In two recent partial dissents, Cheryl LaFleur, currently the longest-serving member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, issued partial dissents to FERC rulings on gas pipeline approvals. She was joined by Richard Glick, the most junior FERC commissioner, in one of those dissents. In both cases, a key to the dissent was the commission’s rejection … More Is ‘social cost of carbon’ a useful metric?

The Republican Congress has soundly rejected the Trump administration’s spending plans on energy and environmental issues lodged at the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Interior Department. The $1.3 billion Omnibus spending bill passed this week to avoid another government shutdown goes in the opposite direction charted by the White House and … More Congress thumbs its nose at Trump energy and environment budget

Don Blankenship, 68, was CEO of the Massey Energy Company, sixth largest coal company in the U.S., headquartered in West Virginia, from 2000 until he retired in 2010, with millions of dollars. Now he’s in a nip-and-tuck battle to win the state’s Republican nomination to run against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November. The GOP … More Will WVa GOP nominate an ex con coal exec to the Senate?

In my five decades in journalism, one of the best things I have learned is the value of skepticism. There’s an old journalism saw – “Your mother says she loves you? Check it out” – that serves ink-stained wretches well (although few of us are ink-stained anymore). Don’t take anything at face value. Question everything … More On skepticism

A partisan split has revealed itself at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over, predictably, the commission’s role in analyzing the environmental impacts of natural gas pipelines. At the March 15 open FERC meeting, the commission’s two Democrats – Cheryl LaFleur and Richard Glick – issued combined partial dissents in a case involving the Birdsboro pipeline … More FERC displays a split on environmental analysis

Acting at the bureaucratic equivalent of warp speed, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today adopted a series of actions to apply the impacts of last year’s federal income tax cuts to its jurisdictional wholesale electric markets and oil and natural gas interstate pipelines. When Congress last made major federal income tax reductions in 1986, it … More FERC responds to new federal tax law

As the Trump administration bench appears to completely unwind, with the firing of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, and the subsequent ousting of his deputy for telling the truth about the firing, attention has now shifted. The latest is the prospect of moving Energy Secretary Rick Perry to the Veterans Administration, replacing Dr. David … More Perry from DOE to VA?

Public Service Co. of New Mexico (PNM), the principal asset of Albuquerque-based PNM Resources, sits at the distant southeast corner of the western power grid, unruffled by many of the competitive forces that are roiling much of the country. Indeed, there is a remote feeling about the state, one of the nation’s poorest and one … More Was NM high court-approved San Juan plan tainted by regulator impropriety?

A fractured Federal Energy Regulatory Commission late Friday approved a plan from Independent System Operator-New England for a dual capacity market to accommodate state-mandated policy goals for renewable energy.   The notational vote (not done at a public meeting but through the passage of paper among the commissioners) was 4-1, with Commissioner Robert Powelson dissenting, … More Divided FERC OKs ISO-NE plan to deal with state renewables subsidies

Is this a trend?   * NextEra Energy in Florida is stalking South Carolina’s state-owned Santee Cooper utility.   * JEA, Jacksonville, Fla.’s city large electric and water utility is pondering selling itself to an investor-owned utility.   * Puerto Rico’s PREPA electric utility, staggering before hit by Hurricane Maria in September, further disabling the … More Is U.S. public power under new assault?