a plant is producing electricity before it can recover costs, but the Legislature changed the rules to allow full-cost recovery of a utility building 110-megawatts of renewable energy generators.

"The Florida solar facilities will prevent the release of nearly 3.5 million tons of greenhouses gases over the life of the projects, which is the equivalent of removing 25,000 cars from the road per year," according to FPL.

[Photo of the sun by NASA]

--Craig Pittman

The power of Mount Trashmore's landfill

It's known simply as Mount Trashmore, the only high ground in flat south Florida.
It's where Miami's garbage ends up - millions of tons of it. But could it also be a source of energy?
The Miami Herald reports today on Mount Trashmore's energy potential. The paper says Miami-Dade County is close to working out a deal to sell the methane gas produced by the fermenting garbage to energy companies. Last year, the landfill created 600 million cubic feet of methane - enough to fill about 34 massive oil tankers, the paper says.

Interested in learning more about energy from landfill waste? There will be a panel on the subject at the upcoming Farm to Fuel Summit in Orlando later this month.

(Photo by the The Miami Herald)

- David Adams

Progress Energy's $17B nukes approved by state regulators

Progress Energy's $17-billion nuclear project won approval Tuesday morning from state regulators, who voted unanimously that the the project is necessary and cost effective.

"It's an investment that pays off over time," said Public Service Commissioner Katrina McMurrian.

The St. Petersburg utility could start billing customers for the project as early as January. It remains unclear how it will impact monthly bills. Progress Energy said in March that residential customers could see an increase of $9 a month, but that number may have changed. The utility has redacted its latest estimates from recent state filings.

Progress Energy needs to return before the Public Service Commission in September for a hearing on how much it will charge customers for the project. The cost to customers will be made public in time for the September hearing, although it is unclear when.

"I also find the costs quite daunting," said Commissioner Lisa Polak Edgar. "But I think that it's a step we need to take."

Bush greenlights drilling offshore, pressures Congress to follow suit

Look out Florida beachgoers -- President Bush is announcing today that he's lifting a longstanding executive order first imposed by his father in 1990 banning offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere along the nation's coast.

The move won't lead directly to new rigs sprouting off Caladesi Island, of course. Instead it's "aimed at stepping up pressure on Congress to end the prohibition it imposed in 1981," the Washington Post reports.

In a speech last month, Bush called for ending the 27-year-old ban on drilling for oil and gas on the outer continental shelf, "arguing that the country needs more domestic energy production to help reduce dependence on foreign oil and ease upward pressure on gasoline prices," the Post reports. Congress disdained his advice, so now he's charging ahead and hoping Congress will follow, his press secretary explained.

"This proposal is something you'd expect from an oil company CEO, not the president of the United States," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Environment Committee, told the Associated Press. "The president is taking special-interest government to a new level and threatening our thriving coastal economy."

Of course, with gas topping $4 a gallon, Floridians may disagree. As one Louisiana resident told USA Today recently, ""It's OK to have an ugly spot in your backyard if that spot has oil coming out of it."

[Photo of Caladesi Island by Jim Damaske, St. Petersburg Times]

--Craig Pittman

Florida presents its 3rd annual Farm to Fuel Summit

The state of Florida is holding its third annual Farm to Fuel Summit later this month (July 30-Aug 1) in Orlando. As in previous years its an agenda packed with discussion about the development in biofuels in Florida, widely considered to have some of the greatest second generation biofuels potential due to its plentiful agricultural waste and forest.

(Register here for the summit)

The summit will include an agronomists workshop dedicated to helping farmers understand what are the best fuel crops to grow in Florida. "For the first time we are developing information for the agricultural community about what crops we can grow here," says Jay Levenstein, deputy commissioner for Agriculture and Consumer Services. "We have a lot of information we can give them."

The summit will be attended by Ed Schafer, the US Under-Secretary for Agriculture, as well as Bob Dineen, head of the US Renewable Fuels Association.

Jack Youngblood, a member of the pro-football Hall of Fame (St Louis Rams) is expected to explain his interest in the biofuels potential of north Florida forestland, along with a group of other professional sports stars, including Ryan Klesko and John Smoltz (baseball) and Bobby Rahal (motor racing).

Panelists will look at the growth of biofuels infrastructure in the state, including pipelines and fuel storage terminals, as  well as  the development of second-generation cellulosic ethanol technology.

Among the panelists will be two names familiar to readers of this blog: Bradley Krohn, president of United States EnviroFuels in Tampa, will give a talk titled 'Construction of a Commercial Sugarto-Ethanol BioRefinery,' while Dr. Jose Sifontes, president of Sigarca in Gainesville will speak on 'Bioenergy and Agricultural Products from Animal Waste.'

- David Adams

Crist's energy adviser under fire for conflict of interest with utilities

Florida Governor Charlie Crist's special energy adviser, Chris Kise, has come under attack for an ethical conflict of interest. Besides advising the Governor, he represents utility companies. That relationship is being questioned by Nancy Argenziano, who sits on the state's Public Service Commission.

Argenziano, a former Republican state senator, "is the first Crist appointee to publicly question the ethics of a governor who has sought to place a premium on propriety and openness in government," The St Petersburg Times reports this morning.

- David Adams

Progress Energy wins fight against clean air rule

A federal appeals court on Friday struck down a clean-air rule championed by the Bush administration and opposed by several electric utilities, including Progress Energy.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously rejected the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which required 28 mostly Eastern states, including Florida, to reduce pollutants that cause smog. The rule made states responsible for pollution produced within their borders that then drifted across state lines.

The case against the rule was brought by North Carolina, along with several power producers.

Both Progress Energy and Tampa Electric have undertake billions of dollars worth of upgrades to comply with the rule, which was announced in 2005 and slated to go into effect next year. It's unclear what impact the court decision will have on that work, some of which is already complete or under construction.

EPA stalling on greenhouse gas emissions again; meanwhile breathing gets a little harder

The EPA is announcing today that, once again, it is holding off taking any action on regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, despite a clear directive from the U.S. Supreme Court that it should do so, the Washington Post is reporting.

But don't blame the EPA, says the Post -- blame the White House. "They argued that this increase in regulation should be on the next president's record,"  -- and not on President Bush's -- according to an unnamed participant in the decisionmaking debate who was quoted in the Post.

Oil prices set new record above $147 a barrel

I know we've said this before, but oil prices set a new record this morning above $147 a barrel, driven by rising tension between Iran and the West and fear of attacks on Nigerian oil facilities, the Associated Press reports.

Back on May 9, David posted a link to a Goldman Sachs prediction of $150-$200 a barrel oil. Looks like we're headed there now.

Some say the run-up in oil prices this year is a commodity "bubble" drive by speculators and investors desperate to take refuge from the falling dollar. Others accuse market fundamentals. Demand has increased while supply hasn't, putting a strain on the oil that's out there.

Equally divided are two camps of thought. One argues for more drilling, the other for less consumption.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

[Photo: Associated Press]

Smart Car carpooling: It helps if everyone is reeeeeally friendly

How do you cram 15 people into a Smart Car? Well....

It helps if everyone involved is reeeeeeally friendly. --Craig Pittman

Toyota to make Prius in U.S. for the first time

Toyota plans to build its popular hybrid Prius in the U.S. for the first time to meet rising demand, the Associated Press reports.

The Prius will be built at a plant in Blue Springs, Miss., starting in late 2010. The factory was originally slated to build SUVs, but gas-guzzlers have lost their appeal as gas tops $4 a gallon.

The Japanese auto maker is also suspending manufacture of its Tundra pickup truck and Sequoia SUV for three months because of declining demand.

-Asjylyn Loder, Times staff writer

The high cost of commuting isn't just the gas

Check out this column from our Hernando County columnist Dan DeWitt. An avid cyclist and nature lover, Dan has been writing about growth and development in Hernando County for years. In this column, he writes about how cheap gas brokered Hernando's fleeting life as a Tampa suburb, and how the high cost of a gallon promises to doom hopes to make it a bedroom community for Tampa commuters.

Also check out a couple of past columns from Dan on a local farmer's market, and on the isolated consumers around Florida that have gone solar.

What will you pay for Progress Energy's nukes? Sorry, that's confidential

Wondering how much you'll pay for Progress Energy's $17-billion nuclear plant? Sorry, that's confidential.

The St. Petersburg utility estimated in March that customers could see an increase of about $9 a month next year to help pay for the project. That number may have changed, but the utility blacked out the numbers in recent filings to state regulators, citing "confidentiality agreements."

The secrecy tests for the first time a 2-year-old state law that allows utilities to bill customers for nuclear projects years before the reactors start producing electricity. Under the law, the state's two largest utilities, Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light, want to raise monthly bills for more than 6-million electric customers across the state starting as early as January.

Progress Energy argues that disclosing the impact on monthly bills will jeopardize its negotiations with Westinghouse Electric Co. and the Shaw Group Inc. for the engineering and construction of the pl