Magnolia Marketplace

Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley spent the better part of 40 minutes addressing the crowd at the Stennis Capitol Press Corps luncheon.

While Presley didn’t break any new ground in his remarks about Mississippi Power Company’s plans to build a lignite coal-fired electric plant in Kemper County, he did reinforce his position that the plant represents a huge financial risk for MPC’s 190,000 customers in South Mississippi.

Specifically, Presley said the mechanism that allows MPC to charge its ratepayers for the cost of the facility as it’s being built — known as Construction Work in Progress financing — is particularly unnerving for him.

“All risks and all costs will be borne by the ratepayer,” he said.

Also, the technology the plant will use to generate electricity is new and unproven, Presley said, adding that “we can’t get anybody to put a stamp of approval on it, to promise us that it’s going to work.”

Presley went out of his way several times to say that he hoped the plant was successful, but his was the lone dissent when the PSC held a final vote on the issue.

“I hope the majority of the Commission’s crystal ball is a good one,” he said. “We’re spending other people’s money. I hope and pray it works. If (electric) rates go up, we’ve just made it harder for somebody to go into small business.”

The prudent thing to do, Presley said, would have been to delay the project until some of the murkier issues surrounding the technology are resolved. The unpredictability surrounding things like cap and trade and natural gas prices also presents a risk for jumping head-long into the plant immediately.

“This may be a wonderful project, but there’s no harm in waiting,” Presley said.

UPDATE: See video of Presley’s speech here.

So it seems as if the cap BP installed over the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico might be working, at least slightly, depending on who you ask.

If the leak was stopped completely right now, the clean-up and aftermath of billions of gallons of oil floating in the Gulf would be astronomical and take many years to complete.

We’re working on a package of stories for next week’s MBJ taking a look at some of the economics of the disaster.

In other energy news, Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley will address the crowd at today’s Stennis Capitol Press Corps luncheon. Presley cast the sole “no” vote on Mississippi Power Company’s bid to build a lignite coal-fired electric plant in Kemper County. Presley is never shy about giving his opinion, and today should be no different. Magnolia Marketplace will have the particulars of his speech as soon as we can.

Is there anything better than the first sign of autumn? Yesterday evening just before sunset, as I made the final approach to the barn on the Official Horse of Magnolia Marketplace, the temperature had settled into the 60s and brought a welcome contrast to the broiler of the past few months. Swell. Just swell.

Anyway, there are a few items to pass along.

I’ve been meaning to post this since Friday, but it has somehow escaped the to-do list. Lake Caroline Golf Club, which is reopening after lying dormant for two  years, rolls out the welcome mat tomorrow. Randy Watkins bought the place and has been refurbishing the course and clubhouse the past few months. Kyle Sisk, Caroline’s director of golf and an Official Friend of Magnolia Marketplace, has worn just about every hat imaginable as he oversees the day-to-day operations, refereeing subcontractors and groundskeepers, coordinating a marketing campaign and squeezing in a few hours’ sleep.

The course looks ready. After a sneak preview  Saturday, Magnolia Marketplace is proud to report the clubhouse is ready and the LCD televisions on the wall project college football games beautifully. Well done, Messrs. Watkins and Sisk.

The Mississippi Public Service Commission and Mississippi Power Co. will tee it up next week. The Commission will hold Phase I hearings on the company’s petition to seek a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for its Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle plant in Kemper County.

The IGCC plant, says the company, would capture 65 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and employ lignite to power the process. Mississippi Power estimates the $2.2 billion project would generate 260 jobs once it came online. Ideally, the company would like to begin construction next year and begin operations at the plant in 2014. That might be a tad optimistic, because several environmental groups, including the Mississippi chapter of the Sierra Club, oppose the plant and would probably challenge it in court.

The hearings run Monday through Thursday next week in the PSC’s courtroom on the first floor of the Woolfolk Building.