Energy Policy & Legislation

Rethinking Regulation

Not so Fast: Why the Electric Industry May be Heading in the Wrong Direction

Utility regulation will often display the power of special interests, which may only appeal to a narrow set of interests. Public officials need to step and serve the broader public.
Byline: 

Kenneth W. Costello

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Radical Candor

Making ‘Clean Coal’ More than an Oxymoron.

Are clean coal efforts likely to fail? Yes. Does that mean investing is foolish? No. Here are eight ways I think the industry should change its clean coal messaging if it wants to win over the people who matter most.
Byline: 

Peter Sandman

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Commenting on Carbon

State PUCs take on EPA and its Clean Power Plan.

Everything about the Clean Power Plan seems surreal. States complain of unfair treatment. Regulators read the proposed rule and sound warnings of a coming apocalypse.
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

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Early Clean Power Planning

A hedging strategy for sec. 111(d).

While the public comment period on EPA’s Clean Power Plan proposed rule has closed, there are still opportunities to engage in the federal policymaking process before the summer 2015 release of the final rule.
Byline: 

Kyle Danish, Doug Smith & Avi Zevin

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PJM's Three-Way Proposal

A re-defined capacity product, revised parameters for generator performance, and a new role for demand response.

The proposal creates a new capacity product called the “Capacity Performance Resource.”
Byline: 

Bruce W. Radford

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Playing Safe with Capacity Markets

PJM would minimize risk, but so did regulation.

Changes envisioned by PJM call for ever more structured markets, further reducing the scope of the competitive landscape from which RTOs arose. They may produce a system that is actually more costly and less innovative than regulation.
Byline: 

David K. Bellman

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Nuclear's New Chance

Reprocessing nuclear fuel is a sustainable and viable option.

Reprocessing nuclear fuel separates the uranium and the plutonium for the rest of the spent fuel, enabling plant operators to reuse the uranium. But concerns over nuclear proliferation are stopping it in this country.
Byline: 

Tim Echols

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Our Nuclear Lifeline

Learning from the tragedy of Vermont Yankee.

Learning from the tragedy of Vermont Yankee. Can merchant nuclear operators compete in the market place with cheap natural gas and subsidized renewables?
Byline: 

Judd Gregg

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Regulatory Roundup

2004 FERC roundup: Path 15 Upgrade; Gas Bypass Pipeline; Power Line Communications; Gen Station Power Needs; ISO Retail Service; Renewable Energy Portfolios; Gas Supply Risk; Fuel Cost Hedging; Utility Supply Solicitations; Provider of Last Resort; Coal Seam Gas; Deceptive Marketing Practices; Renewable Portfolio Standards.
Byline: 

Bruce Radford

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Energy Politics are Combustible

Many in business back EPA, but the new Congress has yet to weigh in.

The comment period closes on EPA’s Clean Power Plan, but Congress is holding its cards close to the vest.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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