FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
June 14, 2010
LAST WEEK
Member City Visits
Bud Boudreaux visited Vero Beach and St. Cloud last Wednesday and Thursday. He will visit Gainesville and Williston with Fred Bryant this Tuesday and is scheduled to visit Alachua later this week.
Joint Purchase Project Meeting
The Joint Purchase Project met last Thursday in the first floor conference room and discussed a re-bid of the current insulators bid. Contact: Sharon Samuels
Power Supply RFP
FMPA responded last Friday to the city of Quincy’s request for proposals for wholesale power supply. Contact: Tom Reedy
CR3 Outage Update
Removal of delaminated concrete from the containment building at Crystal River Unit 3 is now 100% complete, according to Progress Energy. The next step will be concrete placement. A mock-up concrete wall form was constructed to test the repair plan. The mock-up indicated that a minor rebar adjustment is required to complete the repair plan validation. The concrete forms are in place at the lower wall level, and concrete placement should begin within the next couple days. Contact: David Schumann
THIS WEEK
ARP Business Model Working Group
The All-Requirements Project Business Model Working Group (BMWG) meets Monday in the Board room at 11 a.m. The BMWG will discuss: 1) other joint action agency arrangements and 2) FMPA’s wholesale power rates.
CREAC Meeting
The Conservation and Renewable Energy Advisory Committee meets via conference call on Tuesday at 10 a.m. to discuss 1.) a review of the Electricity Conservation Advisory Program, and 2.) an update on demand-response program options and FMPA’s Integrated Resource Plan. Contact: Sharon Smeenk
Cane Island Owners Meetings
The monthly owner’s meeting for Cane Island Unit 4 will be held Tuesday at the plant site. Representatives from FMPA, KUA and Zachry will participate in a team-building exercise on Wednesday and will meet Thursday to discuss a potential charitable giving project. Contact: Steve Carroll
Good Guys
The Good Guys, a group of CEOs from some of the region’s largest consumer-owned electric utilities, meet Wednesday in the Board room at 10:30 a.m. Contact: Sue Utley
FMPP Executive Committee
The Florida Municipal Power Pool Executive Committee meets Wednesday in the Board room at 11:30 a.m. or immediately following the Good Guys meeting. Contact: Sue Utley
Public Power Day of Giving
Public Power Day of Giving takes place this Friday, kicking off the national conference for the American Public Power Association. The Day of Giving is an opportunity for public power employees from around the country to come together in a day of service, helping needy families while creating relationships with other public power colleagues. This year, 10 volunteers from FMPA will assist in a variety of projects for service organizations including The Russell Home, Helping Others Make the Effort, A Brush with Kindness, and Quest. Special thanks to Chris Gowder, Nick Guarriello, Pramod Gurshaney, Tom Jones, Larry Landry, Mark Larson, Ellen Lindsay, Tom Reedy, Yari Velez and Liyuan Woeer for volunteering.
Member Portal Spotlight: Regulatory Compliance
The Regulatory Compliance section on the Member Portal was recently reorganized and is a great resource for information about FMPA’s regulatory compliance program, as well as an archive of compliance training workshops and compliance presentations from NERC, FERC and FRCC. Contact: Frank Gaffney
Member Service Survey
Don’t forget to take FMPA’s member services survey. Member Services is conducting a brief survey to assess a potential new member service that supports members with asset management, work management and compliance management. The survey only has nine questions, mostly multiple-choice, and takes only a few minutes to complete. To take the survey, visit http://tinyurl.com/FMPAMemberServices>http://tinyurl.com/FMPAMemberServices;. Feel free to share this link with the appropriate person in your organization to answer questions on these topics. Contact: Mike Siefert
All-Requirements Project Load
The weekly update of the All-Requirements Project historical load graph has been posted on the Member Portal. The graph is updated through June 13. Contact: Jim Atz
Service Anniversaries
Congratulations to Richard Montgomery, who celebrates three years with FMPA on Friday, June 18.
COMING UP
APPA National Conference
The American Public Power Association’s (APPA) 2010 National Conference will be held June 19 through June 23 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. Nine volunteers from FMPA will assist APPA with staffing assignments at the conference. Special thanks to Michell Bosch, Steve Carroll, Amie Erickson, Kristi Knight, Mark McCain, Diane Nelson, Michelle Pisarri, Mike Siefert and Sue Utley.
INDUSTRY NEWS
FRCC Response to Gulf Oil Spill
The Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC) announced last week that it is monitoring the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico for any potential impacts on reliability of the bulk power system in Peninsular Florida. At this time, FRCC reports that the spill does not pose an immediate threat to any coastal generating facilities or adverse reliability impacts to the bulk power system. Utilities that own coastal generation have taken precautionary measures and have action plans ready for implementation in the event of potential spill impact on their generating facilities. FRCC continues to coordinate communication with the utilities who own coastal generation, as well as with local govements, state officials and federal regulators.
Califoia Proposition 16 Narrowly Defeated
Califoia voters narrowly defeated Proposition 16, a ballot initiative that would have restricted the way local communities create or expand public power systems. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) bankrolled the proposition, spending $46.3 million on the “Yes on 16 campaign. The proposition would have amended the Califoia Constitution to prevent municipal utilities from providing electric service to new customers without approval by two-thirds of the voters in the proposed service areas. It would have imposed a similar voting requirement on communities wishing to buy electricity from community chore aggregators.
Senate Defeats Resolution to Block EPA Regulation
The Senate voted June 10 by 53-47 to reject Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s resolution to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. All 41 Senate Republicans and six Democrats voted for the resolution to overtu EPA’s finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health. Both supporters and opponents of the bill cited the vote as a harbinger for future attempts to enact climate change legislation. American Public Power Association (APPA) President and CEO Mark Crisson has written that APPA supported Murkowski’s resolution “to draw attention to the need for Congress to enact legislation to suspend EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act … for a period of time sufficient to permit negotiations on new climate change legislation to conclude.
FMPA Weekly is published by FMPA for employees and goveing boards of FMPA member utilities. Questions or comments about this newsletter may be directed to Lance Larsson or Diane Nelson in FMPA’s Public Relations Department.
Want more background on the names and terms used in this newsletter? Check out FMPA’s Glossary, which features some of the most frequently mentioned committees, companies, places and terms, or contact the person named in each FMPA story to lea more. (Click here for the Staff Directory).
Have a question, comment or story idea for the newsletter? FMPA welcomes your feedback at any time. Contact: Lance Larsson or Diane Nelson