Blog

05Feb

A Warning to Proceed with Caution

What’s the cost of inaction to protect the fuel diversity of our grid? New York offers a hint. The Empire State may have only two coal-fired power plants remaining, but a new rule aimed at effectively eliminating coal power from the state’s grid by 2020 is already jolting markets. As Bloomberg reported, the rule hasn’t […]
30Jan

The German Misstep

Strong voter support for an all-of-the-above energy strategy in the U.S. – as identified in recent Morning Consult polling – is undoubtedly informed by experience. Just ask Xcel Energy customers dealing with record subzero temperatures this week who were asked to turn their thermostats down to 55 degrees to prevent widespread natural gas outages in the area. […]
24Jan

Balancing the Grid and Reducing Emissions with Advanced Coal Technology

Preserving the fuel diversity and affordability of our power supply while also reducing emissions is not only smart energy policy, it’s a tall order. It’s a challenge not unlike walking a tight rope, and current trends suggest we are losing our balance. The loss of fuel-secure baseload sources of power and our growing overreliance on […]
16Jan

Better for Consumers? Hardly.

Baseload power plant retirements continue at an alarming pace. Plant operators retired 14,000 megawatts of coal generation in 2018, enough generating capacity to power about 10 million homes. Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. coal fleet has been forced into early retirement since 2010 and a third of the commercial U.S. nuclear fleet is in […]
09Jan

Reversing the Anti-Coal Supertanker

If anyone has ever told you, “it’s like turning a supertanker,” you know the task at hand isn’t going to be easy. The analogy beautifully captures the immense challenge of reversing momentum. For all the energy required to get that proverbial supertanker moving, it can be doubly difficult and slow to change its course. Reversing […]
04Jan

The Ongoing Struggle to Correct the Damage of Government Overreach

It wasn’t all that long ago that coal fueled more than half of the nation’s electricity generation. Coal’s retreat from that position hasn’t come by accident, nor has it come without consequences. While some pundits have pointed to the marketplace as the cause of coal’s slide, that’s a convenient tale that barely hints at the […]
20Dec

Technology, Not Taxes

Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming had an op-ed this week in The New York Times where he called for leaning on technology, not carbon taxes, to cut emissions. His argument is grounded in reality – the reality that people both here and abroad don’t want to want to be taxed to use affordable, reliable energy […]
12Dec

The Energy Tax Revolt is Worldwide

Just hours before French President Macron – facing the worst protests in France in decades – retreated from a proposed fuel tax hike, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board presciently wrote, “nothing reveals the disconnect between ordinary voters and an aloof political class more than carbon taxation.” The disconnect is very real. Pollsters have found […]
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 […]