Tampa Prep 2009-2010 Impact Defense File
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- AT: Endocrine Disruptions
Ext #2 – InnevitableNatural gas prices make electricity price increases inevitable Houston Chronicle 5/31 [Texas: Electricity price flies off the grid, http://www.energybulletin.net/node/45318] The price of electricity already was rising toward records because of climbing natural gas prices. Now it's getting an extra boost from unexpected spikes in the wholesale markets where electricity is bought and sold in bulk. For several days this month and in April, the price of power briefly spiked in the so-called balancing market where the state's grid operator buys electricity at 15-minute intervals to keep supply and demand in balance. Those prices didn't show up directly on any homeowners' bills, but they may have helped push two smaller electric retailers out of business, dumping almost 25,000 customers back into the market. Alt causes- consumer and seasonal load, supplier risk, and non-energy costs Rose 07 [Kenneth Rose is an independent consultant and a Senior Fellow with the Institute of Public Utilities (IPU) at Michigan State University, The Impact of Fuel Costs on Electric Power Prices, June, http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:KCd4m1RYmroJ:www.appanet.org/files/PDFs/ImpactofFuelCostsonElectricPowerPrices.pdf+electricity+price+spikes+inflation+-china+-russia+-sri+-lanka&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=16&gl=us] While natural gas prices have certainly played a role, looking at the data shows that simply attributing electricity price increases to only the cost of fuels used to generate electricity is overly simplistic at best. Other important factors that determine electricity prices are the level of customer load and the seasonal variation of load, and supplier risks and other non-energy costs. In addition, it is likely that other unaccounted for factors may also help explain electricity price changes. California electricity meltdown spilled over to the rest of the US and makes spikes inevitable for years Penner 01 [Dr. Peter S. Fox-Penner, Principal of The Brattle Group, Inc., Before the Senate Committee on the Budget January 30, 2001; http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/testimony/2001/foxpenner_econsechrng013001.pdf] Mr. Chairman, much has been written and said about the electricity crisis in California, and I will not dwell on it in these remarks. However, there are four irrefutable features of the California crisis. First, there is a critical shortage of natural gas pipeline capacity into the state. Second, there is an equally critical shortage of generation and transmission capacity in California and across much of the West. Third, the state failed to maximize its conservation and demand reduction opportunities, both of which are critical for effective electric markets. Fourth and finally, all these factors ensure very high prices for power throughout the West for the next several years. Today, throughout this region, wholesale power prices are six times as high as last year’s levels and the highest they have been in at least 60 years. These features are more troubling, Mr. Chairman, because they are likely to occur - - or are already occurring - - in much of the rest of the United States. Parts of the U.S. have ample generating capacity, but other regions are perilously low on reserves, and new transmission lines are not getting 3 built. Amazingly, in a nation whose electric demand has increased over 14% in the last six years, total industry investment in transmission assets has declined, and very few major new lines are underway anywhere in the U.S. The implications of this situation are that high and volatile natural gas and power prices are likely to be with us for several years, especially in the West and transmission-constrained urban areas. In contrast to oil prices, which are not at levels high enough to cause a major dislocation, electricity and gas prices are projected to remain sufficiently high and volatile so as to introduce an unprecedented degree of uncertainty over the economy during the next few years. Different markets make increases inevitable Purdue News 01 [Electricity prices could rise if wholesale markets function poorly, Nov 7, http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/011107.Sparrow.energy.html] Before 1996, utilities purchased electricity strictly from other utility companies because federal regulations prohibited independent power producers from entering the wholesale market. But since that restriction was removed, many so-called "merchant plants" have been springing up in the Midwest and across the nation. In Indiana alone, six such plants have come online since the federal change and another 14 new plants have been proposed so far, Sparrow said. Electricity from merchant plants is especially needed during the hottest summer months, as the power grid strains to meet energy demands, he said. If enough of the producers that sell wholesale electricity to utilities merge in the near future, the result could be drastically higher peak-demand prices. That's because the fewer, merged companies that remain could, independently of each other, decide to withhold electricity during times of peak demand, increasing their own profits but causing the wholesale price of electricity to spike upward dramatically. AT: Endocrine DisruptionsAlt causes to endocrine disruptionsNRDC, 98 (National Resources Defense Council, “Issues: Health; Endocrine Disruptors,” http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/qendoc.asp) Exposure to endocrine disruptors can occur through direct contact with pesticides and other chemicals or through ingestion of contaminated water, food, or air. Chemicals suspected of acting as endocrine disruptors are found in insecticides, herbicides, fumigants and fungicides that are used in agriculture as well as in the home. Industrial workers can be exposed to chemicals such as detergents, resins, and plasticizers with endocrine disrupting properties. Endocrine disruptors enter the air or water as a byproduct of many chemical and manufacturing processes and when plastics and other materials are burned. Further, studies have found that endocrine disruptors can leach out of plastics, including the type of plastic used to make hospital intravenous bags. Many endocrine disruptors are persistent in the environment and accumulate in fat, so the greatest exposures come from eating fatty foods and fish from contaminated water. Directory: files -> documents documents -> North Mankato Taylor Library documents -> In the Red and Brown Water documents -> - documents -> I. Disaster Summary Sheet II. 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