National Mining Association (NMA)

13Dec

A System on the Brink

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) latest long-term reliability assessment is clear: the bulk power system is in crisis and the energy transition is being woefully mismanaged. The report reveals surging electricity demand, potential supply shortfalls under both extreme weather conditions and normal operating conditions, as well as alarming peak capacity deficits in grids […]
15Nov

With All Alarms Sounding, EPA Has Few Answers and Less Planning

In the hours before the regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sat down with stakeholders from across the country to discuss the nation’s deteriorating grid reliability, the urgency of the gathering was underscored by a new and deeply unsettling winter reliability assessment. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found in its most […]
08Nov

Will FERC Hold EPA to Account?

This Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is holding its annual technical conference on grid reliability. Of particular interest is the attention FERC and its expert witnesses will give to examining the impact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0 will have on reliability. FERC is digging into reliability at […]
09Aug

Unworkable and Unlawful

With the U.S. power grid hanging on by a thread, and coal and natural gas plants working overtime to meet soaring power demand this summer, all eyes are on the fate of the so-called Clean Power Plan 2.0 and the threat posed by the rule to the nation’s grid reliability. Last week, 39 senators wrote […]
18May

A Plan to Break the Grid

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out its sweeping new climate rule last week. In the plan’s crosshairs is the generating capacity that meets 60% of the nation’s power. Should the EPA get its way, today’s coal and gas fleets will be largely disassembled nearly overnight, posing a remarkable threat to a grid already […]
13Apr

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is having a hard time getting its story straight. A year ago, EPA administrator Michael Regan announced that he would be using the full suite of his authorities to give as clear a signal as possible to utilities to close coal plants. He said he’d be rolling out an […]
07Nov

The President Doubles Down on Bad Policy

When President Biden boasted last week about closing coal plants all across the country, he meant it. The White House has already begun spinning and clarifying his remarks, but the President knew what he was saying because there’s a plan to do it. Even as electricity and natural gas bills soar – up a startling 16% […]
28Sep

The Little Engine That Might Not

The recent 11th hour agreement to avoid a rail strike was a disaster narrowly avoided. A strike would have created a debilitating logistics chokepoint, disrupting supply chains of all kinds and creating enormous headwinds for the U.S. economy. Estimates put the cost of a rail strike at almost $2 billion a day. Yet, despite this […]
17Aug

Halting Federal Coal Leasing During a Global Energy Crisis

Last week, a federal judge made history – in a dreadful way – by reinstating an Obama-era moratorium on federal coal leasing. Setting aside the outrageous shattering of both judicial limits and established precedent, the meritless ruling comes at a remarkable time. The U.S. is facing an energy affordability crisis, a deepening grid reliability crisis, […]
13Jul

European Energy Independence with U.S. Coal

This week, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, warned that the global energy crisis is likely to get worse before it gets better, adding the coming winter for Europe, “will be very, very difficult.” His remarks reflect the increasing likelihood that Russia will completely cut off the flow of its natural gas […]