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Concerns about retirements of coal-fired and nuclear power plants—the traditional sources of baseload capacity—may be unnecessary. Moreover, the growth of renewable or variable energy resources (VERs), namely wind and solar, is reducing the need for conventional coal and nuclear operations to fill baseload needs and instead function more in load-following or peaking capacities. These are […]
A legal challenge to a project to extend an underground gas pipeline 30 miles in Pennsylvania and New Jersey involved the intersection of three federal statutes as well as state authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
Stating that it needs to review data developed by industry, the EPA has proposed to postpone compliance dates contained in the Agency’s effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) and standards for the steam electric power generating point source category (November 3, 2015, FR). The EPA is requesting comment on how long the postponement should last while appearing […]
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has been echoing President Donald Trump’s claims that the administration is paving the way for a resurgence of the coal mining sector and the use of coal as a cheap, abundant, and reliable source of energy. In an article written for The Washington Times and posted on EPA’s News Release site, […]
A mere 4 months after President Barack Obama banned energy development in tens of millions of acres of the Arctic Ocean, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) stating that leasing to energy companies in those areas will be resumed “to the maximum extent permitted by law.” The EO applies the same open leasing […]
The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada, a project essentially abandoned by the Obama administration, would get a new infusion of funding in President Donald Trump’s Budget Blueprint. Specifically, the president is requesting that Congress authorize $120 million to restart licensing activities for the project and also initiate a “robust interim storage program.”
Supporting coal mining through elimination of federal rules that hamper growth may be the biggest environmental deregulatory strategy so far advanced by the Trump administration. The President signed his March 28, 2017, Executive Order (EO) (Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth) with a group of coal-company executives and miners behind him and told them they […]
The heads of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) have written to Energy Secretary Rick Perry, urging the Trump administration to preserve federal funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and State Energy Program (SEP).
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wasted no time releasing the details of the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) plan to comply with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order (EO) on energy (Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth).
Methane, the major component of natural gas, is a key component of the Texas economy. This has prompted interest in the state in a recently released study by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, who found that hydraulic fracturing has little impact on methane in drinking water wells in the Fort Worth area.