WRAP UP

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
6/14/13

IN THE INDUSTRY

Mississippi Power, the Southern Company subsidiary building the 582 MW Kemper County gasification facility in eastern Mississippi, named a new official to oversee the construction and development of the troubled carbon capture and storage project. The utility named John Huggins as the company’s vice president of generation development late last week to replace Tommy Anderson, who stepped down last month following the announcement of hundreds of millions in additional cost overruns at the now $4.3 billion facility. Most recently, Huggins worked as the project’s general manager for startup, engineering and construction services. “He has the knowledge and experience needed for this role, but most importantly he knows this facility. I have every confidence in his ability to ensure the successful completion of the Kemper project,” CEO Ed Holland said in a statement. The announcement is the most recent leadership shakeup for the utility, which will be subject to a prudency review from Mississippi utility regulators later this summer amid accusations that top company executives withheld key cost and construction information from commissioners while requesting a rate hike to pay for the facility.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has tapped movie star Robert Redford to star in an ad urging President Barack Obama to move forward quickly on regulating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil plants. As part of a new campaign rolled out this week, which NRDC said it would air on television, the web and social media in the coming weeks, Redford urges viewers to tell the President to “make dirty power plants clean up their carbon pollution.” “Climate change is happening fast. We’ve got to stop making the problem worse, and that means reducing carbon pollution from its biggest source, coal-fired power plants,” said Redford, one of NRDC’s trustees, in the ad. “The good news is that President Obama has pledged to act. I just hope the President has the courage of his convictions.” The campaign is just the latest effort from Obama’s supporters in the environmental community calling on him to take action on climate change in his second term. The Administration most recently missed its April deadline to finalize carbon standards for new power plants.

IN THE STATES

The company that oversees the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the nine-state cap-and-trade scheme in the northeast, said late last week that it raised a record amount of money in its most recent quarterly auction for carbon credits. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Inc., said it raised $124.4 million in its last auction, selling all 38.8 million CO2 allowances it made available at an average price of $3.21 each, up from $2.80 in March. The money earned will go to energy efficiency, renewable energy, direct bill assistance, greenhouse gas abatement and climate change adaptation programs, the company said. The record-high prices come several months after RGGI announced that it would be tightening its emissions cap 45 percent by 2014, prompting a cumulative emissions savings of 80 to 90 million tons of CO2 by 2020.