Coal

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 […]

Regulators from six states shared starkly different views on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed carbon rules for existing power plants at a House hearing on Tuesday. Some state-level officials said the EPA’s overall emission targets and suggested means to achieve them are based on unworkable and unrealistic assumptions about how state and regional power […]

The coal supply picture for Midwest power plants darkened again this summer as deliveries of Powder River Basin (PRB) coal to the region fell for a second consecutive quarter due to unreliable rail service, according to a report by SNL Energy. Midwest generators have been plagued by coal supply issues this year because of ongoing […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday granted the nation’s first four Class VI underground injection permits for carbon sequestration to the federally backed FutureGen 2.0 carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) project.  The Department of Energy formally committed $1 billion to the $1.68 billion project being developed by the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a coalition of coal producers, users, […]

Revised national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone that are expected from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this December will likely be stricter.  Agency staff from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards in a 597-page final policy assessment released on Aug. 29 recommend revising the standard to within a range of 60 […]

The Aug. 4–6 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit shed light on the power plights faced by sub-Saharan African countries, but it also highlighted their massive power potential and the array of solutions under consideration to resolve Africa’s energy crisis. Here are a number of key insights gleaned from discussions at the summit—the first a U.S. president has […]

Construction on a $1 billion commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) system—one of the world’s largest to use post-combustion capture technology—began this July at NRG Energy’s W.A. Parish Unit 8 near Houston. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2016. Formerly known as the NRG Energy Parish CCS Project, it is […]

EU Doles Out €1 Billion in Funding for Renewable Projects Under NER 300. The European Commission on July 10 awarded €1 billion ($1.34 billion) to 19 renewable energy projects and a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project under its NER 300 program. The projects will cumulatively raise European Union (EU) renewable energy production by about […]

Since March, Hong Kong has been contemplating two options as it prepares to phase out its coal-fired power plants—which currently produce more than half of its electricity—to improve an enduring local and regional air quality and visibility crisis. One option calls for buying more power from coal-heavy mainland China, and the other is to increase […]

North Carolina’s Legislature last week became the first in the nation to approve a sweeping coal ash bill, but the state’s governor isn’t fully endorsing it.  Both the House and the Senate on Aug. 20 approved the Coal Ash Management Act (S.B. 729), a measure that became an urgent legislative priority after Duke Energy’s February […]