Last Monday, the White House announced a series of new judicial and law enforcement nominees for Senate confirmation. Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law, tweeted using the hashtag #FERCWatch, “White House sends 8 nominations to the Senate. No FERC nominee(s).” Those of us who follow FERC (it’s an addiction, I… More Don’t look for FERC nominees anytime soon

In a case that has roots going back decades, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday largely upheld an Obama administration air pollution rule – supported by the Trump EPA – that aims to crack down on pollution from one state’s power plants blowing into another state. The unanimous decision also said… More DC Circuit upholds Obama Cross-State Air Pollution Rule

It’s time for the U.S. nuclear industry and its advocates to acknowledge an unpleasant truth: it’s time to start over from square one on disposing of the high-level radioactive waste (spent fuel) from the nation’s nuclear reactors. Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, which has been the great waste hope for over 30 years, is dead. The latest… More Senate votes more nails in Yucca Mountain’s coffin

Remember when natural gas had a limited future in the U.S. and oil production worldwide was running out? A decade ago, the fracking revolution hit, changing the prospects for gas and consigning “peak oil” to the dustbin of history. All the conventional forecasts were 180 degrees wrong. In the years since horizontal drilling and hydraulic… More Examining the perils of energy forecasting

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today overruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s grant of eminent domain for a natural gas pipeline. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel remanded FERC’s 2017 approval for an interstate pipeline proposed by Nexus Gas Transmission LLC for a 257-mile pipeline moving Appalachian shale gas across… More Appeals court slaps down FERC on Nexus pipeline