Sulfur dioxide

Energy People: Jim Rogers

We talked with Jim Rogers, former CEO of Duke Energy.

Duke is now made up of five companies that existed in 1992. There are three difficult tasks in doing a successful combination. One is to negotiate it. The second, maybe the most difficult task, is actually getting the approval at both the state and federal levels. And lastly, the really hard work of combining the companies. It’s getting the cost savings as well as the revenue enhancements associated with the transaction. It is keeping the most talented people.

Minnesota Power Marks Completion of Emissions-Reduction Project At Boswell Plant

Minnesota Power completed an emissions reduction project at the Boswell Energy Center to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent and to meet all state and federal regulations for sulfur dioxide emissions and particulates. Unit 4, capable of producing 585 MW, is Minnesota Power's largest coal-fired generating unit. Total cost of the Boswell project is about $260 million.

Constitutional Controversy

Can EPA’s Clean Power Plan Pass Muster?

The Clean Power Plan’s fate may hinge on whether the federal government is seen as usurping states’ rights under the Fifth and Tenth Amendments. Harvard’s Law School professors debate the issue.

2014 Utility Regulators' Forum

Diversifying Utility Regulation: State regulators voice opinions as mixed as the nation’s geography.

Interviews with public utility commissioners from key states – New York, California, Maryland, and Georgia – on coal carbon, climate, and the revolution in retail. What they’re thinking. What they’re planning.

From Coal to Gas

Regulatory and environmental challenges for power plant conversions under the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

Converting a power plant from coal to natural gas triggers a host of environmental challenges and regulatory issues. Operators could be trading one set of regulatory obligations, liabilities, and costs for another, equally problematic, set of liabilities and costs.

Triggering & Tailoring

What the Supreme Court said, and didn’t.

Justice Scalia saw the need for tailoring as proof that EPA’s Triggering Rule was mistaken.

The Politics of Carbon

Supreme Court may ultimately clarify EPA’s authority under Clean Power Plan.

The Supreme Court questions federal agency authority over greenhouse gas emissions in the recent case of Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA.

Complying with 111(d)

Exploring the cap-and-invest option.

EPA is expected to provide states with latitude in meeting Clean Air Act GHG standards. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) demonstrates an effective and economical approach: “cap and invest.”

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.