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Hatch-Miller Heaps praise on Valley for energy conservation
efforts.
In a meeting with top utility executives, Commissioner Jeff
Hatch-Miller praised Arizonans for preventing blackouts during
the valley's power crunch. Everyone turned off their lights
and turned up their air conditioners, saving enough power to
fuel 90,000 homes everyday.
The power saga began on June 14, when a great blue hearing
left organic material behind on an extremely-high-voltage
power line (500 kv) as it took off. The line heated up and
fell to the ground, short-circuiting the system. The main
breaker, just like the breaker in your house only bigger, was
supposed to trip, but didn't for 38 seconds-an eternity for
high voltage electricity.
The disruption to the system caused Palo Verde to shut
down, and my have caused stress on the overall system. On the
fourth of July, a fire started at the Westwing substation. The
Westwing substation had to be taken offline which reduced the
amount of power that could be brought into the valley. Weeks
later another fire broke out, nearby, at the Deer Valley
substation.
This unfortunate chain of events-started by a blue
hearing-has truly brought the valley together. Keep up the
good work! |
Two of Arizona's largest private water companies had their
rates reviewed during 2004. The Commission recommended a
combination of increases and decreases, based upon the costs
to install, maintain and operate each of the systems.
The average increase was 9.6%. Given that these increases
are the first since the early 1990s, the average yearly
increase is quite small.
While the Companies asked for fairly large increases, the
Commission determined that only small increases in rates were
justified. A few isolated communities saw larger increases due
to unique water delivery problems.
Many Arizona water companies are working to conform to new
federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements to
lower the amount of arsenic in our drinking water. See
"Feds Offer Help" for more information about this
expensive challenge.
Because of Arizona's drought and the Commission's conservation
efforts, additional actions were taken to conserve water.
Citizens that use the least water will now pay the least per
gallon. Hatch-Miller has led efforts to ensure that every
company has a plan for cutting back on water use when supplies
are limited.
At the Commission we're working overtime to ensure that
safe drinking water is available and affordable for everyone. |
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On July 30 of 2003, the pipeline transporting the Valley's
gasoline burst, causing local gasoline prices to soar and a
shortage of the exotic blend of gasoline required by the EPA
for use in Phoenix. The break caused large amounts of gasoline
to spill into the environment tainting groundwater and
residential homes in Pima County.
The ACC Pipeline Safety Division has crews under contract
by the Federal Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) to inspect
interstate pipelines. In our opinion, the federal OPS did not
allow for a sufficient number of days to conduct adequate
operational and safety inspections. The Kinder Morgan Pipeline
was one of these under-inspected interstate pipelines. Up
until very recently, the crews were given only 10 days by OPS
to inspect all the interstate pipelines in Arizona. As early
as June of 2000, the ACC had asked OPS for more authority in
regards to inspecting interstate pipelines.
The Federal OPS has now granted an unlimited number of days
for inspections, and Kinder Morgan was fined $375,000, the
largest fine ever imposed by the OPS. This is a result of our
demands for strong action.
But there is still a lot of work to be done. I am calling
for improvements in the federal/state relationship because we
need to take back some of the power from the Federal
government and return it to our own state agency, the ACC. I
am committed to working tirelessly both with our Congressional
delegation and the OPS to achieve this and protect our
citizens from the type of environmental and economic fiasco
that occurred last summer. |
| Solar
Power -- Supersize It! |
Where is the world's largest solar power facility?
A. Italy,
B. Philippines
C. Germany
D. Arizona
You'll be surprised to learn that the answer is D, Arizona.
Tucson Electric Power Company's (TEP) Springerville Solar
Power Generating Station produces nearly 4 million watts (MW)
of electricity. That makes it the world's largest
grid-connected solar array.
Being grid-connected means that the power can be used by
everyone, whether they live in Yuma, Page, Tucson or
elsewhere.
The Springerville Generating Station is being built in
phases, eventually covering 88 acres and capable of generating
8 million watts of electricity.
Italy, the Philippines and Germany are also expanding their
solar power plants -- so the title "world's largest"
may change hands from time to time. But right now, we're in
first place, and working to keep our title.
By the way, Arizona has another world class solar energy
site, this one owned and operated by Arizona Public Service.
Located near Prescott, Arizona, it currently produces 1.8
million watts of solar energy. Eventually, the plant will
produce 5.5 MW, giving it a world class ranking. |
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Commissioner Hatch-Miller traveled to Washington, D.C. to
raise awareness in Arizona's congressional delegation on the
huge cost of Arsenic compliance that will be borne by rural
and small-system water users. Those in Washington promised to
help, but that help is still forthcoming. With less than a
year and a half before companies will be fined, time is of the
essence. Hatch-Miller is working with state leaders, water
users and suppliers to continue to raise awareness on the
issues and keep the issue on the radar screen in Washington.
Arizona is one of only a handful of states where Arsenic is
present in the water. Arsenic occurs naturally in our drinking
water and removing it is expensive. We have the technology to
do the job but paying for the new treatment systems presents a
major challenge to use all.
Click here for more information on the arsenic issue. |
"Not everyone selling investments in Arizona is
honest. A few people are willing to say or promise anything to
get us to hand over our hard-earned savings,"
Hatch-Miller said, reflecting on some of the more notorious
investment scams in recent memory.
In the case of The Baptist Foundation, deceptive salesmen
enticed 11,000 people to invest over one-half billion dollars.
Fortunately, these activities were uncovered by Corporation
Commission staff. A lock was put on the accounts. Much of the
money was returned to investors. Criminal prosecution was
conducted by the Attorney General.
Tragic examples are all too frequent: partnerships in a
non-existent Costa Rican mine, shares of pay telephone stock,
promises of high returns for no effort. These scam artists are
smooth talkers who use every trick in the book to get your
cash. Sadly, in many of these "too good to be true"
scams, those that hand over their hard earned dollars are
lucky to get 10 or 15 percent of their money back.
So don't be fooled. You can call the Arizona Corporation
Commission's Security Division at 602-542-0428 for more
information. Or check them out at www.ccsd.cc.state.az.us. |
