Addressing climate change and improving air quality will be among the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) foremost objectives over the next four years, a draft strategic plan recently released by the federal agency shows. The 86-page Draft FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan was released for public review and comment on Nov. 19 as part of a […]

POWER news – November 2013 %%PLUGIN_WEB VERSION: 215058-Web Version-POWERnews%%

Integrating large quantities of variable energy resources into the North American bulk power system will require fundamental electricity system planning and operational changes to ensure continued reliability, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) says in a new report that it prepared in collaboration with the California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO). The assessment, “Maintaining Bulk-Power […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Monday directed agency staff to complete the long-delayed safety evaluation report (SER) for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) license application to build the Yucca Mountain permanent waste repository. Reflecting the Obama administration’s opposition to the repository, the DOE in 2010 withdrew from the NRC its June 2008–submitted application to […]

So long as the federal government has no viable alternative to Yucca Mountain as a repository for nuclear waste, nuclear power ratepayers should not be charged an annual fee to cover the cost of that disposal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on Tuesday. Finding for petitioners that include the National Association […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will retire more than 3 GW at eight coal units in Alabama and Kentucky to address “challenging trends” that point to lower power demand, a slow economy, uncertainty in commodity pricing, and tougher air pollution rules. The U.S. corporate agency’s board of directors on Nov. 14 approved plans to retire all […]

POWER news – November 2013 %%PLUGIN_WEB VERSION: 215058-Web Version-POWERnews%% Email to Friend | Subscribe Don’t miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers’ Guide | Blog November 14, 2013 IEA Forecasts Global Renewables Expansion, Dismal Outlook for CCS By 2035, renewables will hold a 30% share of the global power mix […]

A communiqué drafted by participants from 22 coal-heavy countries at the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) that was held in Washington D.C. last week affirms that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an indispensable element of any effective response to climate change. Members of the ministerial-level international climate change initiative also urged acceleration of the […]

Presenters provided several perspectives on the emerging shale gas sector in North America and around the world at the World Shale Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition in Houston, Texas, last week. One general takeaway is that a number of unpredictable factors could widely alter the sector’s “game-changing” outlook. Several forecasts, including the International Energy […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exceeded its authority under the federal Clean Air Act when it promulgated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) in 2011, nine states argue in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court last week. The brief filed by a bipartisan group of attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, […]