15.12.11 mcnees wallace & nurick energy newsletter - gigapower

1. DAVIS-BESSE RECEIVES LICENSE
EXTENSION
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) has renewed the operating license of the
Davis-Besse nuclear reactor near Toledo for
another 20 years.
The power plant is now licensed to operate
through April 22, 2037.
Opponents of the license extension had
argued the plant has a history of flawed operation.
The plant was shut down in 2002 after
extensive corrosion was found in the reactor head.
After replacing the reactor head, the facility was
restarted in 2004.
Plant owner FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating
Co., a division of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp.,
has spent nearly $1 billion on new and upgraded
equipment since that 2002 shutdown.
Davis-Besse is the nation’s 81st nuclear
plant to receive a 20-year operating extension from
the NRC. The agency has not rejected any of the
applications.
AT&T TO EXPAND HIGH SPEED BROADBAND
ACCESS IN OHIO
AT&T has announced plans to expand its
high speed “GigaPower” internet access in 38
additional metropolitan areas by the end of 2016.
The metropolitan areas include Cleveland
and Columbus, Ohio.
AT&T introduced the service in Austin,
Texas two years ago.
GigaPower features speeds of up to 1
gigabit per second, which would allow users to, for
example, download 25 songs or a TV show in 3
seconds.
SCE FINED FOR EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS
The California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) has penalized Southern California Edison
(SCE) $16.7 million for failure to timely report ex parte
communications and for misleading the CPUC, in
violation of CPUC rules.
The CPUC determined that SCE engaged in
eight unreported ex parte communications between
March 26, 2013 and June 17, 2014 related to the
shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating
Station, in violation of Rule 8.4 of the CPUC’s Rules
of Practice and Procedure, stemming from failure to
report, before or after, ex parte communications that
occurred between an SCE executive(s) and a
Commissioner. In addition, the CPUC determined that
SCE twice violated Rule 1.1, the CPUC’s ethics rule,
as a result of the acts and omissions of SCE and its
employees, which misled the CPUC, showed
disrespect for the CPUC’s Rules, and undermined
public confidence in the CPUC.
The vote to impose the fine was a
unanimous 4-0.
In addition to the fine, the CPUC directed
SCE to develop a public website tracking all non-
public individual communications related to the San
Onofre Nuclear Generating Station investigation by
SCE representatives with Commissioners, and/or
their Advisors, and/or CPUC decision-makers going
forward.
SCE permanently closed the facility in 2013
after problems with replacement steam generators
installed in 2010 and 2011 proved to be too costly to
fix.
The closure led to a settlement agreement
approved by the CPUC. Under the deal, the plant’s
owners, SCE and San Diego Gas & Electric Co.
would pay $1.4 billion in reactor closing costs; their
customers were left on the hook for an additional $3.3
billion.
A subsequent investigation identified that
then CPUC Commissioner Michael Peevey and
SCE’s then-Executive Vice President for External
Relations, Stephen Pickett, met privately to discuss
the allocation of costs associated with the settlement.
Peevey left the CPUC last year after serving
two six-year terms.
PLATTS RECOGNIZES BOSTON WITH LIFETIME
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
PJM Interconnection (PJM) CEO Emeritus
Terry Boston has been honored for his 43-year career
advancing grid reliability and security in the electricity
industry. Boston received a lifetime achievement
December 11, 2015
Volume 23, Issue 50

2. © 2015 McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC
McNees Energy, Communications & Public Utilities Newsletter is presented with the understanding that the publisher does not render specific legal, accounting or other
professional service to the reader. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the law, information contained in this publication may become outdated. Anyone using this material
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award during the Platts Global Energy Awards
ceremonies in New York City on December 9.
Platts noted Boston’s accomplishments of
the past eight years as CEO of PJM, the largest
power system in North America and largest electricity
market in the world, as well as his long career at the
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Boston led the development of two fully
redundant PJM advanced control centers, able to
switch all control and market functions between
centers instantaneously. This achievement has
improved grid reliability and security throughout the
PJM footprint. Boston developed a growth strategy
that expanded PJM’s total market from $26.7 billion to
$50 billion and increased the number of market
participants by 90 percent.
Prior to PJM, Boston was Executive Vice
President, Power System Operations, of the TVA, the
nation’s largest public power provider. While there, he
served on the eight-member North American Electric
Reliability Council technical committee that directed
the investigation of the August 2003 Northeast
blackout. He has been honored with other
appointments and awards throughout his career,
including the Power Engineering Leadership Award
from IEEE and was elected to the National Academy
of Engineering, among the highest professional
distinctions afforded to an engineer.
In other PJM-related news, the organization
said it has more than adequate resources to serve
projected winter demand, with expected resources
totaling 177,628 megawatts against a projected winter
peak demand of 131,720 megawatts.
GOOD NAMED DUKE BOARD CHAIRMAN
Duke Energy's Board of Directors has
unanimously elected Duke Energy President, CEO
and Vice-Chairman Lynn Good as its new Board
Chairman, effective January 1, 2016.
Good succeeds Ann Maynard Gray, who will
remain on the Duke Energy Board as a Director and
former Chairman. As Lead Independent Director and
most recently Chairman, Gray has led Duke Energy's
Board of Directors since 2004.
The Board also unanimously elected Michael
Browning as the Duke Energy Board Independent
Lead Director.
Browning currently serves on the Board's
Governance, Audit, and Finance and Risk
Management committees. He is the Chairman of
Browning Consolidated LLC in Indianapolis and
previously served as the Chairman and President of
Browning Consolidated LLC for over 30 years. He
joined the Duke Energy Board in 2006.
CINTRON NAMED ACTING CHIEF JUDGE AT
FERC
Judge Carmen A. Cintron was named Acting
Chief Judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) on December 7, 2015. Judge
Cintron has been at FERC since December 1999, and
was named Deputy Chief Judge by then-Chief Judge
Curtis Wagner on September 6, 2015. Prior to joining
the FERC, Judge Cintron was Hearing Office Chief of
the Atlanta North Office of Hearings and Appeals,
Social Security Administration. As Hearing Office
Chief, Judge Cintron was the chief management
official responsible for the operations of a hearing
office comprised of nine Administrative Law Judges,
two Senior Administrative Law Judges and a support
staff of 50 employees comprised of attorneys,
paralegals and technicians. She became an
Administrative Law Judge in April 1994 appointed to
the San Jose, California Hearing Office with the
Social Security Administration.
Judge Cintron was an attorney at the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for 14
years. For 12 of those years she served in the FCC's
Common Carrier Bureau. Judge Cintron also worked
as a Trial Attorney for the Puerto Rico Justice
Department in the Federal Litigation Division. In
addition, she worked in the Puerto Rico House of
Representatives as Legal Advisor to the Judiciary
Committee on Civil Law.
Judge Cintron has a Bachelor's degree in
Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude and a
Juris Doctor degree, Cum Laude, from the University
of Puerto Rico.
Judge Cintron is a member of the bars of the
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and is admitted
to practice before the U.S. District Court for Puerto
Rico, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit,
the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. and the U.S.
Supreme Court.
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