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Holtec Signs Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Utah and Hi Tech Solutions to Deploy Nuclear SMRs

LCG, May 1, 2025--Holtec International (Holtec) announced the signing on April 29 of a strategic cooperation agreement with the State of Utah and Hi Tech Solutions, a leading nuclear services provider based in Kennewick, Washington, to collaborate in the deployment of Holtec's SMR-300s (small modular reactor) in Utah and the broader Mountain West region. Hi Tech will play a leading role in the project development and workforce training to support the rise of new nuclear power generation in the region.

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EPA and Texas Railroad Commission Sign Memorandum of Agreement for Permitting Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide

LCG, April 29, 2025--Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) today outlining the state’s plans to administer programs related to carbon storage wells, known as Class VI wells. The MOA signing is a required step in the RRC’s application to be granted authority to permit Class VI wells in the state of Texas. EPA is currently preparing a proposed approval of RRC’s primacy application.

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Industry News

Regulator Sees ‘Collusion’ in Power Price Spikes

LCG, July 19, 2000--California Public Utility Commissioner Carl Wood said yesterday that the state regulators at their August 3 meeting may launch an investigation into possible illegal collusion and profiteering in the wholesale electricity market.

"There is outrageous profiteering that is going on at the present time," Wood told a San Diego news conference. "There are hints that collusion, possibly even illegal collusion, may have been involved in this price run-up, and one of the things that has been urged on us ... is that our commission hold investigatory hearings in order to get at the bottom of what is actually driving this price run-up."

The high price of wholesale power is big news in San Diego these days because residential customers of the local utility, San Diego Gas & Electric Co., have seen their monthly bills double since May.

Under Californias electric restructuring law, enacted in 1996, all residential and small commercial customers received a 10 percent rate cut that went into effect on January 1, 1998. Rates were then frozen for four years or until a utility paid off its stranded costs, whichever came first. SDG&E paid off its stranded costs fast and can now pass wholesale power price increases through to consumers.

Wood is one of two appointees made by Californias new Democrat Governor Gray Davis to the five-member commission. He is a former maintenance electrician at the San Onofre nuclear power plant owned by Southern California Edison Co. and was a top official of the Utility Workers Union of America.

Wood is not happy with deregulation of the electric industry, calling it a "mistake." He wants the regulatory commission to step in and reassert control. "The mistake has now turned into a crisis. We have to make sure that this crisis doesn't turn into a disaster," he said.

Art Larson, a spokesman for SDG&E, was also at the news conference and gamely told reporters "We believe theres a market-based solution out there." The company has proposed offering customers a fixed-price plan, which would solve the problem of high monthly bills by averaging payments over a year.

SDG&E customers in San Diego County and part of Orange County have seen a typical householders bill for electricity zoom from $50 in May to about $100, and all 1.1 million of the utilitys customers are upset. They have yet to look at the other side of the coin.

Because SDG&E has paid off its stranded costs, the transition charge on the electric bill is being dropped. About $100 million will be returned to customers. Another $390 million will be returned to residential and small commercial customers as the company shares with them the profit it made on the sale of its generating assets.

Altogether, SDG&E customers will receive an average of about $300 in the next month or two -- about six times the increase they are complaining about.

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