12Dec

America’s Increasingly Fragile Electric Grid

Via The Washington Times: One of the lesser known economic successes of the modern era is the U.S. electric grid. For the most part, enough electricity-generating capacity to meet the nation’s power needs is available at the flip of a switch. America’s power plants continue to perform at high levels of safety and reliability. The […]
11Dec

Proposed WOTUS Definition Provides Regulatory Certainty and Recognizes States’ Key Role in Protecting Water Resources

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) proposed definition of “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) provides long-overdue clarity regarding the scope of federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction, and restores the appropriate balance between state and federal authority over waterways, the National Mining Association (NMA) said today. “States have an important role […]
06Dec

A Path Forward for High Efficiency, Low Emissions Coal Technology in the U.S

The EPA announced today a proposed revision to the new source performance standards (NSPS) for CO2 emissions from new coal power plants. While some commentators, including The New York Times, have tried to frame the revision as a rollback of climate regulation, it’s anything but. The proposed revision to the standard provides a pathway for […]
06Dec

EPA Proposes 111(b) Revisions to Advance Clean Energy Technology

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to revise the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for greenhouse gas emissions from new, modified, and reconstructed fossil fuel-fired power plants. EPA is proposing, under Clean Air Act (CAA) section 111(b), to revise its determination of the best system of emission reduction (BSER) for these plants. This determination […]
05Dec

Boost to Black-lung Fund Unfair Burden on Mining Industry

Via The Lexington Herald-Leader: Now is the absolute wrong time for a tax increase on the coal industry. And yet a tax increase is exactly what the industry — and the communities it supports — will face if some in Congress and the Herald-Leader’s editorial board get their way. The tax in question is the tax imposed […]
04Dec

Climate Change Dominates Energy Forum with EPA Chief

Via DailyEnergyInsider: The Trump administration is supporting clean energy policies to reduce air and water pollution, while critics claim these initiatives cannot be legitimized without embracing the recently released National Climate Assessment. In the Washington Post’s forum The Energy 202 last week, acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler said he had […]
28Nov

The World Needs Affordable, Reliable Energy. Coal is Here to Stay.

The New York Times has once again discovered that the world needs coal. In a recent piece examining – or more accurately, demonizing – coal’s staying power, particularly in Asia, The Times gave a glancing and biased treatment of a selection of reasons big and small for why coal remains the world’s leading fuel for […]
28Nov

Consol’s Pa. Coal Complex Setting Production Records but Keeping Focus on Safety

Via S&P Global Intelligence: Despite an ongoing secular decline in domestic consumption, Consol Energy Inc. is set to post a record coal production year from its three-mine complex in Pennsylvania, a sprawling underground mining operation several times larger than the island of Manhattan. The company has not only survived but thrived during an overall decrease in U.S. coal demand […]
21Nov

The Value of Balance

As an early snow fell on Washington last week, the east coast got a timely reminder of the value of fuel diversity. Despite U.S. natural gas production continuing to set records, U.S. natural gas prices spiked. The Financial Times reported that natural gas prices jumped 16 percent in one day – their biggest one-day gain […]