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MidAmerican Energy
From SourceWatch
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This is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's climate change project. |
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This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of CoalSwarm and the Center for Media and Democracy. |
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 666 Grand Ave., Ste. 500 Des Moines, IA 50309 |
| Area served | CA, IA, ID, IL, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY |
| Key people | Gregory E. Abel, CEO |
| Industry | Electric Producer & Utility Natural Gas Distributor Real Estate |
| Products | Electricity, Natural Gas |
| Revenue | $12.4 billion (2007)[1] |
| Net income | N/A |
| Employees | 17,200 (2007) |
| Parent | Berkshire Hathaway |
| Subsidiaries | MidAmerican Energy PacifiCorp CE Electric UK CalEnergy Generation Kern River Gas Transmission Northern Natural Gas HomeServices of America InterCoast Capital Midwest Capital Group Pacific Power Rocky Mountain Power CE Generation LLC CE Int'l Investments CE Electric (NY) CalEnergy Pacific Holding Corp. |
| Website | MidAmericanEnergy.com |
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, storage, distribution, and supply of energy. It generates energy from coal, natural gas, geothermal, wind, and hydroelectric resources.
The company owns and operates an electric utility company in the western United States; a combined electric and natural gas utility company in the midwestern United States; natural gas pipeline companies in the United States; electricity distribution companies in Great Britain; a diversified portfolio of domestic and international independent power projects; and a residential real estate brokerage firm in the United States. It sells natural gas and transportation services to utilities, marketers, municipalities, and end-use customers. The company’s real estate services include mortgage originations, title and closing services, property and casualty insurance, home warranties, and other home-related services.
As of December 31, 2007, it served approximately 6.2 million electricity customers and end users, as well as approximately 0.7 million natural gas customers; operated approximately 17,000 miles of pipeline in operation; and had interests in approximately 17,000 net owned megawatts of power generation facilities in operation and under construction.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings, formerly known as CalEnergy Company, Inc., was founded in 1971 and changed its name to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company in 1999. The company is based in Des Moines, Iowa.
As of January 31, 2008, MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company operated as a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.[2]
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Lobbyists
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company spent $225,000 on its in-house lobbying team during 2008. The registered lobbyists were Craig Montesano, Jonathan Weisgall and Jay Carriere. (Carriere was only working on the account during the first two quaters of the year).[3]
Power portfolio
Out of its total 14,411 megawatts (MW) of electric generating capacity in 2005 (1.35% of the U.S. total), MidAmerican produced 71.3% from coal, 15.3% from natural gas, 7.9% from hydroelectricity, 2.6% from geothermal, 2.5% from wind, and 0.4% from oil. MidAmerican owns power plants in California, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.[4]
Existing coal-fired power plants
In 2005, MidAmerican Energy (and, through them, Berkshire Hathaway) owned 11 coal-fired power plants with 29 generating units totalling 10,282 MW of capacity. Here is a list of MidAmerican's coal power plants:[4][5][6]
| Plant Name | State | County | Year(s) Built | Capacity | 2007 CO2 Emissions | 2006 SO2 Emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Bridger | WY | Sweetwater | 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 | 2318 MW | 16,500,000 tons | 20,055 tons |
| George Neal | IA | Woodbury | 1964, 1972, 1975, 1979 | 1686 MW | 5,974,000 tons | 37,979 tons |
| Hunter | UT | Emery | 1978, 1980, 1983 | 1472 MW | 10,600,000 tons | 7,338 tons |
| Huntington | UT | Emery | 1974, 1977 | 996 MW | 6,170,000 tons | 17,405 tons |
| Council Bluffs | IA | Pottawattamie | 1954, 1958, 1978 | 856 MW | 6,010,000 tons | 17,523 tons |
| Dave Johnston | WY | Converse | 1959, 1961, 1964, 1972 | 817 MW | 6,959,000 tons | 22,351 tons |
| Louisa | IA | Louisa | 1983 | 738 MW | 5,340,000 tons | 15,937 tons |
| Naughton | WY | Lincoln | 1963, 1968, 1971 | 707 MW | 5,778,000 tons | 20,664 tons |
| Wyodak | WY | Campbell | 1978 | 362 MW | 3,475,000 tons | 6,514 tons |
| Carbon | UT | Carbon | 1954, 1957 | 189 MW | 1,243,000 tons | 6,121 tons |
| Riverside | IA | Scott | 1949, 1961 | 141 MW | 981,000 tons | 5,275 tons |
In 2006, MidAmerican's 11 coal-fired power plants emitted 69.0 million tons of CO2 (1.15% of all U.S. CO2 emissions) and 177,000 tons of SO2 (1.18% of all U.S. SO2 emissions).
Council Bluffs Energy Center Unit 4 is an operational coal plant near Council Bluffs, Iowa and the Missouri River that began operating in 2007.
Coal Plant Cancellations
In 2007, PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy, cancelled six proposed coal-fired power plants. These included Utah's Intermountain Power Project Unit 3, Jim Bridger Unit 5, and four proposed plants previously included in PacifiCorp's Integrated Resource Plan. The cancellations came in the wake of pressure from regulators and citizen groups, including a petition drive organized by Salt Lake City commercial real estate broker Alexander Lofft and directed at Buffett personally. The 1,600 petitioners, who described themselves in a letter to Buffett as "a collection of citizens, business owners and managers, service professionals, public servants, and organization representatives ... your friends and new customers here in Utah," explained that, in their view, any further expansion of coal generation in Utah would "compromise our health, obscure our viewsheds, shrink and contaminate our watersheds, and thin out our most beloved snowpack," concluding that "our attractiveness as a place to live and work is also threatened, and so is our economic competitiveness as a major metro area and a state, compromising our recent gains in income and property values."[1]
Existing Coal Mines
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "The Education of Warren Buffett: Why did the guru cancel six coal plants?" Ted Nace, Gristmill, April 15, 2008
Related SourceWatch Articles
- Tom Mason - former president
- Gregory E. Abel
- Warren Buffett
- Iowa and coal
- Utah and coal
- Wyoming and coal
- United States and coal
- Global warming
External Articles
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