A more than 2 percent decline in MidAmerican Energy's return on common equity in 2011 has prompted the utility to abandon a nearly decade-long rate deal and seek a two-year electric rate increase totaling $115 million.

The privately owned utility sent customers notices of the rate increase a week ago and MidAmerican is expected to file the rate case with the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) next week.

Bettendorf city officials say they see no reason to curtail an "aggressive" capital spending plan or reduce long-term debt because overall city property values continue to grow significantly from higher assessments and strong commercial and residential construction.

City Administrator Decker Ploehn told alderman at a recent budget session that "picking an arbitrary debt levy rate or debt margin to living within may not allow the growth needed to maintain or upgrade our existing infrastructure."

Two high visibility Bettendorf intersections -- 18th Street and Spruce Hills Drive and Middle and Belmont Roads -- would get major new commercial businesses under projects being reviewed by the city.

CVS pharmacy wants to build a new 13,000-square-foot store on the northwest corner of 18th and Spruce Hills and is seeking a special use permit for the drive-up window.

Calls to Iowa legislators by members of AARP Tuesday (1/31) apparently delayed the first vote on a controversial bill giving MidAmerican Energy authority to raise electric rates upfront to pay for construction of a nuclear power plant.

IowaPolitics.com reported Iowa members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) flooded the state legislature with more than 1,500 calls opposing the bill now before the Iowa Senate Commerce Committee.

Lee Enterprise stock nearly doubled in price to $1.71 a share earlier this week after news the company had received approval to exit bankruptcy and complete its planned debt refinancing.

The Davenport-based publisher of 48 newspapers, including the Quad City Times, filed for voluntary bankruptcy December 12, 2011 in order to get a small group of lenders bound to terms of the refinancing.

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) staff has raised several warning flags about legislation sought by MidAmerican Energy to shift the risk of building a new nuclear power plant to utility ratepayers.

In a memo sent to the IUB and state legislators in December, the IUB staff warns that "some of these (bill) provisions could create incentives for the company to engage in behavior that could be contrary to the public interest in certain situations."

To illustrate what might happen, the staff report gives this possible scenario:

Lee Enterprises -- owner of the Quad City Times and 47 other daily newspapers -- earned $14.5 million in its first quarter ended December 25 despite a 4 percent drop in revenues for the period.

The 32 cents per share in earnings compares to net income per share of 42 cents in the first quarter of 2011. Revenues fell from $207.7 million in the first quarter of last year to $199.6 million this year.

Coal-fired power plants comprise seven of the top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases in Iowa, according to a new online database of large stationary sources compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

On a national level, coal-fired electric generating plants make up 96 of the top 100 emitters of so-called greenhouses gases which trap some of the Earth’s outgoing energy, thus retaining heat in the atmosphere.

Power plants are the largest source by far of greenhouse gas stationary source emissions, totaling some 2,324 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, according to the EPA. Petroleum refineries are a distant second emitting 183 million metric tons of CO2 each year.

The heralded expansion of Alcoa's Davenport Works will add $300 million in new construction, an estimated 150 new jobs, and a significant increase in the facility's emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC's).

The increased emission of VOC's -- which lead to the formation of ground-level ozone -- is high enough to require the company to obtain a modification in its Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit. The plant's air quality construction permit is under review by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), which will hold a public meeting on the issue at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday (1/17) at the Bettendorf Public Library.

The aluminum manufacturing facility at 4879 State Street currently emits an estimated 240 tons of VOC's each year, and that would be increased by an additional 247 tons with the planned expansion announced last September.

National air quality standards were exceeded 39 times in Iowa during 2011, a significant drop from the 85 exceedances recorded in 2010, according to the latest report from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

All 39 exceedances last year were recorded in Muscatine - 37 for high SO2 (sulfur dioxide) levels and two for high PM 2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns).

In 2010, 33 air quality exceedances were recorded in Muscatine, 10 in Clinton and nine in Davenport.