Southeast Ratebase Debacles: Tony Bartelme Revisited (nuclear, CO2 capture)
By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 6, 2023
“Flush with your cash, utilities tried to build plants with unproven technology; they launched projects with unfinished designs and unrealistic budgets; they misled regulators and the public with schedules that promised bogus completion dates; they hid damning reports from investors and the public; they tried to silence critics and whistleblowers.” (- Tony Bartelme, below)
Tony Bartelme, senior projects reporter for the Charleston, South Carolina Post and Courier wrote an interesting exposé that should be revisited for its relevancy to the problem of utility ratebase economics: “Power Failure: How utilities across the U.S. changed the rules to make big bets with your money” (December 10, 2017; updated December 28, 2022).
The boondoggles below concern new nuclear projects and CO2 capture at coal plants, all made possible by federal subsidies and state regulatory treatment. Let the historical record note these quotations and observations from Bartelme’s article.
https://www.masterresource.org/georgia/partelme-se-ratebase-debacles/
