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

If you thought enactment of Ohio’s legislation – HB6 – to rescue uneconomic nuclear and coal plants from shutting down took care of the issue, think again. Opponents of the legislation are mounting a credible campaign to put repeal of the measure on the statewide ballot in November 2020, setting off a nasty squabble. The … More Ohio nuclear bailout fight far from over

Japan’s nuclear utilities are selling off uranium fuel, according to an exclusive Reuters report, which suggests that Japan will not be aggressively restarting many of the nuclear plants shut down in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster. The country has large nuclear fuel holdings and will be selling into a depressed market, so the nuclear utilities … More Do uranium sales signal Japan’s further nuclear retreat?

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) is in regulatory hot water at the California Public Utilities Commission, which is formally considering the future role of natural gas in the state. The Sempra Energy subsidiary was exposed last week to having engaged in an “astroturf,” or fake grass roots, lobbying campaign at the CPUC. A group called … More SoCalGas trips on lobbying astroturf

While we know that the Earth is warming, do we really know what that means for the future? Is global warming an existential threat to civilization as we know it, or an inconvenient annoyance? Theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder at the Frankfurth Institute for Advanced Studies has raised that question in a recent New York Times … More Model weaknesses cloud the global warming picture

The recent explosion of a Russian missile and release of associated radiation, which, according to U.S. accounts has killed seven nuclear experts and technicians, may be related to the country’s attempt to develop a nuclear engine for a long-range cruise missile. As the Russian government has claimed since 2018, the New York Times noted, the … More Nuclear-powered cruise missiles? Been there, failed at that

The UK experienced a widespread power blackout Friday afternoon, affecting more than a million Britons. The BBC reported that the incident occurred when both an onshore gas-fired generator at Little Barford in Bedfordshire and the Hornsea offshore wind farm went off the National Grid transmission and distribution system within two minutes of each other at … More Big Friday UK power blackout leaves heads scratching

A badly fractured Federal Energy Regulatory Commission failed to achieve a quorum yesterday, allowing a proposal by the Independent System Operator-New England to compensate coal and nuclear generators with millions in extra payments for having a three-day fuel supply on hand during a winter coal snap to go forward. While FERC has a sitting quorum … More FERC fails to come to the plate on ISO-NE winter subsidy filing

It’s been a troubling summer for nuclear construction projects in the U.S. and Western Europe, further diminishing the prospects for new projects. Starting in the U.S., Southern Co.’s two-unit Vogtle plant, long over budget and off schedule, could be unable to make its current commercial operation forecast of May 23, 2021 for the first unit, … More Vogtle, Olkiluoto, and Flamanville face further schedule delays