Catching Fire
Climate policy heats up after the Great Recession.
GHG rules are coming soon. What happens next will depend on how states react.
Environmental Protection Agency
Nuclear Policy Half-Life
Interim steps toward solving America’s spent-fuel dilemma.
New legislation could clear the path toward a sustainable strategy for storing spent nuclear fuel. Complexities and disagreements, however, might scuttle the effort.
Game Changers
State regulators address transformative forces.
In Fortnightly’s Regulators’ Roundtable, commissioners from Idaho, Illinois, and Minnesota consider transformative forces and the regulatory response.
Accentuate the Positive
A practical guide to explaining the value of the smart grid.
Despite challenges, grid modernization is paying off for customers. Smart grid progress depends on clarifying the vision and communicating value.
Energy Disconnect
Misguided policies threaten resource adequacy.
Resource planning is grinding to a halt. From EPA regulations to irrational markets, today’s policy missteps threaten tomorrow’s reliability.
Montana Says Federal GHG Rules Prohibit New Coal Plants
Submitted by aburr on Sat, 2013-06-01 13:55The Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it believes proposed rules restricting greenhouse gas emissions for new power plants would make it impracticable to construct any new coal-fired electric generation plant in the United States. The commission urged withdrawal of the EPA’s proposed carbon pollution standards under the Clean Air Act, noting that the EPA had recently delayed issuance of its draft New Source Performance Standards, first proposed in March 2012.
Multi-pollutant Emissions Control
MATS compliance now, with flexibility for the future.
Conflicting demands for complying with EPA’s MATS rule favor a single control technology to deal with multiple types of power plant emissions.
Maximum Burden
The electricity price increases from the proposed EPA Utility MACT will act as a regressive tax on the elderly.
Although EPA claims its tough new clean air regulations will improve public health, in fact they’ll measurably degrade the health of Florida seniors.
Least-Risk Planning
The Homer City decision increases uncertainty—but rewards forward thinking.
The D.C. Circuit’s CSAPR ruling reinforces the benefits of planning ahead and keeping options open. A diverse portfolio strategy reduces risks and costs.
Federal Feud
The jurisdictional battle rages on, with FERC and EPA squaring off against the states.
When Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led an attack on the federal Springfield Armory in January 1787—the spark that ignited the federalist movement—he scarcely could’ve guessed that now, 225 years later, his spiritual descendants would still be fighting that very same battle.