Blog

20Feb

Guidance to Get Going

It’s not every day when a notice from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is cause for excitement. Yesterday was one of those rare exceptions. The IRS finally issued guidance on the 45Q carbon capture tax credits. It was guidance the energy industry has been anticipating for two years, ever since Congress passed bipartisan legislation creating […]
13Feb

Markets Must Better Value Flexible, Dispatchable Coal Power

How valuable is a kilowatt hour of electricity? That, of course, depends greatly on when that electricity is produced and just how much it’s needed. Consider the gulf in value of excess electricity generated by solar power midday and the electricity produced by a coal plant when demand is spiking and intermittent sources of power […]
06Feb

Understanding Global Trends, Voters Want the U.S. to Lead on Coal Technology

In one of the most developed economies on earth, a place synonymous with advanced technology, coal isn’t on the way out; in fact, its role is growing. As The New York Times reported this week, Japan is building 22 new coal plants over the next five years. For Japan, advanced coal plants mean energy security […]
30Jan

A Failure to Connect the Dots

The U.S. has a growing energy infrastructure problem. More precisely, major transmission lines needed to move wind and solar power from regions of production to centers of demand aren’t being built at nearly the pace needed. Natural gas pipeline additions are also failing to keep up with gas demand. One infrastructure project after another is […]
27Jan

Pumping the Brakes on Power Grid Jenga

Indiana is right to be concerned. Coal has been indispensable in providing the low-cost, reliable power that has fueled industry in one of the nation’s leading manufacturing states. The sudden and accelerating loss of coal power in Indiana, and in surrounding states – without a plan to reliably replace it – has lawmakers and energy […]
09Jan

An Update 40 Years in the Making

Almost untouched since its inception in the late 1970s, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is finally getting a desperately needed update. Over the years, NEPA has become an albatross around the necks of infrastructure and energy projects of all stripes. Instead of encouraging smart environmental analysis and transparency in decision making, it has been […]
06Jan

The Important Difference Between Capacity and Security

To hear environmental groups and renewable boosters tell it, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) recent action to restore competition to PJM Interconnection’s capacity market was a terrible solution in search of non-existent problem. The capacity market is supposed to ensure that PJM’s customers will have adequate generating capacity, including a strong reserve of power, […]
18Dec

Campaigning on a Platform of Job Losses and Power Outages

Presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg recently announced that if elected he will phase out coal power in the U.S. by 2030. He made this proclamation standing in the pouring rain in front of a retired coal power plant, telling the handful of people gathered that the photo-op was “one of the dumbest things we’ve ever done,” […]