Seattle’s Energy Northwest, a municipal joint action agency that provides power to 29 municipal distributors across the Evergreen State, is moving forward on a plan to build a fleet of small modular nuclear reactors on the Department of Energy’s Hanford former weapons production site. Officials from Energy Northwest are scheduled to meet with staff from… More Energy Northwest goes for X-energy HTGR SMRs
A proposed financial reorganization of Central Maine Power (CMP), the state’s dominant electric company, is generating fierce consumer opposition at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Augusta-based Avangrid (NYSE:AGR), CMP’s owner since 2015, is 81.6% owned by Spanish energy conglomerate Iberdrola, which wants the state regulators to rubber stamp a deal where Iberdrola would acquire the… More Should Central Maine Power go “dark” to the regulators?
(A three-part series) The controversial 922-page “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for a far-right Trump government is a political prescription for various reforms of energy and environmental programs in the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency. While Donald Trump has tried to distance himself in the… More Project 2025 part 3: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(A three part series) The controversial 922-page “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for a far-right Trump government is political prescription for various reforms of energy and environmental programs in the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency. While Donald Trump has tried to distance himself in the… More Project 2025 part 2: the U.S. Department of the Interior
(A three part series) The controversial 922-page “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project”, the Heritage Foundation blueprint for a far-right Trump government is a political prescription for a variety of reforms of energy and environmental programs in the Department of Energy, the Interior Department, and the Environmental Protection Agency. While Donald Trump has tried to distance… More Project 2025: What it says about energy, environment, and public lands
“Valley So Low” is a gripping autopsy of the largest industrial accident in U.S., the 2008 failure of the enormous coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s giant Kingston power plant near Knoxville. The book provides a thorough, thoughtful, and impeccably researched history covering an event that continues to provide lessons today. Journalist Jared… More Review: Valley So Low: one lawyer’s fight for justice in the wake of America’s great coal catastrophe
Several state attorneys general have launched initiatives to protect consumers against shady solar panel installers. It’s a widespread problem as many states encourage rooftop photovoltaic panels and many home improvement contractors are offering to install the panels. Among the most active AGs is Minnesota’s Keith Ellison, who has been cracking down on solar scammers since… More Sunburn: state AGs pursue dodgy solar installers
“The ink has gone dry on FERC’s rubber stamp for gas projects,” commented Moneen Nasmith, Earthjustice senior attorney. The greenhouse gas impacts of FRC’s decisions granting authority for new natural gas pipelines has again come into public view. Yesterday (July 30) the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals bluntly rejected a January 2023 FERC order approving… More D.C. Circuit slams FERC’s wink-nod pipeline greenhouse gas policy
Holtec International’s plan to resurrect the shuttered Pilgrim nuclear plant in Michigan is generating optimism. If successful, could nuclear grave robbing could come to life, decommissioning morphing into recommissioning? Speaking at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week (July 23), Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Christopher Hanson told U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich) that… More Holtec: Palisades restart progress, Pilgrim decommissioning setback, UK factory examined
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee leadership this week (July 23) unveiled legislation designed to streamline permitting of energy infrastructure projects, including new interstate electric transmission projects. The prospects are unclear in a presidential election year. The legislation, the “Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024,” is the product of committee Democratic (now an independent… More Manchin-Barrasso energy permitting bill born