Conectiv Wants the PSC to Reconsider

The News Journal reports that an attorney for Conectiv Energy thinks the Public Service Commission (PSC) made a terrible mistake in directing Delmarva Power to negotiate with Bluewater Wind to build an offshore wind farm. Conectiv attorney Elizabeth Wilburn contends that the PSC caved to public opinion, and wants the PSC to reverse itself and pick Conectiv’s proposal to build a new natural gas facility on Hay Road near Wilmington:

"It is easy for the state agencies to capitulate to public opinion and to conclude that wind generation is more environmentally friendly than generation from fossil fuels," Wilburn wrote. But she said lawmakers instead "directed the state agencies to conduct a well-reasoned evaluation of all factors that results in the greatest long-term system benefits in the most cost-effective manner."

Which is what the PSC, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and Controller General did.
But Wilburn maintains that if the PSC insists on making such a terrible mistake, it should allow Conectiv and NRG (which proposed a coal gasification plant) should be allowed to submit competing proposals for a wind farm. Neither company has any experience with wind power.
Nick Di Pasquale, former DNREC secretary and conservation chairman for the Delaware Audubon Society, says Conectiv’s argument, too little too late:

"This is more than the 11th hour. This is past midnight," Di Pasquale said. "It's just another way to disrupt the process."

The PSC, in Order No. 7199, expressed its intent that negotiations proceed on a relatively fast track:

We suggest conclusion of negotiations within a 30 to 60 day time frame maximum; however, to the extent that there is continuing progress we can accept some extension in that process.

Given Conectiv’s posturing, I suspect that the negotiations have yet to show much progress.