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On the third day … Texas still didn’t have electricity
Going into day three of Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath, one utility group says it could take more than two weeks for electricity to be restored in much of rain-soaked Texas.
The state’s public cooperative utilities, which serve a big chunk of the state, are facing stiff challenges, according to the National Renewable Electric Cooperatives Association, representing one of the three largest segments of the power industry.
“In the Rockport-Aransas Pass area, it looks pretty bad,” said Ronald Hughes, CEO and general manager of San Patricio Electric Cooperative.
American Electric Power Texas, a big investor-owned utility that serves some of the same areas as the cooperative, said it restored service to about 65,000 residents from the 220,000 left without power. That leaves 150,500 to go. Another 100,000 people also could be left without power, according to another estimate.
Moving to the oil and gas sector, restoration is slow going. Uncertainty reigns over when companies will be back at full throttle drilling oil, pumping natural gas and refining fuel again.
A snapshot of the offshore drilling industry is best captured by the oil company Anadarko, which has operations spread all over the Gulf, making it a decent benchmark to show how quickly the offshore industry is bouncing back.
“In the Gulf of Mexico, we have resumed production at our operated Lucius facility,” the company said.”Boomvang, Gunnison and Nansen in the western Gulf remain shut in until the weather permits the safe return of our personnel to these facilities.”
That’s one out of four offshore rigs that are operating.
ExxonMobil hasn’t restarted its production at the Hoover or the Galveston 209 rigs, some of the largest and deepest in the Gulf.
On the pumping and delivery side, the outlook is one of patience and caution. The natural gas distribution utilities are confident they can operate even amid continued flooding. “The natural gas system is extremely resilient and is typically not impacted unless there is significant ground movement around pipelines,” the American Gas Association said Monday.
But the industry wants to use the hurricane to examine how natural gas utilities handle disasters, including whether prices change.
Natural gas prices are proving resilient, with futures prices rising about 3 cents to below $3.50 per unit.
Refiners are limited. ExxonMobil’s and Valero’s refineries on the Texas coastline are nowhere near 100 percent. Exxon said Monday that its Baytown refinery had to be shut down, while its Beaumont refinery’s rate of production was significant reduced. The only refineries running normally are its Baton Rouge, La., facilities.
Valero had a similar outlook, with most operations in Texas offline, significantly curtailed or shut down.
The ethanol industry is using the fear of gasoline price spikes to try to sway the Environmental Protection Agency to allow more of its product into the fuel supply to avoid higher prices at the pump, since ethanol is generally less costly than gasoline.
The Renewable Fuels Association wants the agency to relax the Reid Vapor Pressure, a measure of fuel volatility, to 10 pounds per square inch, to allow a wider variety of available gasoline stocks to be used to blend 10 percent and 15 percent ethanol blends. And it wants it done nationwide.
The EPA has relaxed a number of national emission and Clean Air Act requirements for Texas and Louisiana to make it easier for fuel suppliers to transport and blend gasoline and diesel fuel without the fear of violating federal environmental and emission standards.
But the chance of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt agreeing to the ethanol industry’s request is slim to none.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry canceled his visit to Kazakhstan on Monday so he can focus on Harvey’s impact on power supply and energy infrastructure.
The climate change stories took a while to show up, but by Tuesday, AP, Reuters and Politico Magazine were all connecting Harvey’s record rainfall to global warming.
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Pruitt being investigated for Oklahoma travel
In non-Harvey news, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is being investigated for spending $12,000 to fly from Washington to his home state of Oklahoma in his first three months as agency chief.
The EPA’s Office of the Inspector General on Monday announced the beginning of a preliminary investigation into Pruitt’s frequent travel on the taxpayers’ dime.
The investigation is being started based on congressional requests and a hotline complaint, “all of which expressed concerns about Administrator Pruitt’s travel,” according to a letter sent by the EPA inspector general’s office to the agency’s chief financial officer.
Rob Bishop plans to retire
The House Natural Resources Committee chairman and Utah Republican plans to retire from Congress after his next term ends, presuming he wins next year’s election.
“When that is done, I am done,” he said at a Friday town hall meeting in his state, according to the Standard-Examiner.
Bishop is an eight-term House member who has served two terms as chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, which holds sway over public lands policy and the Interior Department.
Under House rules, he is allowed to serve one more two-year term as chairman of the powerful committee. So, that’s his plan: Win in 2018, serve as chairman for two more years, and retire in 2020.
Economists: Perry’s grid study ‘lacking’ on cybersecurity
Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s grid study lacks cybersecurity, say economists with Washington-based think tank Resources for the Future.
The group says the study that was released nearly a week ago is found “to be lacking” in two ways:
*First, “it omits consideration of cybersecurity, arguably the newest and least understood threat to resiliency of the U.S. electricity grid is concerned (although DOE notes that a report on this topic is soon to be issued).”
*Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, “there is virtually no mention of environmental sustainability in the report, and particularly missing from the statement of principles: ‘the Trump administration will be guided by principles of reliability, resilience, affordability, and fuel diversity.’”
The lack of environmental impact in the study weakens the findings significantly, the report says.
And now for something completely different
President Trump discussed climate change in some detail with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Washington Monday.
And it wasn’t on the basic points of lowering emissions and cutting fossil fuels to avoid global warming. It was on the very specific and wonky area of “black carbon,” which Trump apparently wants to work with Finland to cut in half.
Black carbon is another way of describing black soot that accumulates on ice to trap heat from the sun and melt snow and ice.
“We had a very good discussion, in particular on the Arctic and black carbon, and I think we have much in agreement,” Trump said. “One of the things we also agreed on: we want crystal clean water and we want clean air.”
The Finnish president said the sources of black carbon are coming from older energy plants in Russia that don’t have strong emission controls. The other source is natural gas flaring in oil fields.
Trump said during the joint press conference that he recognizes the importance of Finland taking the chairmanship of the Arctic Council after the United States held it for the last two years. The council is an international body of countries that border the Arctic. It establishes policies on how to develop and protect the frozen north.
“If we lose the Arctic, we lose the globe. That is the reality,” Niinistö said with Trump standing next to him.
Niinistö said the U.S. will work to cut its contribution of black carbon in half. Trump said nothing, but nodded when Niinistö made the commitment.
RUNDOWN
Washington Post A scientist asked by the Energy Department to remove references to climate change criticizes “ongoing politicization of science” under Trump
Wall Street Journal Top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia push to extend deal to limit crude oil production for another three months
Wisconsin Public Radio Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal would cancel energy efficiency program in school districts
City Pages Minneapolis aims to jump from 18 percent renewable energy to 100 percent in five years
Greentech Media Solar industry braces for tariffs from Trump
CNN Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to eliminate the special envoy for climate change
Calendar
TUESDAY, AUG. 29
Aug. 29-31. Association of Energy Services Professionals hold its annual 2017 Summer Conference in Toronto. aesp.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=808961&group=
6 p.m., San Francisco, The Commonwealth Club hosts: California’s Climate Crusade, commonwealth/club.orgevents/2017-08-29/californias-climate-crusade
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 30
2 p.m., Webinar: Grid Energy Storage Systems Modeling, Evaluation, and Testing.
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Project Agency on Energy (ARPA-E) provides an update on its CHARGES project for advanced battery storage.
MONDAY, SEPT. 4
Sept. 4-6. The third annual International Conference on Renewable Conventional Power and Green Technology will be held at Auburn University. The conference will cover solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy. greenenergyandpower.com/index.php
THURSDAY, SEPT. 7
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to consider the nominations of Joseph Balash to be assistant secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, and Richard Glick and Kevin McIntyre to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/
