The U.S. power sector has seen a number of developments on the regulatory front in recent months. Here’s where major federal rules stand today. (For a more dynamic and graphic version of this article, see http://powermag.com/long-form-stories/bw-power/ .) GHG Rules New Power Plants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in September 2013 revised a 2012 proposal to […]

Several countries and companies at the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit 2014 in New York City pledged action to address climate change by slashing carbon emissions, mobilizing funding, or putting a price on carbon.  The one-day event on Tuesday was designed to raise political momentum and spur transformative action ahead of COP 21, the December […]

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Five coal ash ponds at a Dominion power plant in Virginia have discharged coal ash pollutants into waterways for decades, environmental groups allege in a notice.  The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the Potomac Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, on Sept. 17 told Dominion and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that it will sue […]

The U.S. should ensure that Canada does not build a permanent nuclear waste repository in the Great Lakes Basin as proposed, a U.S. Senate resolution introduced last week proclaims.  The resolution introduced by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and co-sponsored by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) on Sept. 18 calls […]

Though unsigned by its governor, North Carolina has enacted the nation’s first comprehensive coal ash management law.  The statute, which took effect on Sept. 20, applies to all unlined dry and wet coal ash ponds owned by public utilities, including ponds that are covered or no longer in use. Beginning Oct. 1, 2014, no new […]

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Affirmative defense provisions can no longer insulate generators from monetary penalties for Clean Air Act violations that result from facility startup, shutdown, and equipment malfunction, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed.  In a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPR) published on Sept. 17 in the Federal Register, the agency proposes to revise its February […]

Power companies will retire more coal-fired generating capacity and retrofit much fewer units with environmental controls than estimated just two years ago, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals in a new report. The report released on Tuesday finds that in response to shifting market conditions and four Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules (not including the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the public comment period for its proposed rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 45 days. Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, today told reporters in a press call that the EPA’s comment period for its Clean […]