After $1.3 Billion Flood, NE Public Power District Leaders "Recognize" Warming, And That's All
While scientists warn that climate change is a likely factor in the unprecedented flooding that inundated eastern Nebraska in March, directors at the state’s largest utility largely do not see the event as a call to hasten the utility’s transition away from fossil fuels. “I don’t think the … flood has necessarily affected the thinking of the board very much,” said Gary Thompson, chairman of the publicly elected board of directors of the Nebraska Public Power District, or NPPD.
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Fred Christensen, an NPPD board member from Lyons, concurred that “there’s a very good chance that climate change is affecting our weather. I don’t think anybody can prove it, but I lean towards that position.” His flood-related concerns, he said, are of a more immediate nature: washed-out roads that prevent crews from reaching transmission towers and other infrastructure that requires repair and maintenance, for example.
“As far as the future, we’re working probably as much as we can towards renewables and non-emitting sources of power. Sixty-some percent of our energy source is non-carbon-emitting, which in the industry is very good. We’re working towards more of that all the time.”
Recently, for example, NPPD announced an 8.5-megawatt community solar project it will develop with the City of Norfolk. Getting in the way of more aggressive adoption of renewables, in Christensen’s view, is money. “We’ve got a lot of customers and board members who would be very, very hesitant to do more than we are doing now. They are very conservative and don’t want to spend too much money. They feel a responsibility for the lady on the end of the road who is on a fixed income.
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https://energynews.us/2019/05/03/midwest/despite-floods-nebraska-utility-leaders-still-hesitant-to-address-climate-change/
