The big news is that the Public Service Commission (PSC) more or less adopted its staff’s recommendation that Delmarva Power be directed to begin negotiating a long term contract with Bluewater Wind and with Conectiv and/or NRG for a backup natural gas facility.
How diligent Delmarva will be in negotiating is another matter. Last week, DPL president Gary Stockbridge said the company would go to court before it joined the negotiating table:
After taking a day to digest the report, Gary Stockbridge, Delmarva president, said that even if the commission votes to accept the conclusions of the report, Delmarva will refuse to negotiate.
After being gently prodded in public by Jack Markell and perhaps not so gently privately by everyone else who has to face the voters next year, DPL yesterday took a softer tone:
Tom Shaw, Delmarva CEO, said after the hearing he was pleased the PSC was willing to be flexible with the size of the proposed power plants. He said the company would take the commission’s action under advisement.
How gracious of him.
For those who imagine that the PSC has been operating in a political vacuum, this observation by PSC executive director Bruce Burcat bears repeating:
“A thousand people saying one sentence, we just want wind power, that’s one thing. We would take note of that. But they added significantly to the debate, and the information that was provided,” Burcat said. “We haven’t seen this much involvement by the public in a PSC process before.”
We, your friendly neighborhood bloggers, are happy to do our part in opening the process to interested citizens. In the last week, we’ve presented three important pieces of the story to you, the blog reading and commenting public:
1. Last week the Delaware Municipal Energy Corporation announced a deal with Bluewater Wind to buy $200 to $300 million of electricity over the next 25 years.
2. UD professor Willett Kempton and Jonathon Levy of the Harvard School of Public Health circulated their letter to the PSCestimating the health costs of continuing to burn fossil fuels:
With the inclusion of other health outcomes and given the factors described above that might imply greater benefits per unit emissions reduction in Delaware, the discounted present value of the health benefits of the proposed wind park likely greatly exceeds $1 billion.
3. And Jack Markell’s letter to DPL, which didn’t get so much play in the traditional media, was promptly posted by no fewer than three blogs: TommyWonk, Delawareliberal and DWA.
Bruce Burcat’s comment about the public involvement in the process noted not just the number of comments, but the degree to which the public has informed the discussion. In other words, you have had an effect by doing your homework, and our public discourse is getting wonkier. I couldn’t be prouder.
But we’re not done yet. The PSC won’t finalize its decision until May 22. The Office of Management and Budget, the Controller General and DNREC still have to concur in the decision. And then there is the matter of actual negotiations to come. Even if DPL agrees to sit down at the table, we have to keep in mind that its corporate interests and those of its customers are not the same.
We are seeing what happens when well-informed citizens get involved. We can’t let up now.