The Quad Report

Pressed by congressional Democrats and national environmental groups to stay away from anything that comes before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that smells of the Trump administration’s ill-fated attempt to rescue a foundering coal industry, new Commissioner Bernard McNamee says “maybe.” In a letter to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) this week, McNamee said that … More FERC’s McNamee on fuel recusals: Will he or won’t he?

Among the victims of late last year’s devastating Camp Fire in California, which killed some 86 people, could be the state’s largest investor-owned utility, Pacific Gas & Electric. The San Francisco-based company is facing charges that its power lines may have caused the horrific Northern California wildfire, potential criminal charges, possibly billions of dollars for … More Whither PG&E in the Camp Fire aftermath?

Virginia-based Dominion Energy has completed its takeover of South Carolina’s investor-owned utility, SCANA Corp., and the operating utility SCE&G. SCANA bet the company on a new two-unit nuclear power plant at its existing V.C. Summer nuclear station. SCANA lost. The State newspaper commented that the troubled power company “lost $5 billion and, now, its independence … More SCANA bet the company on new nukes…and lost

When Sean Casten is sworn in as a freshman Democrat in the House of Representatives tomorrow (Jan. 3), he will bring on-the-ground, practical experience in energy conservation and efficiency to the 116th Congress. He founded and ran several successful firms helping industrial energy users figure out how to use waste heat and power generation and … More Casten brings real-world energy experience to the 116th Congress

In a move that will surprise many in Washington, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is going to back away from wholesale changes to the Obama administration’s Mercury and Air Toxics regulations, according to Bloomberg News in a report today. Instead, the EPA will make some regulatory definition changes that could make it harder to … More Realism undoes another part of Trump’s coal rescue mission

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today adopted a proposal to change its required analysis of horizontal market power for many sellers seeking market-based rates in the organized wholesale markets it supervises. Chairman Neil Chatterjee called the notice of proposed rulemaking a “small but important step.” In a press release, FERC said the proposal “safeguards the … More FERC to ease way for market-based rates

Former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, an important figure in U.S. energy policy and politics for more than 40 years, died Monday in Louisville, Ky. He was 71. Throughout his career and after he retired, Rogers was seen as a utility visionary, advocating industry ownership of its role in global warming, including leading the utility … More Energy executive Jim Rogers dead at 71

John Dingell, the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the most important energy legislator of the 20th century. His new memoir comes as he is in retirement at 92 and still as feisty as ever. It includes his 1981 orchestrating of the expansion of the venerable Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee … More The Dean: John Dingell recalls his many momentous decades in Congress

The seven-member South Carolina Public Service Commission today (Dec. 14) unanimously approved the sale of the state’s flagship investor-owned utility, SCANA Corp., to Virginia-based Dominion Energy for $14 billion. The SCANA takeover is the result of the disastrous decision of the South Carolina company to build two new nuclear power plants at its existing V.C. … More SC regulators approve Dominion buyout of SCANA

It’s time to face reality and move on. The U.S. nuclear waste program is a failure, and a new approach is needed. That’s the conclusion of a three-year study from Stanford’s Freeman Spogli  Institute for International Studies. The study – “Reset of America’s Nuclear Waste Management Strategy and Policy” – says it is time to … More Start over on U.S. nuclear waste?