Predictably, a 25-state group and the nation’s rural electric cooperatives have sued the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency over proposed new rules designed to reduce coal-fired power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA rules rely on carbon capture and sequestration to achieve its aims, despite questions about the maturity of the technology. Attorneys general Drew… More States, co-ops sue EPA over coal plant CO2 plan
It didn’t take long. Less than a day after the Environmental Protection Agency announced its latest move to remove CO2 produced by coal-fired power plants, Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon told his attorney general to look into forming a coalition of coal states to challenge the rules in court. Cowboy State Daily quoted Gordon, “We… More Commentary: Biden EPA doubles down on risky carbon capture
The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency yesterday (April 25) announced a comprehensive package of rules aimed squarely at coal-fired electric generating plants and secondarily at natural gas generation. The new rules will generate legal challenges from industry and several states in multiple federal jurisdictions. They are likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.… More New EPA rules target coal-fired plants and, to a lesser degree, gas
The Biden administration’s plan to make big cuts in powerplant CO2 emissions faces tough technical, legal, and political challenges. These are likely to interact, occur simultaneously, and maybe soon. Here’s what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing as the path to dramatically reduced CO2 emissions from the nation’s electric power plants in the next… More EPA Power Plant Rule: Wonder Where It’s Bound?
West Virginia, the deposed king of U.S. coal, is moving to repeal a 1996 state law essentially banning nuclear power plants in the state. The state senate on Tuesday (Jan. 25) overwhelmingly approved a bill to repeal the nuclear prohibition. The vote was 24-7, with three senators who did not vote. The bill had both… More Will coal-rich West Virginia go nuclear?
A federal grand jury has indicted a second high-level Westinghouse nuclear officer in the $10-billion, 2017 collapse of the V.C. Summer nuclear construction project in South Carolina. Jeffrey Benjamin, former Westinghouse senior vice president for new plants and projects, is now among three other executives, two from the former SCANA Corp. owner of the project,… More Second high-level Westinghouse executive indicted in V.C. Summer fiasco
South Carolina faces a chaotic financial and political environment as a result of the entirely predictable collapse of the V.C. Summer nuclear project. The latest turn in the tangled tale is that a new vulture has appeared circling the carcass of the two failed 1000-MW Westinghouse AP 1000 units, and the operating 966-MW Westinghouse PWR,… More Utility vultures circle the V.C. Summer nuclear carcass
In somewhat of a surprise, the Supreme Court on Wednesday (Oct. 16) refused a power and coal industry emergency petition to stay a Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency rule to reduce power plant carbon dioxide emissions. The 2023 EPA rule, now under challenge at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, would have… More SCOTUS sidesteps political traps in environmental rules
A ruling that could have enormous consequences across the federal government should be coming this month, as the U.S. Supreme Court closes out its October 2023 docket. The decision could kill the court’s 1984 “Chevron deference” doctrine, which says courts faced with statutory ambiguity in a case involving federal agency should defer to the agency’s… More “Chevron deference” could die this month at the Supreme Court
A sharply divided Federal Energy Regulatory Commission adopted a sweeping electric transmission reform Monday (May 13), featuring a blistering dissent from Commissioner Mark Christie, the only Republican member, and a pointed defense of the order from Commissioner Allison Clement. The commission adopted a new approach to regional electric transmission planning and construction in the face… More Fractured FERC adopts landmark transmission order