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The use of ambient air to cool and condense steam at electric power plants is a costly alternative to water cooling, but the use of air, or dry cooling, is being gradually adopted by energy companies, reports the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Dry cooling or hybrid cooling—a combination of air and water—occurs in 3% […]
The EPA will be searching for ways to bounce back from a resounding defeat in which the D.C. Circuit vacated industry-friendly provisions of the Agency’s 2015 final rule governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) generated by electric power plants.
Notwithstanding many verbal endorsements from the Trump administration and several preliminary regulatory actions (e.g., a pullback on EPA’s Clean Power Plan and the Agency’s proposed deregulatory amendments to the Obama EPA’s 2016 Coal Combustion Residuals rule), coal-fired energy is not experiencing a renaissance in the United States.
In a recently published fact sheet, OSHA reminds contractors, subcontractors, and licensees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and contractors and subcontractors of the Department of Energy (DOE) that their employees are protected from retaliation for reporting potential violations of the Energy Reorganization Act (ERA) or the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) to their employers or […]
Stating that the Trump administration “will always defend American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced that the president will impose safeguard tariffs on imports of solar cells and modules. The tariffs will apply over 4 years—30 percent in year 1; 25 percent in year 2; 20 percent in year 3; […]
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City (NYC) announced that the City would be the first in the nation to divest funds from fossil fuel companies. The mayor also revealed that the City had filed a lawsuit in federal court against the five largest investor-owned fossil fuel companies as measured by their contributions to […]
The Department of the Interior’s (DOI) draft proposed program (DPP) to open about 90 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and gas development has prompted a strong backlash from government leaders in coastal states, both Republicans and Democrats, to go along with the expected opposition of environmental groups. The DPP would […]
In an almost complete reversal of the last Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas (O&G) leasing program established under the Obama administration, the Department of the Interior (DOI) under President Donald Trump and Secretary Ryan Zinke is proposing to make 90 percent of the OCS available for energy development. In its 2017–2022 National OCS […]
The five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposal that would have provided financial assistance to coal-fired and nuclear electric power plants. The proposal or recommendation would have identified these facilities as energy “reliability and resilience resources” and enabled them to price their product so that all costs of […]
Twenty-six oil and natural gas (O&G) companies have introduced a new voluntary program “focused initially on reducing methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.” Calling themselves Environmental Partnership, the companies have agreed to phase into their operations three environmental performance goals starting January 1, 2018: