AAA Nebraska: Expect $4 gas within the month

A Journal Star reporter asked Rose White, the eminent public affairs director of AAA Nebraska, to answer some questions regarding fuel supplies and prices. White predicted $4 regular-grade gasoline will be here soon. “Crude closed in the U.S. futures market above $133 a barrel (Wednesday) and processed unleaded closed at $3.40 a gallon,” White said in an e-mail.

“Add to that price state fuel taxes and federal gasoline taxes, plus retail operating costs and profit margins, and we are looking at averages that are expected to be near or above the $4 level for unleaded fuel.” When asked if the $4 gasoline would affect the driving habits of Americans, White said many motorists are already making minimal changes by combining errands and using alternate transportation if available. “Small car sales are up and large vehicle sales are down.

Some companies are allowing employees to work four 10-hour days. Doing so allows employees to save 15-20% of their fuel.” White said we are paying these prices due to an increase in global demand. “It is not the result of hurricanes in the Gulf, or an explosion at a refinery, or an increase in political tensions. If any of these issues occur, it could cause immediate spikes that would send prices soaring another 10-20 cents.”

10 meteorological towers to assess state’s wind potential

Ten tall meteorological towers will be erected throughout northeast Nebraska to gauge which areas have the strongest winds. Nebraska Public Power District requested proposals from several wind assessment companies earlier this year, and awarded National Wind Assessments of Minneapolis, Minn., the contract to install the nearly 200-foot-tall towers.

Nebraska ranks sixth in the country in wind power potential, but ranks 19th in installed capacity, with 73 megawatts of existing projects. NPPD owns the state’s largest wind farm near Ainsworth and has partnered with private companies to buy electricity generated by their wind turbines.

NPPD official: Media release warning of a shortage untrue

A national electric association’s media release warning of skyrocketing bills and rolling blackouts across Nebraska within the next few years prompted a correction from the Nebraska Public Power District. The release was issued by Ogilvy Public Relations on behalf of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and warned of a capacity shortage in Nebraska by 2011.

“At the current rate of consumption, citizens of Nebraska can see their electricity bills skyrocket and experience regular rolling blackouts by 2011,” the alert stated. It added although NPPD added wind development to its energy portfolio, “increasing wind generation and increasing efficiency will not be enough to meet Nebraska’s growing power needs.

Starting in 2009, planned power generation for the upper Midwest will fall below recommended targets for ensuring reliable power.” Ron Asche, CEO and president of NPPD, said although this information may be true for some parts of the country, it is not representative of Nebraska. Beth Boesch, corporate communications and public relations manager for NPPD, said it has a diverse mix of generation resources to meet customers’ needs, including coal, nuclear, natural gas, diesel, hydro and wind, and growth and development is scheduled to meet the growing needs of its customers.

During a recent NPPD meeting, Asche also discussed the potential for further utilization of nuclear energy in the future, but a “nuclear renaissance” could be on the horizon

TransCanada Plans Another Pipeline; Would Run Through Western Neb.

At its annual meeting in Calgary, Alberta, TransCanada Corp. officials said they are planning another crude oil pipeline that would bring need oil supplies from Alberta to the Gulf Coast — and a possible route would go through western Nebraska. Hal Kvisle, president and CEO of TransCanada, said Keystone Phase II, a 36-inch pipe, would go from Alberta to Nebraska and then turn south to Port Arthur, Texas.

“This would not just be a modest expansion of Keystone,” he said. “It would, in fact, be a larger project than the original Keystone that we’re building over the next two summers.”

As for the original Keystone pipeline, South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission has approved a construction permit for the portion of the $5.2 billion pipeline that will run through the eastern part of that state, as well as Nebraska.

Project to more than double Nebraska wind generation

Ground was broken last week near Bloomfield, Nebraska, for the state’s first community-based wind project. The Elkhorn Ridge Wind Facility is to have 27 wind turbines and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 25,000 homes. The facility is the first project developed using provisions of a state law passed by the Nebraska Unicameral last year allowing the state’s publicly-owned utilities to purchase electricity generated by community-based wind partnerships, according to Governor Heineman.

Public entities aren’t eligible for federal wind power incentives. The state law makes wind power projects more economically feasible, said the governor. When it begins operating, the 80-megawatt facility near Bloomfield will more than double wind generation in Nebraska. Another project planned for Knox County next year will add another 42 megawatts of power generation capacity. The Nebraska Energy Office says current wind energy production in Nebraska is 73 megawatts.

High gas prices shifting sales of new vehicles in Nebraska

Sticker shock at the pump has been good news for sales of cars. They make up a larger share of new-vehicle sales in Nebraska and Iowa than they did four years ago. While most sales in the Midlands are still sport utility vehicles and trucks, people are increasingly turning to cars because of their better gas mileage.

Car sales rose from 30% to 35% of all sales between the first quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, SUV, truck and van sales as a percent of all sales in Nebraska decreased from 70% to 65% during that time. That’s according to Cross-Sell Report, a Louisville, Ky., firm that compiles monthly vehicle sales and registration data.

For the U.S. as a whole, about one in five vehicles sold during April was a compact or subcompact car, based on monthly sales data released Thursday. Almost a decade ago, when SUVs were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car. Sales of the compact Ford Focus are up 45% in the eastern Nebraska and Kansas region.

Electronics recycling bill vetoed by Nebraska Governor

Gov. Dave Heineman vetoed a bill late last month that would have created a statewide recycling initiative for consumer-owned televisions, personal computers and video display devices.

LB986, introduced by Bellevue Sen. Don Preister, was passed by the Legislature. The bill would have created the Electronics Recycling Act and established manufacturer fees to fund grants for privately operated recycling programs.

In his letter to the Legislature, the governor said the bill would increase consumer costs and would present an economic barrier to manufacturers by imposing some of the highest fees in the nation.

New method of gathering roads dollars approved by Nebraska senators

A new method of taxing fuel in the state has received final approval from the Legislature. It won’t cause drivers to pay more in the short term, because an appropriation bill attached to the measure was removed by lawmakers.

Besides creating a 5% wholesale tax on fuel, the bill (LB846) approved Thursday would take $15 million from the state’s reserve over the next three years to help pay for road construction.

Nebraska lawmakers try to avoid fuel tax hike by dipping into reserve

Fifteen million dollars would be taken from the state’s cash reserve to avoid another fuel tax hike, under a compromise agreed to Tuesday by state lawmakers. Nebraska lawmakers voted 28-0 to create a new fuel tax mechanism that would be based on the wholesale price of gasoline. They hope the new mechanism might stabilize future highway construction funding, even if fuel consumption declines.

In advancing LB846, lawmakers also agreed to lower the state’s current motor fuel tax enough that the new taxing mechanism wouldn’t take any more money from consumers’ pockets than they already are scheduled to start paying this summer. LB846 originally called for a tax increase of about 3 cents a gallon to help raise about $16 million more for road construction. But worries about piling onto record-high gas prices caused senators to change course.

Instead, $15 million will come from the cash reserve, if the bill wins final approval. The money would be used to begin work on $76 million in projects already given some money by Congress. That work would include Kennedy Freeway projects in Sarpy County, the Lincoln South Beltway and the Heartland Expressway across the Panhandle.

Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine came up with the plan and said it is supported by Gov. Dave Heineman. The new gasoline tax would not take effect until July 1, 2009.

High prices renew interest in gas, oil exploration in Nebraska

A California oil and gas drilling company is exploring a site in Nebraska — the location of which the company declined to disclose — as early as next month, to see whether there is a potential for oil. If oil exists, the site could be home to 10 to 40 wells with 100,000 to 250,000 barrels of oil per well. Bill Sydow, director of the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in Sidney, said there were nearly 240 permits for new gas and oil wells issued in 2007, the most Sydow said he s seen in his 13 years at the commission.

Whether the renewed interest will translate into an increase in production, though, remains to be seen. Last year, there were 2,334,356 barrels of crude oil produced in Nebraska, a slight increase of about 21,000 barrels from 2006 and just the second year-over-year increase since 1988. The news on natural gas was a little better, with 1.4 billion cubic feet produced in 2007, up from just more than 1.2 billion cubic feet in 2006 and the second straight annual increase.

Sydow, for his part, thinks gas production in Nebraska may be ready to take off. At the end of 2006, Nebraska had proven natural gas reserves of 138 billion cubic feet, the highest level since 1981, according to the Energy Information Administration. And there is likely still more. According to a 2002 assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming done by the U.S. Geological Survey, there is a 95% chance that there are more than 337 billion cubic feet of natural gas in the Niobrara Chalk formation and a 50% chance there are 843 billion cubic feet.