HOT LINKS: Green Energy Corruption Chronicles
Blythe Masters, the Queen Bee of carbon tax.
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John's weekly update on graft, corruption and waste in the energy sector.
Carbon Markets In Death Spiral As Deutsche Bank Quits
REPORT - Deutsche Bank Quits Carbon Trading
Deutsche Bank is understood to have pulled the plug on its carbon trading desk, but will continue to operate in the European power and gas markets. The bank is believed to be in the process of winding down its emissions trading operations, the bulk of which operates in London.
Answering a question about the business at a press conference at the German bank’s results announcement, Stephan Leithner, board member for compliance, said: “We stopped emissions trading, and we have discontinued it.” Deutsche Bank’s press office refused to comment further on his statement, but it is understood that the desk in London is being wound down.
REPORT - Barclays, Deutsche Bank Lose Top Carbon Analysts
LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters Point Carbon) – Investment banks Barclays and Deutsche Bank have parted ways with their leading carbon analysts, sources at both firms told Reuters Point Carbon on Wednesday, as banks continue to pare back activity in the battered emissions trading market.
BUSTED: Deutsche Bank Raided In Carbon Tax Fraud
Two board members at Deutsche Bank, including the CEO, have been drawn into a police investigation into tax evasion related to the group’s carbon trading business.
Jürgen Fitschen, co-chief executive, and Stefan Krause, a director, are involved in the investigation that on Wednesday saw hundreds of police and tax officials raid the bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, as well as private addresses in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.
The investigation is centred on 25 of the bank’s staff, according to German prosecutors, and involves allegations of tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice linked to carbon trading certificates.
About 500 police and tax officials were involved in the raids and five staff members were arrested as part of the carbon trading investigation.
World Bank To Launch Carbon Fund In Spring
The World Bank aims to launch a new carbon fund this spring after it was delayed almost a year because falling carbon prices made it harder to raise cash, a senior official at the bank told Reuters Point Carbon.
Power Chief: Carbon Markets Face Junk Bond Future
Last week, MEP’s on the European parliament’s industry (ITRE) committee rejected a proposal to firm up carbon prices by withholding – or ‘backloading’ – 900 million EU allowances from the 2020 auctioning period. Analysts expect a narrow majority for action in key votes on the parliament’s environment committee on 19 February and, crucially, in a plenary later this Spring.
But Hans ten Berge, secretary-general of Eurelectric, warned that “if we choose the strategy of a lost decade then we are going for a collapse of the carbon market and it will be impossible to achieve the 2050 decarbonisation targets.”
Carbon prices, which are supposed to entice low-carbon investments, plunged to a record low of just €2.81 per tonne after the ITRE committee vote, down from a peak of €32 in April 2006. But ten Berge said that the price could yet fall further. “Just ask investors what the value is of a bond that you would not be able to cash before 2025,” he said. “I think that would be called a junk bond.”
Kerry Regrets Climate Failures As Senator, To Push Agenda At State Dept
Kerry, a longtime advocate of curbing greenhouse gas emissions, has vowed to make climate change and green energy a focus at Foggy Bottom, and the State Department’s work on the topics should give him plenty of chances.
Among Solar Stocks - Who Has The Liquidity To Last? (Good Charts)
With solar power component prices forecasted to decrease again this year due to continued overcapacity, investors need to assess which of the world’s largest photovoltaic (PV) suppliers have the liquidity to sustain additional revenue and earnings shortfalls. With the demand cycle unlikely to rebalance until 2015, even size won’t save some manufacturers from being forced out of the solar market.
Energy Secretary Chu To Step Down
Chu was also forced to walk back comments he made several years ago, when he noted that "we have to figure out a way to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." With the average price of gas doubling over Obama's first term, Chu's remarks were seized on by Republicans.
Obama has not yet named a successor for Chu. The confirmation process, however, should provide Senators with a vehicle to examine the Department's loan and grant programs for renewable energy. It is an opportunity to ensure that better safeguards are in place to protect taxpayer money.
GOP Senator Slams Chu Over Solyndra
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is bashing Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s record in the wake of Chu’s announcement Friday that he’s stepping down. Issa, who has probed the Energy Department green technology loan program that backed the ill-fated solar company Solyndra, cleared his throat with praise for Chu before attacking him in a Friday statement.
“While I wish Secretary Chu well in his future endeavors and respect his contributions to his country as a scientist, the direction the Department of Energy has taken under his leadership has been disconcerting,” Issa said.
“While many will remember Secretary Chu for his comments about the need to raise gas prices on American consumers and the high grades he publicly bestowed on himself, I found taxpayer losses on projects like Solyndra and the department’s deeply misguided effort to use taxpayer dollars as an investment bank for unproven technologies to be the most problematic aspects of his legacy,” he said.
Check out these clips of the fire at First Wind in Hawaii.
UPDATE - Fire At Hawaii Wind Farm Blamed On Fire Department Response
Firefighters responded to the blaze in 14 minutes, but were told by a representative of First Wind that based on two earlier fires, the flames were likely to die down on their own. Instead, the fire burned for more than seven hours and completely destroyed the warehouse, knocking the 30-megawatt wind farm offline.
Gotcher testified a surveillance camera videotaped the fire, and as a result, 30 possible causes had been narrowed to just two – a battery ground fault in the warehouse or some type of foreign object left in the aisle near the battery rack system. Of the 14 energy storage systems Xtreme Power has deployed nationwide, only the Kahuku wind farm has experienced problems with fire, in April and May of 2011, and the fire earlier this year.
DOJ Must Explain SELECTIVE Targeting Of Energy Industry Over Bird Deaths
Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder why he is “targeting” oil and gas companies by prosecuting them for the unintentional death of birds. The senators said on the Senate floor Wednesday that they sent Holder a letter asking him why he is prosecuting oil and gas companies for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) by killing birds, yet he is not going after wind energy companies.
“This is not even handed enforcement of the law,” Vitter said. “What that is, is targeting one type of energy producer.”
First Wind Takes Steps To Protect Birds
First Wind officials said Tuesday that they have started work on a program to preserve the population of threatened or endangered Hawaiian seabirds in West Maui, several miles from the company’s Kaheawa Wind project. First WInd is constructing two fenced enclosures about 10 miles west of Wailuku to protect the Hawaiian petral, which is federally endangered, and the threatened Newell’s shearwater. The enclosures, which will encompass four to five acres, will have features to keep predators such as rats and mongoose out.
First Wind CEO on learning from mistakes, plays the sympathy card
MY younger sister, Maureen, was born with cerebral palsy. That shaped my view of the world, as I saw the challenges that she and my parents had to deal with. My sister went to special schools for years. She graduated from college and is doing well, but it made me appreciate all she had to go through and all I had. I look at people with disabilities personally.
Video: First Wind CEO boasts about getting expedited stimulus money.
Bill Barrett Corp Names Jim Mogg Chairman
Note: Mogg is also chaiman of First Wind and sits on many other boards
DENVER, January 7, 2013 – Bill Barrett Corporation (NYSE: BBG) announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed R. Scot Woodall, Chief Operating Officer, as interim Chief Executive Officer following Fred Barrett’s decision to step down as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, President and a director of the Company, effective immediately. Jim W. Mogg, lead independent director, has been elected as non-executive Chairman of the Board, effectively immediately.
Chesapeake CEO Resigns After Scrutiny On Personal Loans
Aubrey McClendon’s agreement to resign effective April 1 culminated a shareholder revolt by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc.’s O. Mason Hawkins that earlier had cost the CEO the chairmanship he’d held for more than two decades. McClendon also relinquished his annual bonus and saw executive perks curtailed amid federal investigations of a portfolio of personal loans that topped $840 million.
Here Is What The Analyst Who Uncovered Enron Thinks Of Chesapeake
Clever traders at Enron and El Paso Energy created many financing tricks that in the years since have become part of the financing trade: derivatives, synthetic credit default swaps, deals financed with little or no equity. “Enron was the past master, but the game just resurfaced,” says Olson, referring to wild west deal making that inflated the housing bubble and led to the collapse of Lehman Bros. “They took it to a $3 trillion exposure.”
That makes him a little concerned about Chesapeake, which has long trumpeted its active trading and hedging strategies. “You don’t know what they have. I know that I don’t know.” “Chesapeake has valuable assets, but they have a financial dynamic that only works in the fourth dimension: they need $12 billion when their cash flow is just $2 billion.”
Chesapeake has outspent its cash flow every year for the past decade — forging ahead with acquisitions of land and drilling more wells than any operator — convinced that it will be able to find others to finance its growth. Over the years McClendon has convinced the likes of Total, Statoil, Cnooc, BHP Billiton Petroleum, BP, ExxonMobil and more to keep his ship afloat by buying Chesapeake assets. But today with natural gas prices so low, it has become a buyer’s market. And all the buyers know that with Chesapeake on the ropes they ought to be able to extract a good price.
Declassified: Chesapeake Wants Relief From Oklahoma Law It Helped Write
Just two years ago, Chesapeake Energy helped write a state law mandating staggered terms for the board members of large publicly traded Oklahoma companies. This week, the Oklahoma City-based natural gas giant said it would seek “relief” from the very same law, which was designed to help prevent what’s essentially happening now at Chesapeake: a takeover of its corporate board.
The law requires companies incorporated in Oklahoma to have what’s known as a “classified” board structure. That means board members are divided into classes with staggered elections so that only one-third of the members face a vote of shareholders each year. Such classified structures make companies less vulnerable to board takeovers, a threat Chesapeake now faces.
After weeks of headlines questioning the company’s entangled financial relationship with its CEO Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake this week bowed to the demands of its two largest shareholders, which now include billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn. The activist investor and Southeastern Asset Management will name four new Chesapeake board members, the company said Monday.
Chesapeake On Shaky Ground With W Va. Land Mortgages
By mortgaging properties that appear to be some of his company's least desirable assets, Mr. McClendon can raise money off holdings that might not otherwise be profitable. And should he default on the loans, he would lose a stake in property that wasn't his company's best bet anyway.
The arrangement protects Mr. McClendon from bigger personal losses while exposing the company's shareholders to the kind of risky financial deals that have drawn scrutiny and caused the stock price to plummet in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the private equity firms lending the money for the mortgages haven't specified what research went into the properties, and shareholders have been told little about the specific pieces of farmland that are being used by Mr. McClendon to raise money on the promise of future drilling.
Everything You Need To Know About Chesapeake
If you’ve been hearing a lot about Chesapeake Energy Corporation and its CEO Aubrey McClendon as of late, you might have some questions. What is this company? Who is McClendon and what’s the deal with his wine and antique map collection? To tackle some of those questions and more, StateImpact reporters in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas teamed up to create a reading guide to Chesapeake Energy’s recent financial woes.
How Fracking Dumb Do They Think We Are
While the urban media cover the staged protests and relay the protesters’ talking points, here’s a look behind the curtain. This link describes how the United Arab Emirates government provided funding so the movie Promised Land could be made.
Here’s one from Vivian Krause documenting Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s “partnership income” from competing pipeline ventures in the U.S., flowed through to efforts by West Coast Environmental Law and Pembina Foundation to oppose the Enbridge project.
And here’s one where the executive director of the Sierra Club admits to accepting $26 million from Chesapeake Energy, one of the U.S.’s largest gas companies, to run a campaign against coal. Michael Brune gamely argues that this was before Sierra discovered the evils of fracking, and tries to make it sound like they refused the dirty gas money, but you’ll notice they didn’t give any of it back.
Due to the blackout at the superbowl, I present this...
The Centre for Industrial Progress plans to film impromptu interviews with Bill McKibben et al during The Blackout Rally on February 17, 2013 in Washington DC.
The Sierra Club, 350.org, and many other self-proclaimed environmentalist groups are planning the forward on climate rally.
To assess whether this is a good thing, you need know only two facts.
- In all of human history, there have been only three cheap, plentiful, reliable sources of energy: fossil fuel energy, nuclear energy, and hydroelectric energy. (Solar and wind have always been radically inferior as they have always been expensive and unreliable.)
- The leading “forward on climate” groups seek to destroy not only vital fossil fuel energy, but also nuclear and hydroelectric energy, which emit no CO2.
Conclusion: This rally has nothing to do with climate, though I know many of its participants believe it does. It is about opposing any form of practical energy for any reason. It is a Blackout Rally. And today’s so-called environmentalist movement is a Blackout Movement.
NOTE: The Rockefeller Fund finances 350.org
Kinder Morgan CEO Stepping Down
During Kinder Morgan Inc.'s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday afternoon, President C. Park Shaper told investors he would be stepping down at the end of March. Steve Kean, currently executive vice president and COO, will become president and COO of the company, effective March 31.
Shaper will continue to serve on the Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) board of directors, but he is resigning from the boards of directors of Kinder Morgan Management LLC, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP and El Paso Pipeline Partners LP, all affiliated companies.
Oneok To Buy Kinder Morgan Pipelines (2007)
Oneok Partners LP agreed to buy an interstate pipeline system from Houston‐based Kinder Morgan
ONEOK and ONEOK Partners have generated solid earnings and announced growth projects in the past year, but have also found themselves snared in several thorny issues lately. The planned Bakken Crude Express Pipeline, ONEOK's supposed entry into oil transport from the Bakken Shale of North Dakota and Montana, was dropped last month due to a lack of producer commitments.
Trading firm Barcas LLC, meanwhile, sued ONEOK Partners in federal court, alleging fraud and breach of contract over efforts to secure commitments on the Bakken Crude Express. Houston-based Barcas accused the Tulsa leadership of trying to reap the benefits of the Bakken's financial windfall without compensating the trading firm for its efforts on ONEOK's behalf.
Norton was one of the executives singled out in the Barcas complaint. He was quoted as telling the Houston company it was excluded because one producer, Tulsa-based Samson Resource Co., would not work with Barcas leader Kevin Foxx. Foxx was a central figure in the financial collapse and bankruptcy of SemGroup LP four years ago.
Prized Phosphate Drives Controversial Investments In Africa (Must Read)
Last year, the Norwegian government, which has the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, divested PotashCorp because of its purchase of Western Saharan phosphate. Several European banks have done the same. And the European Union last year ended a fishing agreement with Morocco, which included Western Sahara waters, because of concerns that it violated international law.
Other resources are still being exploited. Sand is exported to the nearby Canary Islands, owned by Spain, to bolster beaches there. Several international companies are exploring for oil in Western Sahara or off its shores. Activists say the Austin, Tex.-based company Crystal Mountain Sel Sahara is producing salt in Western Sahara. And several European companies as well as American company UPC Renewables are developing wind farms in Western Sahara, with plans to export the energy. Such investments go forward with little controversy, despite the legal gray area.
Last Week's Green Corruption Stories...
The Real Obama Climate Plan
Photos by William Banzai7...
Feb 7, 2013 at 4:51 AM
Reader Comments (27)
Prized Phosphate Drives Controversial Investments In Africa (Must Read)
Be sure to read it. There will be much more later.
john
A reporter asked Edison, "How many times are you going to fail at creating the light bulb?" Mr. Edison replied, "Son, I haven't failed! I've simply discovered another way not to invent the light bulb!"
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amr-us-airways-near-merger-deal-wsj-2013-02-06
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-regulators-still-stumped-over-787-batteries-2013-02-05
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fords-china-sales-nearly-double-in-january-2013-02-06-34851741
http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/02/07/get-your-snow-shoes-on-new-york-the-big-daddy-is-coming/
http://explosivereports.com
[snip]
According to the world’s leading polar bear scientists, Polar bear populations in the arctic may have to be subjected to “intentional population reduction” in order to ensure “a viable but smaller polar bear population.”
Already having to suffer its identity being abused by global warming alarmists as a symbol of manmade climate change, now the polar bear may have to fear being euthanized by overzealous conservationists.
A dozen academics, described by Yale’s environmental magazine as “the world’s leading polar bear scientists”, published an article in an environmental conservation paper in which they stress that the time is nigh to euthanize polar bear populations in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway, and Russia.
Go ahead...make their day.
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/Tenbagger/polarbearwithachainsaw.png
Skinflint,
The extinct thing in regards to Polar Bears a few years ago was a hyped up "expedition" by Al Gore (who has made a lot of money in the carbon credits by the way) to Antarctica to make a big public "speach" proving the Bears were extinct in Antartica due to global warming...
The only problem with that is that there never have been Polar Bears in Antarctica. Myself and others were very quick to pounce on this publicity stunt in the name of public stupidity.
LOL, yeah that would be a long migratory swim, however we all know how silly ole Al can be...
Good luck with the storm John, I know how they react up there. I was doing a job in Conn. years ago or so when the "storm of the Century" was going to dump 100 inches. They closed the highways to truck traffic a day before the storm stranding a lot of truckers...
I think they got like 18 inches and closed the roads under threat of arrest.
I went 4 wheeling, gotta catch me first.
http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/energyenvironment/281915-epa-puts-forward-climate-change-adaptation-plan
[snip]
The Environmental Protection Agency is formally moving forward with its Climate Change Adaptation Plan.
Beginning Friday, the EPA is accepting comments on its draft plan, which calls for the agency to amend its operations – including the promulgation of new regulations – to account for increasingly rapid global warming.
Flashback: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/world/middleeast/30binladen.html?_r=0
We had one here about ten days ago in a small snow squall that racked up over 100 cars, the snow was not sticking...
Cell phones were everywhere, unfortunately one little girl was killed.
http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/I-275-pileup-report-may-take-weeks-to-complete/-/13550662/18306354/-/pdv5jc/-/index.html
Keep your head down, this global warming is brutal.
And it looks like the drought is broken.
https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/0/0/agronj2012.0295
you will have to cut and paste this into your browser.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/04/more-polar-bears-alive-today-than-40-years-ago/#ixzz2KL7qGdbk
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/12/breaking-carbon-tax-bill-coming-thursday/
[snip]
Senators Bernie Sanders and Barbara Boxer will outline the legislation on Thursday morning. They are even going to let that whack job 350.org activist Bill McKibben speak. Sheesh.
Billed as “major” and “comprehensive” legislation, it will have a carbon tax. Here is the statement from Sanders’ office (bold mine):
Sanders, Boxer to Introduce Major Climate Change Legislation
February 12, 2013
WASHINGTON, Feb 12 – Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) will hold a news conference on Thursday, Feb. 14 to announce comprehensive legislation on climate change. Boxer is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Sanders serves on the environment committee and also is a member of the Senate energy committee.
Under the legislation, a fee on carbon pollution emissions would fund historic investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. The proposal also would provide rebates to consumers to offset any efforts by oil, coal or gas companies to raise prices.
Environment and consumer leaders set to participate include Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org; Mike Brune, executive director of Sierra Club; Tara McGuiness, executive director of the Center for American Progress Action Fund; Tyson Slocum, Public Citizen’s energy director; and David Bradley, National Community Action Foundation executive director.
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PLEASE go back and re-read the above article titled 'How fracking dumb do they thing we are'
NOTE: The Rockefeller Fund finances 350.org
http://newsok.com/omalley-to-testify-on-offshore-wind-energy/article/feed/500357
[snip]
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to testify before a state Senate committee about a key part of his environmental agenda, an offshore wind energy bill that the panel has twice failed to pass.
The governor is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. The senate's president has moved a member of committee to another panel in order to get the votes needed to move the measure to the full Senate, where it has enough sponsors to pass this year.
The bill would require utilities to buy offshore renewable energy credits.
Google hires 12 lobby firms in wake of FTC probe
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/01/us-google-lobbyists-idUSTRE76056T20110701
[snip]
The 12 newly hired lobbying companies are Akin, Gump; Bingham; Capitol Legislative Strategies; Chesapeake Group; Crossroad Strategies; Gephardt Group; Holland & Knight; Normandy Group; Prime Policy; The First Group; The Madison Group; and The Raben Group.
"We have a strong story to tell about our business and we've sought out the best talent we can find to help tell it," the spokeswoman said.
Google, which has an office in Washington, previously hired six other lobbying firms: Crowell Strategies, Dutko Worldwide, Franklin Square Group, McBee Strategic Consulting, Podesta Group, and RB Murphy & Associates, according to government filings.....
......The firms will be working on the FTC investigation as well as on several other issues that Google is interested in, the spokeswoman said.
COMING THURSDAY: On the heels of President Obama’s State of the Union vow to confront climate change, a pair of liberal Senate lawmakers will seek to stay on the political offensive tomorrow.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), flanked by environmentalists, will roll out legislation to impose fees on greenhouse gas emissions.
The effort arrives a few days before a major Feb. 17 climate demonstration in Washington, D.C.
“Under the legislation, a fee on carbon pollution emissions would fund historic investments in energy efficiency and sustainable energy technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. The proposal also would provide rebates to consumers to offset any efforts by oil, coal or gas companies to raise prices,” an advisory states.
The bill faces grim prospects of becoming law. But it’s part of a wider effort to create political space for action on climate change at a time when Obama is planning to use executive powers in the face of congressional gridlock.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/282963-overnight-energy-climate-advocates-seek-post-sotu-momentum-house-looks-at-energy-costs#ixzz2KsGPMLaw
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
GE invests $515 million in Turkish energy and other projects
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-ge-turkey-idUSBRE98P12S20130926
Malaysia launches clean energy fund – Reuters
http://www.pehub.com/2013/09/24/malaysia-launches-clean-energy-fund-reuters/
Goldman Sachs close to buying stake in Denmark's DONG Energy: paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/27/us-dong-goldman-sachs-idUSBRE98Q0NA20130927
Chad’s (Africa) Finance Minister Says Crude-Oil Output to Triple by 2015
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-27/chad-s-finance-minister-says-crude-oil-output-to-triple-by-2015.html
China's CNOOC wins $2bn Uganda oil field contract
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24279582
-Note: Lots of oil deals going on in Africa In 2015 Africa will have a carbon tax.
http://business.iafrica.com/news/845174.html
Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Falls to Least Since April
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-27/baker-hughes-u-s-rig-count-falls-to-least-since-april.html
Utilities Dumbstruck By Big Data From Smarter Grid (Part 1)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/09/25/utilities-dumbstruck-by-big-data-from-smarter-grid/
Big Data From Smart Grid Tells Utilities More Than They Want To Know (part 2)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/09/26/big-data-from-smart-grid-tells-utilities-more-than-they-want-to-know/?ss=business%3Aenergy
There has been an update about the wind turbine fires in Hawaii where First Wind/UPC blamed the FIRE DEPT. for the problem. That story is in the main article above.
Here is the update and link to court docs...
Lloyds of London Lawsuit Reveals Story Behind Kahuku Windfarm Fires
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/11177/Lloyds-of-London-Lawsuit-Reveals-Story-Behind-Kahuku-Windfarm-Fires.aspx
[snip]
Allegations in a lawsuit brought by a Lloyds of London Insurance underwriter raise questions about the competence of First Wind management personnel. In a November 13, 2013 civil suit filed at Oahu's First Circuit Court, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London identifies Dynapower Company LLC of Michigan and Electronic Concepts Inc of Delaware as suppliers of allegedly defective electronic components blamed for three fires at the Kahuku site.
A fire described as ‘small’ lit up the Kahuku battery warehouse just seven weeks after the facility went into operation. The lawsuit states that a second fire—also previously described by First Wind management as ‘small’--resulted in $2,000,000 in damages being paid out on the policy. The suit also details the findings of an investigation into the first and second fires.
In spite of the substantial losses caused by the second ‘small’ fire and the investigation allegedly identifying the defective parts at faulty, First Wind apparently failed to take sufficient action to correct the problem. A third fire broke out in August, 2012 spewing toxic lead smoke into the air for three days as the First Wind battery warehouse burned to the ground.
Kahuku was backed by $117M in federal loans and a $35M federal grant. First Wind is closely tied to the Obama administration and the national Democratic Party.
First Wind’s failure to prevent the third fire should give Kahuku residents additional cause to be concerned about First Wind’s recently announced plan to install new batteries based on a never-before-used molten magnesium technology. Theses batters are expected to operate at temperatures in excess of 1202 F.
From the text of the lawsuit, here are the details:...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/05/us-michigan-oil-charges-idUSBREA242GO20140305
(Reuters) - Oil and gas giants Chesapeake Energy and Encana Corp. were charged on Wednesday with colluding to keep oil and gas lease prices artificially low in the state of Michigan, the state Attorney General Bill Schuette said.
The announcement follows a lengthy investigation by Schuette's office into whether the firms -- the biggest land leasers during a speculative oil and gas leasing boom in Michigan's Collingwood Shale region during 2010 -- colluded to avoid prices from rising as they acquired land leases from landowners.
Michigan began looking into the companies' activities in 2012 after a Reuters investigation found that executives from the two firms discussed proposals to divide bidding responsibilities in the state for nine private landowners and counties in Michigan.
"I will aggressively prosecute any company who conspires to break the law," Schuette said in a statement.
The companies were charged with one count each of antitrust violations "relating to a contract or conspiracy in restraint of commerce," and one count each of attempted antitrust violations.