It was a low key announcement from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management last week (May 16). Implementing a recent federal court ruling from Montana, BLM proposed to end new leases for existing mines in the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Wyoming and Montana. The reaction from coal states and coal industry interests was… More Commentary: Coal interests cry crocodile tears
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
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
The California Public Utilities Commission last week (May 9) adopted a sweeping new statewide electric rate design, imposing a $24.15/month fixed customer charge aimed at recovering fixed utility costs combined with lower volumetric rates for customers of the state’s three large investor-owned electric companis. The new rate design, the CPUC stressed, is based on the… More CPUC Oks new electric rate design, nixes PG&E generation spinoff
Jupiter, Fla.-based Holtec International (with most of it located in New Jersey) is setting out to be the Swiss Army knife of nuclear energy, the be-all and end-all of the business of radioactivity. Will the company’s private structure and secretiveness hamper its ambitions? On May 1, Holtec announced its latest atomic venture, a wholly-owned subsidiary,… More Holtec’s ambitions: an engine that knows no rest
Literally. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Last week Kathy Chandler, a resident of Bent Mountain, Va., a small rural community that overlooks the scenic Roanoke Valley, while taking a walk noticed muddy water running through her pasture. Knowing that the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline was constructed through the area, she contacted… More Mountain Valley Pipeline springs a leak
An ambitious Canadian project to collect carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant has underperformed for nearly a decade, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Despite optimistic claims from the operator of the Saskatchewan project, SaskPower, the carbon capture and storage project on a 115-MW coal-fired unit… More IEEFA dings Canadian CCS underperformance
California utility giant PG&E’s move to raise capital by selling 49.5% of its non-nuclear generation to investment behemoth KKR for somewhere around $3 billion is scheduled to come before the California Public Utilities Commission next week (May 9). Its fate is uncertain. The KKR deal, announced Wednesday (May 1), would see the utility, which has… More PG&E-KKR asset spinoff plan faces CPUC scrutiny
It’s time to temper the enthusiasm for a large fleet of small nuclear reactors populating the globe, according to Sharon Squassoni, George Washington University research professor of international affairs. Her work at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs focuses on nuclear energy and weapons. In a report – “New nuclear energy: assessing the national security… More Is a swarm of SMRs dangerous?
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