Power Plant

A New York-based company that had announced more than a year ago it was ready to start building a disputed trash-burning power plant in south Baltimore is now seeking a waiver of a state-imposed deadline to begin work on the $1 billion project within the next month Energy Answers Baltimore filed a motion with the state Public Service Commission asking to defer the regulatory panel's requirement that the company start construction by Feb. 5 at a...

Whether casting a line in a Maryland stream or a lake in the most remote reaches of this country, a fisherman would be hard-pressed to catch a fish that does not contain mercury. Indeed, most recent studies suggest that it might be impossible. Is this a new development? Not really. It's been true for years, and states post warnings - most often directed at children and pregnant or nursing women - to limit their intake of fish for this very reason. A lot of saltwater fish (particularly those that prey on other fish, like shark and swordfish)

What is it we want from Phillips? Like it or not, the restaurant is the city's unofficial headquarters for Chesapeake seafood. For the last three decades, more visitors to Baltimore likely received their first crab cake from Phillips in Harborplace than anywhere else in Baltimore. I think we want to know that Phillips is representing us well. If, like many, you've found yourself uneasy about how Phillips was performing in this ambassadorial role, I've got some encouraging news for you. Phillips' move across the harbor last fall from the Light Street Pavilion to a new home at the Power Plant has done it a world of good.

Maybe moving out of Harborplace was the best thing that ever happened to Phillips. The Sunday review is of Phillips in its new Power Plant home, where it appears to have settled in very nicely. Whether or not you intend to go to Phillips, you'll be happy to know that visitors to Baltimore are being treated well at Phillips, which serves as Baltimore's de facto orientation center for Chesapeake seafood. I liked the new Phillips. I just wish they'd dim the lighting, which look like they've been pushed up to the surgical setting.

The new Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury and other toxic air pollutants is generating a lot of debate, with environmental and health groups hailing it while industry groups contend it will hurt the economy. Here in Maryland, though, it seems tighter regulation is universally welcomed. That's because 70 percent of the mercury that's deposited in state lakes and rivers blows in from out of Maryland, according to the state Department of the Environment . The state has issued warnings against eating a number of fish from Maryland waters because they've absorbed mercury, which can harm the nervous system.

In a move that increases Maryland's commitment to renewable energy, the state Board of Public Works approved a deal Wednesday under which a Virginia company will be given a 30-year lease on land at an Eastern Shore prison to build a plant that will generate electricity out of a mixture of crops and chicken manure. Under its agreement with ECOCORP Inc. of Arlington, Va., the state will provide a 4.2-acre site at the Eastern Correctional Institute near Princess Anne at an annual rent of $100 for the company to construct the so-called anaerobic digester.

Critics of the Constellation Energy Group-Exelon Corp. merger called Monday for doubling the rate credit for utility customers to $200, even as the companies offered other concessions, including building a new downtown Baltimore headquarters. The companies, whose $7.9 billion merger largely hinges on approval by state energy regulators, sweetened their incentive package to make the deal more palatable to the Maryland Public Service Commission, the state and consumer advocates. The PSC, charged with ensuring that the deal is in the public interest and will benefit ratepayers, is expected to make a decision by Jan. 5. The companies offered more commitments Monday, in filings that amount to final arguments on the merits of the proposed deal.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is scheduled to join Steve Phillips, president and CEO of Phillips Foods and Seafood Restaurants, and developer David Cordish at a Tuesday afternoon ribbon-cutting for the new Phillips Seafood Restaurant at the Power Plant. A media alert for the ribbon-cutting promised a "major announcement," and its timing, 18 days after Phillips opened its 15,000 square-foot restaurant in the Power Plant, suggests that the principals will have more to say then, "Look, it's open" The announcement is scheduled for 4 p.m. , which is when you would schedule something that has local evening news written all over it. The timing is perfect for local television stations (but lousy for daily newspapers.)

After more than 30 years in its original Inner Harbor location, Phillips has moved two piers east and will open the doors of its new location in the Power Plant 4 p.m. today. Lunch service begins on Monday, Nov. 14 at 11:30 a.m. The Phillips folks shared some photographs of the new Phillips with us. You can see them all on the restaurant's Facebook page. Here's how the press release describes the interior. I saw it with my own eyes, and can vouch for it. It's a radical departure from the Harborplace but nothing feels forced or gimmicky.

Phillips Seafood at the Power Plant will open on Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. in its new Power Plant location. Phillips will occupy the 15,000-square-foot first floor of the former ESPN Zone space, a short move from its longtime Harborplace home. The iconic Maryland seafood restaurant ended its 31-year tenure in the Light Street Pavilion after the Sunday on Sept 18. Phillips has named Brian Fountain as general manager of the Power Plant location. Fountain, who has been the general manager of Phillips' Atlantic City location for the past three years, has been blogging on the restaurant's pre-opening progress.