31May

NERC: ERCOT, CAISO Face Summer Reliability Concerns

Via RTO Insider: NERC said Wednesday its annual summer reliability assessment indicates ERCOT and CAISO will face operational challenges and potential reliability concerns this summer, thanks to the two ISOs’ respective loss of baseload generation and lack of fuel assurance. According to the agency’s summer assessment, ERCOT faces a generation shortfall “due in part” to […]
30May

Breaking: World Still Cares about Affordable, Reliable, Secure Energy

The New York Times reported this week on an environmental group’s analysis that shows banks are still (gasp!) investing in coal mining and new coal plants. Despite efforts from activists to green-shame financial institutions into walking away from coal, investment in 2017 from U.S. banks alone was up nearly $3 billion from 2016. Global demand […]
22May

When Playing to the Crowd Prevents Progress

May 22, 2018 It’s easy to get confused by the news these days. On a daily basis we see green rhetoric eclipsing the stated purpose of environmental crowd. Take New York’s Gov. Cuomo, for example. Even as he is greening-up his creds for a potential presidential run with commitments around reducing New York’s carbon emissions, […]
10Aug

Arizona Looks for Breathing Room in EPA’s Carbon-emission Goals (KTAR)

WASHINGTON — Arizona will ask federal regulators next week to rethink their June proposal that calls for the state to cut carbon emissions from power plants in half over the next 15 years. Officials with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality have scheduled a conference call with their counterparts in the Environmental Protection Agency in […]
05Aug

Oklahoma Attorney General, 11 Others Sue EPA over Proposed Carbon Rules (The Oklahoman)

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt isn’t wasting any time when it comes to challenging proposed rules to cut carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired electric power plants. Pruitt joined attorneys general from 11 other states to file a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency on the proposed rules, which were released in early June. The attorneys […]
01Aug

Dueling Rallies Pit Jobs Against Air (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

They met at the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 10th Street, a sea of thousands of mine workers in camouflage and hundreds of environmental protesters, chanting competing slogans. “Hey, hey, EPA, don’t take our jobs away,” the miners cried. “No planet, no jobs,” the environmentalists shouted back. Standing between the two camps was Pittsburgh resident […]
01Aug

A Dozen States File Suit Against New Coal Rules (The New York Times)

WASHINGTON — Twelve states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday seeking to block an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate coal-fired power plants in an effort to stem climate change. The plaintiffs are led by West Virginia and include states that are home to some of the largest producers of coal and […]
31Jul

EPA Emissions Plan Draws Protest in Pittsburgh (Wall Street Journal)

Several thousand unionized coal miners, electrical workers and others filled Pittsburgh’s downtown on Thursday to protest the Obama administration’s proposed rule to curb carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants, ahead of two days of hearings on the issue in the city. But in an indication of how the issue has divided the labor movement, […]
31Jul

Adoption of the EPA’s New Pollution Rule Will Cost Pennsylvania Jobs (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Starting today, the Environmental Protection Agency is holding public hearings in Pittsburgh regarding a proposed rule for greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. This far-reaching “climate rule” is going to drive up the cost of energy in Pennsylvania and in every state in America, a fact that even President Barack Obama has acknowledged. Everyone […]
29Jul

EPA Rule Puts U.S. Economy, Electric Grid at Risk (Politico)

By Hal Quinn, President & CEO, National Mining Association The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to establish carbon dioxide performance standards for existing power plants is a stunning attempt to remake the nation’s entire electric grid at great cost to homes and businesses across the nation. It also threatens the reliability of our electric grid, […]