CPS Energy Archives | John Tedesco

CPS Energy’s Bartley resigns

John Tedesco — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:10:22 +0000

The South Texas Project nuclear plant

More outstanding reporting by Tracy Idell Hamilton and Anton Caputo, who have been writing story after story about the secrecy at CPS Energy. The city-owned utility spent the summer touting a proposed $13 billion expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear plant. Problem is, the actual price could be as much as $4 billion higher for Toshiba’s share of the deal.

This week, the fallout from community outrage has claimed a top official:

Related: How to use time-lapse photography to take viewers on a journey

CPS Energy interim General Manager Steve Bartley resigned Wednesday in the wake of revelations that high cost estimates for two nuclear reactors were kept from the utility’s trustees and the City Council.

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CPS Energy: We can’t release super-secret electrical bills

John Tedesco — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:34:15 +0000

My house, site of super-duper classified information

Mayor Julian Castro and San Antonio City Council members are criticizing CPS Energy for failing to disclose the true financial costs of a proposed expansion at the South Texas Project nuclear plant. They’re asking why a city-owned utility can’t be more transparent.

All this cloak-and-dagger suspense reminded me of a weird encounter I had with CPS. What you are about to read is super-duper top secret:

In 2003 I was thinking about moving to a new house, and I had heard somewhere that you could ask your local utility about the past energy usage of a property, to get an idea about its energy efficiency and what your monthly bills might be.

So I sent a request to CPS for the past year’s electrical usage for the house. Harmless, right?

Apparently not at CPS. The utility asked Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office if it could withhold the information, claiming it was a competitive matter. And the AG agreed in this open-records ruling.

All these years later, I still don’t understand why CPS tried to withhold this “competitive” information. Anyone care explain? E-mail me if you want — it’ll be our secret.

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CPS Energy failed to tell public true nuke estimate

John Tedesco — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:42:50 +0000

Nice scoop by Anton Caputo and Tracy Idell Hamilton:

CPS Energy knew a year ago that contractor Toshiba Inc. wanted at least $4 billion more than San Antonio was willing to pay for the nuclear expansion, according to several sources close to the deal.

Despite this, utility officials used a much lower figure as they pitched the project at public meetings during the summer, arguing that nuclear was the most cost-effective way for San Antonio to meet its future energy needs.

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Missed the nuclear debate? Catch the videos

John Tedesco — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:42:42 +0000

If you missed this week’s debate about nuclear energy, Public Citizen posted complete videos of the Clean Tech Forum at the Pearl Brewery.

At issue is whether CPS Energy should invest at least $5.2 billion in two new reactors at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Matagorda County.

Read more about CPS Energy: Readers respond to false nuke claim

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Readers respond to false nuke claim

John Tedesco — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:09:53 +0000

The South Texas Project nuclear plant

Have you heard of the nuclear accident at the SL-1 military facility that killed three men in 1961?

Some readers of the San Antonio Express-News know about it. And today they questioned claims by nuclear plant owner CPS Energy that no one has ever been harmed by operations at a nuclear plant in the United States.

Related: Telling stories with data: Police chases and drug smugglers on the Texas-Mexico border

Check out the sweeping claims by CPS Energy in the story here, and look at the response by two readers who offered links to articles and reports about the deadly, Jan. 3, 1961 steam explosion at an experimental nuclear facility in Idaho.

Today I asked a CPS Energy official about the accident. While noting the military facility was a prototype that pales in comparison to today’s commercial nuclear plans, he acknowledged that CPS’ sweeping claims need to be scaled back.

I wrote a story about the issue that’s running tomorrow — kudos to our readers for the great tip.

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Tracking the safety record of a nuclear plant

John Tedesco — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:28:20 +0000

The South Texas Project nuclear plant

As CPS Energy seeks to invest in an expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear plant, the San Antonio Express-News set up a timeline of the plant’s history and safety record.

You can check out what we’ve found so far, and also submit information in an online forum. We’ll plug relevant events into the chronology.

Over the past two decades the plant has won industry awards for its track record. But we also found:

An incident report about a small fire in an electrical room at the plant;

A report alleging there were holes in plant security;

Reports about tiny cracks found in nozzles at the bottom of a reactor;

And in an unusual incident last year, there’s a news story about a jet fighter that was scrambled to intercept a private plane flying near the plant. Within minutes of that emergency, a man was spotted with a rifle case at the plant and was detained. It turned out he was an employee who bought the rifle case at the plant’s company store.

I did most of the research and mySA’s Mike Howell plugged the information into the online database. Feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions.

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Nuclear power: A primer on CPS Energy’s proposal to San Antonio

John Tedesco — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:24:36 +0000

The San Antonio Express-News is investigating CPS Energy’s plans to invest $5.2 billion in a proposed expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Matagorda County.

Here some more resources about the project and the nuclear plant:

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Includes links to inspection reports and enforcement actions at STP.

San Antonio Current: Greg Harman at the city’s alt weekly has covered the issue in many stories and blog posts stretching back years. (Two stories are here and here).

>STP site: The energy company’s Web site includes press releases about its past awards and touts its safety record. The site has a “milestones” page, which is a timeline of the plant’s history. The chronology includes events in the troubled early days of the plant’s construction.

Nuke Free Texas: What critics are saying about the proposal.

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