The Quad Report

Ohio-based investor-owned utility holding company FirstEnergy Sept. 12 agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission a $100 million settlement in the long-running nuclear bribery scandal that has seen prominent Ohio politicians and political players jailed. At the same time, Ohio’s attorney general indicted two former top company executives on further bribery charges in the … More FirstEnergy pays another $100M fine in bribe case, two former execs indicted

The D.C. Circuit appeals court has upheld the authority of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license private, away-from-reactor storage of spent nuclear fuel, adding to confusion to the gnarly issue of what to do with high-level nuclear waste. With federal circuit courts in collision, it may take the U.S. Supreme Court to sort it … More Nuke waste confusion continues with D.C. Circuit ruling

In a case brought by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, a federal court in Maryland has seriously unsettled oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, ruling that a 2020 decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service violates the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland Aug.19 … More Endangered Species Act decision roils Gulf of Mexico O&G

By Henry Sokolski Late last month, the House Intelligence Committee chairman volunteered that Iran could declare itself a nuclear weapons state by the end of the year. And earlier this month, the U.S. intelligence community warned that Iran has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do … More Guest Commentary: Nuclear proliferation will dominate the next president’s agenda

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management wants to expand a siting and permitting plan for solar energy projects on Western public lands in 11 states in a solar energy development proposal announced in January. The new BLM “Western Solar Plan” announced late last month (Aug. 29) consists of a final environmental impact statement and … More BLM to open 31 million Western acres to solar development

Despite the Biden administration’s enthusiasm for capturing carbon emissions from power plant and ethanol manufacturers, moving the CO2 by pipeline and storing it underground, other barriers continue to raise problems for the young technology. While technology to capture CO2 stack emissions has well-known problems, those appear to be engineering and economic issues, more likely to … More Legal landmines face CO2 pipelines

By David Wojick The State of Maine just got a very strange offshore wind lease from the Feds. They call it a research lease as opposed to a commercial development lease. It has some mysterious features that are worth pondering. There may even be a many-billion-dollar trick here. We consider that at the end, after … More Guest Commentary: Maine’s mysterious offshore wind lease

The Bill Gates-backed $9 billion sodium cooled fast nuclear reactor planned for Kemmerer Wyoming is worse than unnecessary, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. It’s dangerous. In comments to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on TerraPower’s 345-MW Natrium reactor request for a construction permit, UCS nuclear physicist Edwin Lyman says Kemmerer Unit 1 “is … More UCS debunks the Gates sodium-cooled fast reactor

Driven by recent court actions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is facing a serious challenge to the way it handles natural gas pipeline cases. How the commission will react now that it has a full five members, and how a new administration may influence the decisions, likely will be a FERC focus in the months … More New FERC faces old challenges on natural gas pipeline decisions

Billed as a merger of equals, Pittsburgh-based coal giant Consol Energy is acquiring St. Louis-based coal giant Arch Resources in an all-stock deal. The combination is valued at a market capitalization of about $5.2 billion. The new firm – Core Natural Resources – will be based in Canonsburg, Pa., southwest of Pittsburgh where Consol is … More Combination and consolidation in coal country