The U.S. Supreme Court Monday (June 30) refused to grant a petition from ExxonMobil Corp. seeking to reverse an appeals court loss in a massive, 15-year dispute over air pollution at the oil giant’s Baytown, Texas petrochemical complex. Exxon now faces a $14.25 million penalty, the largest ever in a Clean Air Act citizen suit. … More Exhausting Exxon air pollution suit expires at SCOTUS
A bogus presidential order and a feckless administrative agency has put the Trump administration in a nasty, complex dispute involving a private sector electric company, state regulators, a state governor, a multi-state electric grid management organization that includes a bit of Canada and runs to the Gulf of Mexico, a host of public interest groups, … More Commentary: Trump administration’s electric ignorance revealed
By Kennedy Maize Outgoing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie yesterday (June 26) praised the performance of the electric system during the week’s massive “heat dome” that blanketed most of the eastern U.S. (and half of the country’s population). The regional transmission operators and the conventional utility systems faced very difficult circumstances and “got … More FERC’s Christie: Eastern grid survives the heat dome
By Kennedy Maize Large scale battery energy storage systems, once regarded as suspect, have garnered a major place in the U.S. electrical marketplace by making low-cost renewable energy dispatchable while bolstering grid stability. A major success story for battery storage has come in Texas, where renewable energy is politically incorrect among many of the state’s … More BESS riding a wave of success
By Kennedy Maize The U.S. Supreme Court has given a green light to temporary, away-from-reactor storage of spent nuclear power plant fuel in Texas and New Mexico, overturning the ultra-conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The 6-3 decision deals a blow to Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas oil and gas company Fasken Land and … More Supreme Court OKs away-from-reactor nuke waste storage
By Kennedy Maize The Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (some refer to it as the “One Obese Ugly Bill Act”) would slow the already interminable Department of Energy cleanup of the now-shuttered former nuclear weapons plant in Hanford, Wash. That’s the conclusion of an analysis of the Trump administration’s 1,224-page “Technical Supplement to the … More GOP spending bill slows Hanford nuke waste cleanup
By Kennedy Maize In another test of the administration’s belief that Congressionally created independent regulatory commissions are not independent of the president, the White House at 6:15 p.m. Friday (June 13) informed Commissioner Christopher Hanson of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that he was fired without cause. Trump earlier this year replaced Democrat Hanson as … More Trump fires NRC Commissioner Christopher Hanson
By Kennedy Maize The U.K. has committed £14.2 billion (about $19.2 billion) for Electricite de France (EDF) to build two new 1,600-MW troubled, French-designed “European Pressurized Reactors,” denominated Sizewell C. The new units will be located at the coastal site of Sizewell A, a decommissioned Magnox reactor, and Sizewell B, a 1995 vintage 1,300-MW pressurized … More Nukes across the pond: UK doubles down; EDF finds more cracks; Germany tiptoes back
By Kennedy Maize no·to·ri·ous: [nəˈtôrēəs] adjective, famous or well known, typically for some bad quality or deed. Citing President Trump’s energy emergency declarations, the Interior Department June 6 approved a major expansion of Montana’s only remaining underground coal mine. Interior gave a green light to Signal Peak Energy’s controversial Bull Mountains mine. The DOI decision … More DOI backs notorious Montana coal mine
By Kennedy Maize Despite animosity from an administration that doesn’t really believe in an “all of the above” energy policy, solar did quite well in this year’s first quarter. Solar accounted for 69% of all electric generating capacity added to the U.S. grid in the 2025 first quarter. According to a new analysis by the … More Solar shines brightly in 2025, clouds ahead?