Boosted by President Obama’s inaugural address commitment to mitigate climate change, congressional Democrats have initiated several more climate measures. A legislative packet that seeks to mitigate climate change by enacting a carbon "fee" of $20 per ton of emitted carbon or methane equivalent was introduced last week by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). In the House, as several Democratic amendments for climate change hearings were voted down, more than 40 lawmakers urged President Obama to create a panel that would help communities deal with climate change events.

An agreement reached on Friday between PNM, New Mexico’s largest electricity provider, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls for the retirement of two units at the 1,800-MW coal-fired San Juan Generating Station by 2017 to comply with federal visibility rules. The remaining two units will be retrofitted with selective noncatalytic reduction technology by 2016, a nitrogen-oxide reducing technology.

An EPR reactor under construction by an AREVA-Siemens consortium in Finland may not start operating until 2016, two years later than its revised start date in 2014, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said on Monday. Construction of the Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) unit began in May 2005, and the new possible start date could put it eight years behind its initial schedule.

Nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will see a 45% lowering of the market-based regulatory program’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) cap in 2014, under an updated model rule released last week. The change is expected to reduce projected 2020 power sector CO₂ emissions from the region to more than 45% below those in 2005.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday began accepting comments on its draft Climate Change Adaption Plan, a document that seeks to integrate climate change considerations into future programs and regulations.

President Obama outlined a number of key energy-related measures in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, urging Congress to pursue legislation to mitigate climate change and calling for an expansion of clean energy and reduced red-tape for natural gas and oil permits.

President Obama on Tuesday signed a highly anticipated executive order that lays out the administration’s cybersecurity plans to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure. Portions of the order would be welcomed by the energy sector, but others raised potential concerns, experts said.

Members of the Mississippi House passed a pair of rate mitigation and securitization bills that would allow the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) to approve a multiyear rate plan for Mississippi Power’s $2.88 billion Kemper integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant that is under construction in Kemper County.

The U.S. last week called for World Trade Organization (WTO) consultations to settle a dispute in which it alleges that India’s national solar program appears to discriminate against U.S. solar equipment by requiring solar energy producers in the South Asian country to use Indian-made solar cells and modules.

A legal battle is brewing between the Department of the Interior (DOI) and three public-interest environmental groups that claim the government failed to consider degraded lands for the siting of "destructive" utility-scale solar plants, and that it focused instead on millions of acres of public land when it established solar energy zones in six southwestern states.

Citing low natural gas prices, Duke Energy announced on Feb. 1 that it would shutter its 1920s-built Buck and Riverbend stations two years before the coal-fired plants were slated for retirement. The company had chosen to retire the plants just before April 2015, which is the compliance deadline for recently enacted federal environmental rules.

A newly announced resource strategy could require Duluth, Minn.–based Minnesota Power to convert its 110-MW Laskin Energy Center in Hoyt Lakes, Minn., to a natural gas peaking facility in 2015, install environmental upgrades at its 558-MW Clay Boswell Energy Center Unit 4 in Itasca County, and retire one of three coal-fired units at its 225-MW Taconite Harbor facility in Schroeder.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu ended weeks of speculation by announcing that he will not serve a second term in the Obama administration. In his Feb. 1 announcement, Chu said, “In the short term, I plan to stay on as Secretary past the ARPA-E Summit at the end of February. I may stay beyond that time so that I can leave the Department in the hands of the new Secretary.”

New analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI) finds that the U.S. is not on track to reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 17% by 2020 (below 2005 levels) but that it has the tools to get there. Specifically, the report looks at steps the Obama Administration and states can take without congressional action. Those steps would, not surprisingly, require emissions reductions from existing power plants and natural gas systems.

An energy blueprint released on Monday by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the ranking minority member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, calls for complete independence from OPEC oil by 2020.

Criticism from Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.V.) has reportedly prompted the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to revise a December 2012 report in which it found coal ash bills sponsored by the lawmakers would not guarantee the protection of human health and the environment.

Sally Jewell, who has been CEO of REI, a privately held outdoor recreation gear retail corporation organized as a consumers’ cooperative, has been nominated as the next secretary of the interior, the White House announced on Wednesday.

FutureGen 2.0, a government-backed project that involves the upgrade of a coal-fired power plant in Meredosia, Ill., with oxy-combustion technology to capture 90% of that plant’s carbon emissions and then sequester them underground, has entered its second phase, the Department of Energy (DOE) said on Monday.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) imposition of a federal implementation plan (FIP) to curb regional haze that could force coal-fired power plants in Arizona to install $1 billion in pollution controls was challenged by the state in federal court last week.

The beleaguered Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Citrus County, Fla.—which has been in shutdown and offline since late 2009 due to damage to its containment building—is to be retired, Progress Energy Florida announced on Tuesday.

In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, state utility regulators and nuclear utilities rejected claims in a recent Department of Energy (DOE) filing that Nuclear Waste Fund fees were necessary, and they called on the court to temporarily suspend the fees.

Why do some HRSG economizers and feedwater preheaters seem to suffer tube failures more frequently than others? If frequent failure is your problem, the cause may not necessarily be your heat exchanger’s design or how often you cycle your plant. Don’t forget to carefully check your feedwater controls—they may be cycling more than your HRSG.

Understanding the true rate of methane leakage in natural gas production and consumption is a key milestone in managing this bridge fuel. But despite recent reports, there’s still a ways to go before we have a full picture of what’s going on.

The growing momentum toward exports of liquefied natural gas is creating a stir in Washington. A fair review of the issues suggests this is one dispute the power industry can afford to stay out of.

The shift toward greater reliance on natural gas for power generation is not just a story of greater efficiency and lower emissions. There are also lurking risks to reliability unless the natural gas and electricity industries can plan carefully for the future.

Duke Energy’s once coal-heavy fleet is making a big transition to gas. Two new advanced combined cycle plants, and a third set to start up later this year, are a key part of the North Carolina–based firm’s drive to modernize its portfolio.

>Gas-fired power has a growing and well-established niche in providing load-following for wind farms. But two recent reports suggest the demand on these plants may be greater than anticipated, as long-term output from wind may be falling short of original projections.

>Finding ways to deliver the gas for the next generation of gas-fired power plants is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the power sector in the coming decade.

By Kennedy Maize (@kennedymaize) Washington, D.C., 3 February 2013 – Steven Chu has announced his resignation as secretary of energy, so the time has come to pass preliminary judgment on his four-year term in the Obama administration. I use the term “preliminary” consciously, because journalism is only the first draft of history, and more reflective […]

Rick Tempchin, executive director, Retail Energy Services for the Edison Electric Institute, talks about the impact of distributed energy resources on utilities and their customers.