19Dec

EPA Takes First Step Toward Replacing Obama’s Climate Rules for Coal Plants

Via The Washington Examiner: President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency took the first step Monday toward proposing its own version of climate change regulations for coal-fired power plants. The Trump climate rule would replace the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan with a much more limited version of the greenhouse gas rules for existing power plants. Eliminating […]
15Dec

Green Demand, Dry Water

December 14, 2017 “Energy favoritism” is now a bona fide topic of Washington conversation. Where else would energy subsidies and government intervention become a heated topic at Christmas parties? But a topic it is, energized by two events.  First, House and Senate tax bills that may or may not reduce welfare payments to some energy […]
13Dec

Sorry Wind and Solar, America’s Insatiable Energy Demands Require Reliable Power Sources

Via The Hill: The United States urgently needs to settle on a roadmap for the next 30 years of domestic power generation. And that’s because recent attempts to strengthen the nation’s electric grid are running headlong into opposition from an industry that prefers the status quo. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that America’s electricity needs […]
12Dec

Energy Commissioner Undaunted by Delay in Perry Coal Rule Consideration

Via The Hill:  The former head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said he isn’t discouraged by a 30-day delay in the agency’s consideration of a proposal to boost coal and nuclear power plants. Neil Chatterjee, who was FERC’s chairman on an interim basis from August through last week, said he’s still pushing for […]
11Dec

Trump’s Crucial Step to Ensure Electric Grid Reliability

Via The Washington Examiner: Do you wait until you’re sick to purchase health insurance? Do you wait until after you’ve had an accident to insure your car? If you did, it would be too late. Now, imagine it’s the middle of winter and your electricity goes out. How would you power your home? How about […]
08Dec

Gillette to Host Clean Power Plan Powwow

Via Gillette News-Record: The Energy Capital of the Nation will have a chance to put some real faces and personal stories to the nation’s coal-fired energy debate when the EPA comes to town. The agency announced Wednesday that Gillette is one of three cities that will host public hearings to gather input on the Trump […]
07Dec

EPA to Hold More Hearings on Planned Clean Power Plan Repeal

Via Gillette News Record: The Trump administration says it will hold three additional public hearings on its intention to nullify an Obama-era plan to ratchet down planet-warming carbon emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it will take comments on its proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan at upcoming hearings in San Francisco, […]
06Dec

Miner’s Day Becomes Miner’s Year

December 6, 2017 Seventeen years ago, Congress set Dec. 6 as National Miner’s Day, little knowing the renewed significance this date would have in 2017. A day that was born in recognition of a tragedy – the loss of 362 men in a coal mine accident in West Virginia in 1907 — has today become […]
05Dec

U.S. Still Needs Electricity from Coal and Nuclear Plants

Via The Philadelphia Inquirer:  The boom in natural gas production from shale has led to a widespread belief that the United States no longer needs nuclear and coal plants to meet the demand for electricity. That belief is wrong.  For starters, consider the continued increase in the nation’s need for electricity, which the Energy Information […]
01Dec

The EPA Comes to West Virginia – to Listen

Via The Charleston Gazette-Mail: It’s taken a while — several years in fact — but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finally come to West Virginia to hear testimony about the Clean Power Plan. There was plenty of pent-up demand to be heard. As many as 200 people testified Tuesday and Wednesday at the state […]