Energy

There is a place, a sanctuary, a refuge where I sometimes go, on a tidal creek near home, to drift in a canoe, greenwalled by wild rice and swamp maples from all sight and sound of humanity.It is not the quiet and solitude that renew me there so much as the power -- all-encompassing, throbbing; though at first you might scarcely notice.But listen. Wings whir -- the vanguard of blackbirds, flown clear from New England to stoke their little engines with a summer's-worth of seed production from the fecund marsh.

Constellation Energy Group said yesterday that it has contracted to buy all of the power from a new gas-fired generator being built in York County, Pa., to help alleviate a looming energy shortage in the Mid-Atlantic power grid. The project being built by Conectiv Energy will improve overall reliability of the grid, but energy experts said it would do little to lower prices or solve a projected energy shortfall for Baltimore Gas and Electric customers in Central Maryland. A shortage of high-capacity power lines will prevent the area from tapping into the new power source for years to come.

Gov. Martin O'Malley challenged Marylanders yesterday to cut their electric consumption at least 15 percent by 2015 and pledged that state government would lead the way by making its buildings more efficient and by tracking state energy use. O'Malley unveiled a seven-step plan for how the state government will achieve the goal, but he gave no specifics for how businesses and individuals - who use the vast majority of the state's power - could follow suit....

WASHINGTON -- The office in charge of protecting American technical secrets about nuclear weapons from foreign spies is missing 20 desktop computers, at least 14 of which have been used for classified information, the Energy Department inspector general reported Friday. This is the 13th time in a little over four years that an audit has found that the department, whose national laboratories and factories design and build nuclear warheads, has lost computers. Aside from computers it cannot find, the department is also using computers not listed in its inventory, and one computer listed as destroyed was being used, the audit said.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- President Clinton called yesterday for a new commitment to halt global warming, saying that unless humans reduce emissions of gases that cause temperatures to rise, the melting of polar ice caps will produce catastrophic consequences around the world.Clinton made his remarks near the conclusion of his state visit to this environmentally aware South Pacific island nation.In his address, Clinton painted a dire picture of the consequences of global warming."Unless we change course, most scientists believe the seas will rise so high they will swallow whole islands and coastal areas.

When Sandra Mitchel arrived at the Whole Life Expo at the Baltimore Convention Center yesterday, she made her way to the Vogel Photonic Triangulation Unit: a massage table surrounded by crystals and colored lights and connected to a tripod busy with wires and a green cube covered with knobs and meters.A graphic artist for the Navy, the Arlington, Va., resident took off her shoes, stretched out on her back, closed her eyes and turned up her palms.A sign read: "Quiet please. Sacred space."When the table was turned on, waves of energy passed from the cube to crystals connected to colored lights aimed at chakra points along Mitchel's body, according to body worker Kate Shawgo.

FOR FREDERICK-BASED Solarex, the future is suddenly bright. For the first time in years, the solar-power business is growing -- at 20 percent a year. Third World countries see solar energy as a cheap way to bring electricity to thousands of far-flung villages. New technology has dramatically cut production costs and raised energy efficiency. Within a decade, the price of solar may yet be competitive with oil and gas.This is a marked change for an industry that has failed to meet expectations since Jimmy Carter pointed to solar energy as a cheap alternative to oil in the 1970s.

When Brian and Trish Curran moved into their two-bedroom, ranch-style house on the Eastern Shore's Choptank River in 1987 they had a plan: to raise their three children in an energy-conscious home that has as little impact as possible on the environment.They rolled up their sleeves.In nine years, they've given their Caroline County house a complete make-over -- from basement to rooftop. They've rewired, re-windowed, re-insulated and re-roofed. They've also made aesthetic changes: knocked down walls to open the place up, turned the basement into a TV-family room and workshop, and converted the garage into a bedroom for their daughter, a mudroom and an extra bath.

WASHINGTON -- As calls continue to pour into a Department of Energy hot line for those who suspect they were victims of federal radiation experiments, the White House yesterday gathered together top officials from across the government to "get to the bottom of" secret Cold War-era human testing.Senior officials from the departments of Energy, Defense, Health and Human Services, Justice and Veterans Affairs, the National Security Council, Office of Management and Budget and NASA will meet once a week to answer questions that were brought to light during 1986 congressional hearings, but have been dismissed until now, said White House Communications Director Mark Gearan.

With the exception of some gratuitous political jibes at the Reagan and Bush administrations, the Clinton White House is moving properly to expose government radiation experiments on unsuspecting citizens during the Cold War era. It has set up an inter-agency task force faced with the months-long task of sorting through thousands of records to determine how many people may have suffered injury and how such wrongs should be righted.At issue is a potential multi-billion dollar liability that it would be up to Congress to fund.

The fight over the proposed buyout of a huge, Maryland-based coal mining company is interesting for its own sake. Wall Street egos, including a hedge-fund manager and would-be buyer of the Pittsburgh Steelers, are battling over control of the country's fourth-biggest coal producer. But the contest for Linthicum Heights-based Foundation Coal, which comes to a vote Friday, sheds light beyond Wall Street and the job of extracting soft black rocks from the Appalachian ground. It's no less than a referendum on the future of energy, the environment and the American economy.

Faced with replacing a 35-year old oil furnace in their Ellicott City home, Baltimore Symphony musicians Robert Barney and his wife, Julie Parcells, decided on a geothermal heating and cooling system with a hefty price tag of $30,000. But between tax credits from Howard County, the state and federal governments and hoped-for energy savings, they expect to recoup their cost in five years. "I'm just really happy" with the system, Barney said. "I don't have anything burning in the basement.

In a week when the term "executive bonus" became a profanity, leadership at Constellation Energy did the right thing and reversed itself on millions of dollars in extra retention and performance pay for top executives that was part of the company's $4.5 billion sale of nuclear assets to EDF Group. This was never comparable to the scandalous behavior at taxpayer-subsidized American International Group, but the Constellation bonuses were unquestionably poorly timed. Lawmakers in Annapolis are on the verge of deciding whether to re-regulate the energy industry here, and many ratepayers are fuming over big winter utility bills.

Maryland consumers will begin paying small monthly fees on electric bills this year to subsidize an ambitious energy-conservation initiative, under plans approved by regulators yesterday. The plans are part of an initiative championed by Gov. Martin O'Malley to reduce electricity consumed by utility customers at least 10 percent by the end of 2015. Within several months, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. and other utilities are expected to begin marketing cost-saving measures such as rebates on energy-efficient appliances and "home energy audits" paid for by the new fees.

H. L. Mencken, the famous Baltimore newspaperman and satirist, observed that for every complicated problem, there is a simple solution - and it's always wrong. When it comes to the current energy debate, Congress should take note. Energy and the financial markets are inextricably linked. So it's no surprise that during this time of great economic turmoil, America's energy future also seems very unsure. Fortunately, our nation's history holds a valuable lesson on this very point. Sixteen years ago, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I proposed a bill that provided for a 35 percent increase in automobile miles per gallon standards and for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This week has brought a stunning reversal of fortune for Constellation Energy Group, its shareholders and employees. Seven days ago, the company was trading at more than $55 a share. Now, it may be scooped up by a Warren E. Buffett company for a mere $26.50 a share under a tentative deal announced yesterday that may have spared Baltimore Gas and Electric's parent from financial meltdown. Is the proposed merger of Constellation with Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy Holdings Group in the best interests of its owners, workers and BGE customers?

News of a possible sale of Constellation Energy Group, which owns the biggest utility in Maryland, prompted a flurry of calls and discussions among state officials about how a transaction could impact consumers and the regional economy. Gov. Martin O'Malley spoke with Constellation Chief Executive Mayo A. Shattuck III yesterday while their respective offices traded frequent phone calls. Douglas Nazarian, head of Maryland's energy regulating agency, left a conference in Chicago and boarded an earlier flight to Baltimore to address the situation.

Constellation Energy Group, one of only two Fortune 500 companies in the region, said yesterday that it is in active discussions with "potential strategic partners," a process that could include the sale of the entire company, to avert a credit squeeze in its energy-trading business. One possible buyer is Constellation's largest shareholder, French power company Electricite de France International, according to a Morningstar analyst. Earlier this month, Paris-based EDF nearly doubled its stake in Constellation to 9.5 percent.

ACLU asks court to let spy suit move forward 2 Believing Maryland State Police officials have not disclosed all documents related to a 14-month surveillance operation, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a court brief asking that its Public Information Act lawsuit continue moving forward. Details of state police spying emerged this summer as part of the lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court by the ACLU of Maryland. In 2005, undercover agents secretly joined the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, a peace group; the Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty; and the Committee to Save Vernon Evans.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's proposal to include expanded offshore drilling in a Democratic energy bill has nothing to do with reducing the cost of gas and everything to do with increasing votes for Democrats in November. Voters should listen carefully to what candidates are saying about energy policy between now and Election Day and favor those pushing aggressive efforts to develop alternative energy resources and conservation - two keys to a brighter energy future. Continued reliance on oil is not a long-term solution.