Reuters reports the news — or perhaps I should call it the Revelation:

The expected building costs of a new nuclear reactor in Finland by France’s Areva have increased to 4.5 billion euros ($6.66 billion) from 3 billion.

Last year Bloomberg had a long article on the troubles plaguing Finland’s Olkiluoto-3, “the first nuclear plant ordered in Western Europe since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.” By 2007, the plant had been delayed two years thanks to “flawed welds for the reactor’s steel liner, unusable water-coolant pipes and suspect concrete in the foundation.” It was also more than 25 percent over its 3 billion-euro ($4 billion) budget.

Yet a year later, the cost was up 50%, and Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority said “the supervision and ‘safety culture’ of welding at the Olkiluoto-3 nuclear plant did not meet all of its standards and must be improved.”

Who could be responsible for all these flaws and cost overruns? Could it be … Satan? After all, The Book of Revelation clearly states:

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This week on Meet the Bloggers, journalist and author Simran Sethi will be the special guest to discuss the environment, sustainability, and Big Oil. Joining Sethi will be bloggers Kevin Grandia (DeSmogBlog.com), Kate Sheppard (Gristmill), and yours truly, who will discuss energy, environment, and the economy. Watch it live now:

Both The Hill and Politico.com have reported that the Gang-0f-20 will not introduce a bipartisan compromise energy bill before the election. This is a huge triumph for McCain and major political blunder by Congressional Democrats.

As I wrote Monday, the original compromise bill by the Gang “is the best chance — indeed, the only chance — the Dems will have to simultaneously give the lie to McCain’s faux bipartisanship and to expose the Big Energy Lie, the absurd notion that McCain and the Republicans believe in an all-of-the-above energy for dealing with our energy crises” (see “Gang-of-10 deal is a must for Dems“).

Frankly, it was bewildering that Lindsey Graham was part of the original Gang in the first place, given how much a genuine compromise that benefited the entire nation was against the interests of his close friend from Arizona. It was even more bewildering that House and Senate Dems didn’t immediately pick up this bill and vote on it given that it contained the least amount of coastal drilling imaginable while at the same time providing more long-term support for renewables than the House Dems just voted for!

Now, whatever energy bill Senate Democrats come up with, McCain and his allies can claim that it is just a partisan Democratic bill, just as the House GOP stood on the House floor and bitterly opposed Pelosi’s bill (see “How is the House GOP’s behavior last night different from my 19-month-old daughter’s“).

Politico.com got duped into pushing what will no doubt be the standard GOP line, that …

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[Another guest post by John Atcheson who has than 30 years in energy and the environment with government, private industry, and the nation's leading think tanks (see "Utility decoupling on steroids."]

On September 25th, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative will hold its first auction. Six of the ten RGGI (pronounced Reggie) states will inaugurate the nation’s first mandatory GHG cap and trade program, designed to harness market forces in cutting GHG emissions. Some 12,565,387 CO2 allowances will be issued by Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont in this round. Allowances purchased in RGGI auctions can be used for compliance in any RGGI state. A second auction will be held in December.

An important feature of RGGI is that the vast majority of allowances will be auctioned, rather than allocated for free, as was done with the Acid Rain trading scheme, and states will use the revenue generated from the auctions to invest in programs designed to stimulate energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Initially RGGI will cap emissions from 233 electricity plants at no more than 188 million short tons a year between January 1, 2009 and 2014. Thereafter, it will lower the cap by 2.5 percent a year, each year until 2018, for a total of 10 percent.

As with the European Union’s Emission Trading Scheme, RGGI’s initial allocation of credits is likely to exceed actual emissions, which will depress carbon prices and get trading off to a relatively slow start.

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I am tough on Andy — precisely because he is the most thorough and high-impact climate reporter. He reports on his blog:

I’ve received quite a nice honor for my sustained examination of the science and politics of global warming, from the North Pole to the White House. It’s the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism….

The award, named for the NBC television correspondent and anchor who died in 1996, is given to journalists operating pretty much below the radar, on stories that simmer instead of explode.

Kudos, Andy. Well deserved.