Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

22Jun

Voters Want Action on Grid Reliability

Americans are deeply concerned about the reliability of the nation’s power grid and the affordability of their electricity supply. They’re so concerned, even frustrated, with warnings over the potential for rolling blackouts – or worse – they now want government action to fix the problem. According to national polling from Morning Consult, nearly 8 in […]
15Jun

The Nation Braces for Blackouts

Warnings of blackouts this summer are quickly becoming a dangerous reality for much of the country In the Midwest, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which manages the region’s grid, issued a warning of tight capacity conditions on June 13 as the grid struggles to keep up with soaring demand from a heatwave. Utilities were […]
27Apr

The Grid Reliability Crisis Spreads to the Midwest

Just a few months ago, the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned that capacity retirements and the rapid remaking of the grid will pose tremendous challenges to reliability over the next decade. It was a warning coming on the heels of the grid catastrophe in Texas and startling blackouts in California that some tried […]
20Apr

Price Spikes and Renewed Urgency to Maintain Fuel Optionality

On Monday, U.S. natural gas prices surged above $8 per million British thermal units, four times what they were before the pandemic, and a level not seen since 2008. With energy-driven inflation front-of-mind for voters and a deepening risk to the economy, the arrival of a painfully expensive new natural gas normal is only heightening […]
23Mar

Dismantling Grid Reliability One Rulemaking at a Time

When Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Michael Regan recently boasted that he doesn’t have to rely on any one policy or rulemaking to achieve his agenda, he turned more than a few heads. He signaled his intent to race forward on a zealous and wide-ranging regulatory program regardless of unsettled questions about EPA’s authority to […]
16Mar

EPA is Determined to Accelerate the Electricity Affordability Crisis

The energy crisis emanating from Europe is a wakeup call for policymakers about the importance of energy security and the delicate balancing act required by the energy transition. Europe’s energy policy missteps are now proving an invaluable example of a path best avoided. Overreliance on Russian energy, lack of dispatchable fuel diversity and a rushed […]
03Jun

Ending the Abuse of Section 401 Permitting

Global demand for coal remains strong. In fact, coal remains the world’s leading fuel for electricity generation and hundreds of new plants – particularly in Asia – are either planned or already under construction. But despite the world’s largest coal reserves, relatively little American coal is making it into a booming Asian market. The problem […]
20Apr

The Long Road Back to Balanced Rulemaking

There was no shortage of doomsday coverage of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to revisit the cost benefit analysis underpinning the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS rule). But in the same breath that outlets like The New York Times sounded the alarm about weakening regulations on the release of mercury, they also […]
19Jun

A Legal Approach to Emissions Reduction, An Eye Towards a Global Challenge

The EPA rolled out the final version of its long-anticipated Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule this morning. The rule is the replacement for the so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), which the previous administration claimed as its crowning environmental achievement. Quite an achievement it was. Along with never being implemented due to an unprecedented stay from […]
22May

The ACE Rule is Right on Target

The final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule is reportedly coming in June. It will replace the Clean Power Plan (CPP), bringing much-needed regulatory certainty and an approach to reducing emissions that, notably, doesn’t torpedo the economy. Any analysis of the ACE rule requires a comparison with the rule it’s replacing; or rather, the problems it’s […]