Preach on, Sen. Hollings

Following up on Andy's post from last week. Caught the Moyers program with former South Carolina Sen. Fritz Hollings via podcast earlier this week. The senator offered some strong words about free trade vs. fair trade.

You put in a trade bill and down on your head comes The Wall Street Journal and the big banks and The Business Round Table and The National Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufactures they're not for domestic. They're for Chinese and Indian manufacturer even The National Chamber of Commerce is not worried about Main Street, Peoria, Illinois; Main Street, Shanghai.
You see, Henry Ford built up the middle class along with organized labor. He said I want the fellow making the car to be able to buy the car. So, he doubled the minimum wage. He put in health care and retirement costs and everything else of that kind, benefits. And so we had a good working relationship between labor and that-- now, all of these trade agreements for the investors to protect their investment in China and India, but, uh-uh forget about labor.

There's more at Moyers' Web site.

Nuclear Operator Seeks to End Revenue Deal With New York

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: July 21, 2008

ALBANY — The owner of three nuclear power plants in New York is trying to get out of a revenue sharing agreement that was expected to bring as much as $432 million to the state over the next six years, according to company officials and securities filings.

The owner, Entergy Nuclear, is structuring a spinoff of its plants that the company claims would effectively end the agreement. State officials fear the plan could also free Entergy from several hundred million dollars in costs associated with the eventual decommissioning of the two Indian Point plants in Westchester County and the FitzPatrick plant in Oswego County. That could increase the risk that state taxpayers would have to one day foot the bill for closing the plants.

Details of Entergy’s strategy were included in a lengthy securities filing issued this year in which the company laid out a plan to spin off nuclear plants in New York and elsewhere into a new company called Enexus. In a clause in one of its filings, Entergy claims that Enexus would not have to live up to a revenue sharing agreement between Entergy and New York. Under the agreement, the company is supposed to pay New York up to $72 million annually through 2014, and state officials had expected to receive the full amount.

Alex J. Schott, a spokesman for Entergy, said the spinoff “optimizes the value for all our stakeholders.”

As for the revenue sharing agreement, he said the state “was aware that Entergy was considering alternative structures for the nuclear business at the time the agreement was reached.”

“We remain hopeful that the spinoff will happen by the end of September,” he said.

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said: “Entergy’s plan is ill conceived on a number of levels. It could ultimately cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, does nothing to guarantee adequate decontamination of the site, and does not anticipate a future New York without Indian Point.”

Under the agreement, the $432 million worth of revenue is to go to the State Power Authority, which provides low-cost electricity to businesses and municipalities and administers various programs like replacing coal furnaces in public schools and providing energy-efficient refrigerators to public housing residents.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has already approved the spinoff, though the plan still needs the backing of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as regulators in New York and Vermont, where Entergy owns an old reactor that it wants to include in the spinoff.

Watch new Better South video

While you can learn a lot about the Center for a Better South on our Web site, we thought a brief video about the Center might provide deeper insight into what we're doing. Learn about our mission, past projects and future projects by watching via YouTube:



Of course, we also warmly encourage you to donate today to the Center. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent provided by federal law. The Center for a Better South is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Changing times

Writing in the Sunday Times of London, Sarah Baxter tells a story of returning to Alabama decades after she spent part of her childhood in Montgomery. She wanted to see if, in the era of Barack Obama, the "Heart of Dixie" was different from the days of George Wallace. She writes:

By an accident of history, Barack Obama is set to delivery his victory nomination speech at the Democratic National Convention on August 28, the 45th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s prophecy. If the timing has a special resonance for me, it was because I lived in Alabama as a young girl for three years in the late 1960s, the period when King was assassinated.

Her story's headline - "The racist south has gone with the wind" - gives away her findings. The whole story is here.

Hollings to be on PBS show Friday

Former U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., will appear 9 p.m. Friday, July 25, on Bill Moyers Journal, a nationally-televised program on PBS that looks at public policy issues that impact democracy.

In June, the University of South Carolina Press published a new book by Hollings, Making Government Work, in which he highlights how government and its programs can work to make life better for Americans. The book is instructive to students about the process of governing, as Hollings explains in the introduction:

"Government has gone off course. We refuse to pay our bills. Instead we accumulate more debt. We waste billions in interest costs that buy nothing. Our manufacturing base is decimated. All the while casualties continue in a battle for a cause the country thinks a mistake. The Congress flounders in dangerous waters. The greed of capitalism has reached compatibility with the greed of politics. The capitalist is divorced from country to seek profit, and the politician is divorced from country to seek contributions. Desperate needs are ignored.

"Despite these problems, this is no time to despair. The government might be in a standoff, but the country is strong. As I show in this book, government has worked before, and we can make it work again."

• Read an excerpt from the book about making government work in Washington
  
  
• An excerpt about making government work in South Carolina
  

CDC: South Most Obese Region

A recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta determined that the South is the most obese region in America. According to the study, the top ten most obese states in America are: 1.Mississippi, 2.Alabama, 3.Tennessee, 4.Louisiana, 5.West Virginia, 6.Arkansas, 7.South Carolina, 8.Georgia, 9.Oklahoma, 10.Texas.

Why is the South so heavy? The traditional Southern diet -- high in fat and fried food -- may be part of the answer, said Dr. William Dietz, who heads CDC's nutrition, physical activity and obesity division.

The South also has a large concentration of rural residents and black women -- two groups that tend to have higher obesity rates, he said.

As government becomes increasingly involved in health care, Southern states will face extra challenges in serving their disproportionately unhealthy citizens. Obesity has been linked to numerous health problems that will be exacerbated as the baby boom generation ages. The challenge for Southern leaders is to effectively communicate and educate people about health, without alienating or shaming those entrenched in traditionally unhealthy lifestyles.

South may be in play for Dems

An Associated Press analysis of Census data shows several "red" states in the South actually may be in play for presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama -- if black turnout goes up as much as 30 percent as he pledged last year. According to the story:

"That would add nearly 1.8 million votes in 11 Southern states, the analysis shows, enough to tip the balance in several that have been Republican strongholds.

"'I can tell you that North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will be in play,' asserts North Carolina Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield, an Obama adviser. 'We're looking strongly at Tennessee and Mississippi.'"

"If Obama reached his goal of a 30 percent increase and brought all those new black voters into his fold, he could also win in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia and Florida. Wins in the six states would give him 81 new electoral votes — enough to beat Arizona Sen. John McCain even if the Republican won almost every other toss-up state in the nation, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Ohio."

Perhaps an early indication that the proof is in the pudding is a recent poll that showed Obama -- amazingly to some -- only six points behind GOP candidate John McCain in conservative South Carolina.

Florida Power & Light goal: 3 solar plants in 2009

By David Adams, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, June 26, 2008

Florida Power & Light, the state's largest utility, announced Wednesday it plans to build three solar energy plants in Florida, including one that would be the biggest of its kind in the world.

The three plants in South and Central Florida will cost $688-million and represent the first commercial-scale renewable energy to be installed in the state. Combined they will be capable of generating enough electricity for 35,000 homes and businesses, which — while small — marks a big step up for solar technology.

FPL Group chairman and CEO Lewis Hay III made the announcement at a two-day state Climate Change Summit in Miami hosted by Gov. Charlie Crist. "Pending regulatory approval, FPL will build 110 megawatts of solar power right here in the Sunshine State, making Florida No. 2 in the nation for solar energy," Hay said.

Hay credited a new energy bill signed Wednesday by Crist "that put a supportive policy framework in place for solar power."

The governor opened his second climate summit saying now is the time "to define our next step forward" for the "green future of the Sunshine State."

FPL's solar plants are part of a seven-year plan announced by the company last September to install 300 megawatts of solar energy in Florida. "The announcement today is a little over one-third of that in less than one year," said FPL president Armando Olivera.

"We think that is pretty good," he added, saying that sites for all three plants had been selected and permits granted. Contracts for the solar technology are due to be signed in the next few days.

Construction of the plants should begin later this year, and the plants would become operational some time in 2009, he said.

The company is awaiting final approval by the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities. "That's the only thing we are missing," he said.

The news was welcomed by clean energy activists who have long argued that utilities were not doing enough to invest in solar energy, the world's cleanest renewable energy source. In the past, utilities said Florida's skies were too cloudy to make solar power cost-effective as a reliable energy source, unlike the Southwest — where FPL Group already operates a big solar plant in the Mojave Desert.

Wednesday's news "needs to be applauded," said Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "By going to this kind of utility scale of production they are showing that solar does have potential in Florida, and that will drive cost down further."

FPL says it is has another five solar projects in the works in Florida. "The technology is improving almost daily," said Olivera. "It's becoming more cost-effective."

When carbon emissions begin to be penalized financially, as some governments already are doing, that would make emissions-free solar energy even more competitive, he added.

A 25-megawatt facility in De Soto County will be "the world's largest photovoltaic solar panel facility," the company says. A second 10-megawatt solar panel facility will be built at the Kennedy Space Center.

A larger 75-megawatt solar thermal facility will be built at FPL's existing Martin County plant, which runs on natural gas. By adding the new solar thermal technology, which uses intense heat from the sun to power steam turbines, the company hopes to create "the world's first hybrid energy center," allowing it to switch off its fossil-fuel gas-fired plant when there's enough sun.

Each sunrise will be the equivalent "of taking our foot off the gas pedal," Hay said.

FPL's solar plans may help offset the negative image of its much-vaunted Sunshine Energy Program, which charges customers a voluntary $9.75 monthly fee to help develop green energy.

Nearly 39,000 Florida Power & Light customers gave the company $11.4-million over four years to develop green energy, but a report this week by Florida's Public Service Commission shows most of the money went toward administrative and marketing costs.

The program "does not currently serve the interest of the program's participants," the report found.

Shrimp in the tank in Mississippi?

From The Mississippi Business Journal------- June 25, 2008

STARKVILLE — Scientists at Mississippi State University (MSU) are working to turn shrimp processing waste into a diesel-like fuel.

"The main purpose of this research project is to find a higher value for the shrimp waste," said Todd French, an assistant professor at MSU.

Seafood-based biodiesel would help processors eliminate some waste disposal costs, which have been estimated at approximately $145,000 per producer. As a building block for fuel, the waste also would bring additional income streams. It is also hoped that it would help alleviate the U.S.'s dependence on foreign oil.

Scientists already know that seafood waste contains the materials necessary to produce oil, French said. The main ingredient is chitin, a carbohydrate found in shrimp, crab and lobster shells. Researchers will take the seafood processing waste, pre-treat it with an acid and add it to vats of bacteria, yeast and fungi, a mixture French refers to as "our bugs." The microorganisms eat the chitin, convert it into fat and store it. The fat can be harvested as oil.

"The oil our microorganisms are making is similar to canola oil or corn oil," French said.

The process already is underway with synthetic seafood ingredients at MSU. The real seafood waste will arrive next month from Gollott's Seafood in Biloxi.

Oil companies can take the oil produced from the seafood waste and generate diesel fuel, French said. The biofuel likely would be mixed at 5% or 20% biofuel to 95% or 80% diesel.

Funding for the biofuel research project comes from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.