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Commitments by the buyers of TXU Corp. to operate in a more environmentally conscious way and to cut retail prices didn't silence the utility's critics Monday.

Observers say regulators and lawmakers were already poised to force TXU to do just about everything the buyers agreed to do voluntarily. Skeptical lawmakers said Monday that they aren't ready to step back from legislation aimed at cutting the utility's market share to push power prices lower. Also Online

TXU sale won't end coal plant controversy

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WASHINGTON- The role environmentalists were asked to play in a $32 billion private-equity buyout of a large Texas coal burner could serve as a model for takeovers in other polluting industries, experts said Monday.

Dealing with the concerns of environmentalists "in a responsible way, up front, can save many years of litigation," said Stephen J. Humes, an energy and environmental lawyer with McCarter & English LLP in Hartford, Conn.

And such collaboration makes economic sense for mergers and acquisitions beyond the energy sector _ in particular, for potential deals involving chemicals and auto makers, said Paul Portney, dean of the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

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The buyout of TXU by two private equity firms that have agreed to kill eight of the company's 11 proposed coal-burning power plants cools off the biggest environmental battle in Texas and could reposition the state in the national debate over how to curb global warming.

But it doesn't resolve the fundamental environmental problems that made the huge fleet of proposed coal plants so controversial across the state and the nation. Solving those would require a longer effort to make basic changes in how Texas deals with energy and the environment.

Even if TXU's new owners keep their pledge to embrace caps on carbon dioxide emissions and to join a nationwide group of companies advocating action to protect the climate, Texas will remain the nation's biggest and the world's seventh-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

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WASHINGTON — Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.

Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

“Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025.

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Commitments by the buyers of TXU Corp. to operate in a more environmentally conscious way and to cut retail prices didn't silence the utility's critics Monday.

Observers say regulators and lawmakers were already poised to force TXU to do just about everything the buyers agreed to do voluntarily. Skeptical lawmakers said Monday that they aren't ready to step back from legislation aimed at cutting the utility's market share to push power prices lower.

"TXU's board and management were in the process of reshaping our development program to focus on a smaller number of plants when we were approached by the new private investor group," company chief executive John Wilder said Monday.

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DALLAS ? Directors of TXU Corp., the largest electric producer in Texas, gave tentative approval Sunday to sell the electric company to two private-equity firms that would abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants, according to people close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in TXU debt, which would make it the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history.

Final details were still being worked out late Sunday, and TXU was expected to announce a deal early Monday, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies had not officially announced the deal.

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Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

"Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025. "Governors, members of Congress and others are now scrambling to be bold."

The twin challenges of global warming and energy were some of the dominant points of discussion over four days at the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association.

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In a plan to curb global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to set a regional cap this year on carbon dioxide emissions, and join forces in a market-based emissions trading program within 18 months.

The agreement came as the largest utility in Texas, TXU Corp., announced that its board had approved a buyout offer of $45 billion, including debt, from private investment firms that called for a national emissions cap and market program similar to those in the Western states.

The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington signed the agreement at a meeting of the National Governors' Assn. in Washington.

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WASHINGTON — The role environmentalists were asked to play in a $32 billion private-equity buyout of a large Texas coal burner could serve as a model for takeovers in other polluting industries, experts said Monday.

Dealing with the concerns of environmentalists "in a responsible way, up front, can save many years of litigation," said Stephen Humes, an energy and environmental lawyer with McCarter & English in Hartford, Conn.

And such collaboration makes economic sense for mergers and acquisitions beyond the energy sector — in particular, for potential deals involving chemicals and auto makers, said Paul Portney, dean of the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

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WASHINGTON — Five Western governors agreed Monday on a plan to cut their states' emissions of gases linked to global warming and to establish a regional carbon trading system, though they stopped short of saying how drastically they will seek to reduce greenhouse gases.

The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington said that within six months they will set a regional target for lower emissions. A year after that, they pledged, they will devise a regional cap-and-trade system, which would let companies that can't meet their emission reduction targets buy credits from those that reduce emissions more than required.

"In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the country," said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. "Western states are being particularly hard hit by the effects of climate change."

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WASHINGTON - One of the world's top scientists on global warming called for the United States to stop building coal-fired power plants and eventually bulldoze older generators that don't capture and bury greenhouse gases.

But 159 coal-fired power plants are scheduled to be built in the next decade or so, generating enough power for about 96 million homes, according to a study last month by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Burning coal is one of the major sources of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas causing global warming.

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WASHINGTON Five Western governors are taking aim at global warming.The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state have agreed to develop a regional target to lower greenhouse gases and create a market-based program aimed at helping businesses reach the still-undecided goals.New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat seeking his party's presidential nomination, says the five-state agreement should spur other states ahead. He says "You're going to see a domino e...

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WASHINGTON (AP) Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.

Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

"Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025. "Governors, members of Congress and others are now scrambling to be bold."

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WASHINGTON -- Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.

Their promise to target global warming was the latest of a rush of new ideas shared this week as states push ahead on climate change and clean or alternative energy.

"Thankfully the country has reached a tipping point on this issue. I wish we had done it 20 years ago," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who last week signed into law a requirement that utilities generate a quarter of their power from renewable sources such as wind, water and the sun by 2025. "Governors, members of Congress and others are now scrambling to be bold."

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bout two weeks ago, Fred Krupp, the president of a nonprofit advocacy group called Environmental Defense, received an unusual phone call.William K. Reilly, the former administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush, was on the other end. But before Mr. Reilly would explain the reason for his call, he said he needed an assurance from Mr. Krupp that he would keep the conversation confidential.After receiving such a pledge, Mr. Reilly dropped a bombshell: the...

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In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

More than 30 years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be an energy source that can help save our planet from another potential disaster: the serious negative impacts of climate change.

Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions -- or nearly 10 percent of global emissions -- of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely.

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CINCINNATI (AP) Advocates for renewable energy see light at the end of the tunnel a light powered by wind and sun.

State and local governments, businesses and the public are now leading the drive toward renewable and alternative energy. Businesses exploring cleaner energy sources and lawmakers searching for ways to protect the environment and public health say they can create wider economic opportunities and a more diverse, sustainable and independent energy supply.

Efforts at the national level have been slower, but are expected to be spurred by the recent report from top climate scientists saying global warming is 90 percent likely to have been caused by humans burning fossil fuels.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Texas power company TXU Corp. has agreed to be acquired by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group for about $32 billion in the largest leverage buyout in history, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

The private equity firms agreed to pay between $69 and $70 per share for TXU, Bloomberg said. That would mark a premium of 15 to 17 percent over TXU's closing stock price of $60.02 on Friday.

As of November 6, TXU had 459.2 million shares outstanding. At $69.50 per share, the company would be worth about $31.92 billion. Including debt, the deal is valued at about $44 billion, Bloomberg said.

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DALLAS- Directors of TXU Corp., the largest electric producer in Texas, gave tentative approval Sunday to sell the electric company to two private-equity firms and abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants, according to a person close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in TXU debt, which would make it the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history.

Final details were still being worked out late Sunday, and TXU was expected to announce a deal early Monday, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies had not officially announced the deal.

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WASHINGTON - Governors from five Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases, saying their region has suffered some of the worst of global warming with recent droughts and bad fire seasons.

The governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state agreed that they would develop a regional target to lower greenhouse gases and create a program aimed at helping businesses reach the still-undecided goals.

"In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country," said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat. "Western states are being particularly hard-hit by the effects of climate change."

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Thousands of scientists from across the world join forces this week to investigate the effects of global warming on the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets.Monday, February 26, 2007

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LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of scientists from across the world join forces this week to investigate the effects of global warming on the Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets.

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The $45-billion buyout, the largest ever by private investors, also includes benefits for consumers.

February 26, 2007

Directors of the biggest utility in Texas, TXU Corp., agreed Sunday to a $45-billion buyout, with sweeping concessions for environmentalists and consumers, people involved in the deal said. It would be the largest such buyout by private investors.

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DALLAS ? Directors of TXU Corp., the largest electricity producer in Texas, gave tentative approval Sunday night to sell the company to two private-equity firms that would abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants, according to people close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in TXU debt, which would make it the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history.

Final details were still being worked out late Sunday night, and TXU was expected to announce a deal early Monday, said two people close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies had not officially announced the deal.

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Directors of the largest utility in Texas, TXU Corp., agreed Sunday to a $45 billion buyout, with sweeping concessions for environmentalists and consumers, according to people involved in the deal. It would be the largest such buyout by private investors.

The purchase agreement calls for TXU to scrap controversial plans for eight new coal power plants in Texas, a promise not to build them in any other states and an agreement to double investments in wind and other alternative power.

"The environmental commitments are unprecedented for a major supplier of electricity," said William Reilly, who was EPA administrator under President George H.W. Bush and is a senior adviser to one of the buyers, Texas Pacific Group.

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The TXU Corp. board accepted an offer on Sunday to sell the company for around $45 billion in a deal that would take the power company private and kill plans to build eight coal-fired power plants, according to people familiar with the situation.

Private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, along with Goldman Sachs, bid for the Dallas power company in the largest buyout offer ever. Also Online Read more about the coal-plant debate

Sources confirmed that the TXU board had accepted and said TXU will publicly announce the deal early Monday. News of the offer began leaking out on Friday. TXU officials have declined to comment, and the buyers have remained officially mum.

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DALLAS -- Directors of TXU Corp., the largest electric producer in Texas, gave tentative approval Sunday to sell the electric company to two private-equity firms that would abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants, according to people close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in TXU debt, which would make it the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history.

Final details were still being worked out late Sunday, and TXU was expected to announce a deal early Monday, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies had not officially announced the deal.

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About two weeks ago, Fred Krupp, the president of a nonprofit advocacy group called Environmental Defense, received an unusual phone call.

William K. Reilly, the former administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush., was on the other end. But before Reilly would explain the reason for his call, he said he needed an assurance from Krupp that he would keep the conversation confidential. Also Online

TXU to take buyout Read more about the coal-plant debate

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Bill Steigerwald (Columnist WNJ, Dec. 22, 2006) is all wet; he is getting wet from melting glaciers and polar ice caps. Melting ice suggests global warming to me. I'm astounded Steigerwald avoids the scientific data and terms global warming as "scientific silliness."

Maybe he does not read scientific data or believe satellite photos that document thawing glaciers around the world and thawing ice caps at both poles.

The video "An Inconvenient Truth, A Global Warning" is certainly sobering and almost frightening. Former Vice-President Al Gore presents an eye-opening and compelling view of the future of the planet - and our civilization. Roger Friedman of Fox News states, "It doesn't matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, your mind will be changed in a nanosecond" by the scientific facts presented.

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Rising temperatures are redistributing bacteria, insects and plants, exposing people to diseases they'd never encountered before.

February 25, 2007

Photo Gallery

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Most Ohioans would agree that trees do much more than beautify our homes. Roots reduce soil erosion and leaves filter the air we breathe by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.

Trees cool us in summer and shelter us during winter making our lives more comfortable and enjoyable.

Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20 to 50 percent in energy used for heating. Yet, every day Ohio homeowners unknowingly put the lives of their trees at risk with improper pruning practices in their quest for tidy, manicured landscapes.

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Under a proposed $45 billion buyout by a team of private equity firms, the TXU Corporation, a Texas utility that has long been the bane of environmental groups, will abandon plans to build 8 of 11 coal plants and commit to a broad menu of environmental measures, according to people involved in the negotiations.

The roster of commitments came through an unusual process in which the equity firms asked two prominent environmental groups what measures could be taken to win their support. The result is an about-face from the company?s earlier approach to climate-change issues, and includes a goal of returning the carbon-dioxide emissions by TXU to 1990 levels by 2020.

Environmental groups said yesterday that they had never known of a financial deal with such an ambitious built-in environmental component.

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DALLAS - Private-equity firms trying to buy TXU Corp. have agreed to drop plans for most of the utility's proposed new coal-fired power plants in Texas if the deal goes through, according to people familiar with the situation.

The new buyers would also support a mandatory national program to cap emissions of greenhouse gases and pledge not to build coal-fired plants outside Texas, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the sale was not final.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were in advanced talks Sunday to buy TXU for about $32 billion, or about $70 per share, plus the assumption of TXU debt. It would be the largest private-equity acquisition ever.

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Scientists from more than 60 countries are preparing to fan out around the North and South Poles in an ambitious two-year effort to understand the vital, shifting dynamics of ice, oceans and life at the ends of the earth.

With a budget of about $350 million spread over more than 120 projects, researchers will camp on drifting Arctic Ocean sea ice and trek to largely uncharted Antarctic mountains.

They will use gliding underwater robots, giant icebreaking ships, satellites and other technologies to explore polar climate, biology, geology and ocean chemistry, and they will undertake physics and astronomy studies that can be done only at the poles.

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DALLAS — Private-equity firms trying to buy TXU Corp. have agreed to drop plans for most of the utility's proposed new coal-fired power plants in Texas if the deal goes through, according to people familiar with the situation.

The new buyers would also support a mandatory national program to cap emissions of greenhouse gases and pledge not to build coal-fired plants outside Texas, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the sale was not final.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were in advanced talks Sunday to buy TXU for about $32 billion, or about $70 per share, plus the assumption of TXU debt. It would be the largest private-equity acquisition ever.

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It seems to me that most everybody has heard the old saying about how every dark cloud has a silver lining, but, you know, sometimes we might want to take a closer look at that silver lining. One of the current dark clouds on our horizon is the way our country depends on oil, both domestically produced and imported. This cloud is big enough to include concern about the emission of "greenhouse" gases, particularly carbon dioxide, from petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline. The silver lining is the increasing emphasis on ethanol -- but about that silver lining... .

First of all, let's look at ethanol itself. It is essentially an alcohol type product that comes from fermenting vegetation such as corn or sugar cane. (We primarily use corn while Brazil, the largest user of ethanol, uses sugar cane, however, other types of vegetation can be used.) Ethanol, from whatever source, can be mixed with gasoline to provide fuel for internal combustion engines, but ethanol doesn't produce as much energy per gallon as gasoline does -- only about six-tenths as much. To p...

It doesn't take the proverbial rocket scientist to figure out that the number of miles per gallon of an ethanol/gasoline mix will be less than for gasoline only, and the greater percentage of ethanol in the mix, the lower the number of miles per gallon. Right now the standard mix is 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol so the reduction in miles per gallon is not very great. If we go to the highly touted 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline mix, however, we will have to use a lot more fuel to drive the same number of miles we are currently logging, and the price for the mix is at least that of gasoline alone. Hm.

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Prospective TXU buyers would build fewer coal plants

Group promises only 3 new coal plants, is likely to cut prices

02:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 25, 2007

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The companies that want to buy TXU Corp. would build only three of the 11 coal-fired power plants TXU has proposed, and would cut retail electricity prices, addressing two issues that fueled public outcry against the power company.

The buyers, Texas Pacific Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs, signed an unusual agreement with two environmental groups. They promised to scale back the coal plant building program – as well as to cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions – if TXU accepts their offer of around $45 billion for the company.

Negotiators say the deal is the first of its kind.

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The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change makes this claim, and has the numbers to back it up. In fact, the panel says California serves as a model for other states seeking a similar path to energy reduction. Wow.

The panel concluded that since 1974, California has held its per capita energy consumption essentially constant while energy use per person across the United States has jumped 50 percent overall. While the average American burns 12,000 kilowatt-hours a year of electricity, the average Californian burns less than 7,000.

Believe it or not, California is cutting its contributions to global warming — carbon dioxide emissions per capita in California have fallen 30 percent since 1975 while the U.S. overall has remained flat. And with a push from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state will further curb automobile pollution, increase the use of solar energy and cap greenhouse gases in the future.

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The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change makes this claim, and has the numbers to back it up. In fact, the panel says California serves as a model for other states seeking a similar path to energy reduction. Wow.

The panel concluded that since 1974 California has held its per capita energy consumption essentially constant while energy use per person across the United States has jumped 50 percent overall. While the average American burns

12,000 kilowatt-hours a year of electricity, the average Californian burns less than 7,000.

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he biggest leveraged buyout ever is about to be surpassed. Again.A group led by the private equity giants Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company and the Texas Pacific Group is near a deal to acquire the TXU Corporation, a Texas utility, for about $45 billion, according to people involved in the talks.The amount of private money that is being offered is a huge financial endorsement of the company’s energy strategy. TXU has irritated environmental advocates by proposing to build 11 coal-fir...

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A new light is about to burn more brightly: the stubby, squiggly fluorescent bulb. Environmentalists love it, Wal-Mart is promoting it and Australia is eyeing it as an easy way to save energy and curb global warming.

Now, California lawmakers are giving it some wattage by considering a ban on the sale of old-fashioned incandescent bulbs beginning in 2012.

The proposed switch represents a revolution in a lampshade, because incandescents account for 95% of light bulb sales. Replacing each descendant of Thomas A. Edison's invention with a low-energy, long-lasting, compact fluorescent bulb would slash electricity consumption by 75%, proponents say.

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New California vehicles would have stickers showing the amount of greenhouse gases they produce, starting with the 2009 model year.

From Bloomberg News

February 24, 2007

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Feinstein, D-Calif., unveiled a wide-ranging package of bills aimed to do just that. One would limit emissions from power plants, another would raise fuel economy standards. Several are based on laws California already has in place.

"We've got to control and contain the warming," Feinstein told about 150 academic, government, industry and activist experts gathered for a two-day conference on climate change policy.

"Our planet is at stake. ... Whatever you do, don't shift — don't shift — the problem to the next generation."

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LONDON - "I hate cars," Ken Livingstone told an interviewer back in 1999. "If I ever get any powers again I'd ban the lot."

A few months later, the outspoken Livingstone got himself elected mayor of London, and while he hasn't been able to actually ban the automobile from his city's streets, he has made driving in London a very expensive proposition.

In 2003, London became one of the first major cities to establish a traffic congestion charge zone. Motorists driving their cars in the city center between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. are now obliged to pay a $16 daily fee. The fine for violators is $200.

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WE see so many things wrong with California — health insurance, high cost of housing, deteriorating infrastructure, crime, silly legislation, the Raiders — now comes a report that says this state leads the nation in energy conservation. Could this be true? Have we really learned to conserve energy better than anyone in the country?

The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change makes this claim, and has the numbers to back it up. In fact, the panel says California serves as a model for other states seeking a similar path to energy reduction. Wow.

The panel concluded that since 1974 California has held its per capita energy consumption essentially constant while energy use per person across the United States has jumped 50 percent overall. While the average American burns 12,000 kilowatt-hours a year of electricity, the average Californian burns less than 7,000.

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Aside from a few dead-enders on the political right, climate change skeptics seem to be making a seamless transition from denial to fatalism. In the past, they rejected the science. Now, with the scientific evidence pretty much irrefutable, they insist that it doesn't matter because any serious attempt to curb greenhouse gas emissions is politically and economically impossible.

Behind this claim lies the assumption, explicit or implicit, that any substantial cut in energy use would require a drastic change in the way we live. To be fair, some people in the conservation movement seem to share that assumption.

But the assumption is false. Let me tell you about a real-world counterexample: an advanced economy that has managed to combine rising living standards with a substantial decline in per capita energy consumption, and managed to keep total carbon dioxide emissions more or less flat for two decades, even as both its economy and its population grew rapidly. And it achieved all this without fundamentally changing a lifestyle centered on automobiles and single-family houses.

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Feinstein, D-Calif., unveiled a wide-ranging package of

bills aimed to do just that. One would limit emissions from power plants, another would raise fuel economy standards. Several are based on laws California already has in place.

"We've got to control and contain the warming," Feinstein told about 150 academic, government, industry and activist experts gathered for a two-day conference on climate change policy.

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Citigroup analyst Greg Gordon has raised his rating on Exelon Corp. to "buy" from "hold," citing the increasing likelihood that the Chicago utility will be a major beneficiary if the U.S. imposes caps on carbon emissions.

Gordon also raised his target price for Exelon shares by a full $10, to $73.

In New York Stock Exchange trading today, Exelon shares closed up $2.75, or 4.3 percent, to establish a 52-week high of $66.98.

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Future electrical production could be blowing in the region's winds

This map shows higher wind capacity areas of Fillmore County in blue. It also shows power transmission line features.

Joe Deden, executive director of Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, explained to the crowd present Monday evening that the center has hopes of one day - sooner than later - becoming "carbon neutral." That would mean creating clean energy to offset the carbon dioxide given off by the operation of Eagle Bluff, those attending its classes, and the forms of transportation used to get there by staff and the students they teach.

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