Commentary

Forethought and analysis have their place, but good leaders need to be ready to act boldly when the time comes.

How do you get "beyond" perfection? With a willingness to course-correct and an awareness of when it’s necessary.

President Obama enters 2013 with a solid win in his pocket—and a host of challenges and decisions awaiting him.

With the passing of the 2012 election, one is reminded of the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

A convergence of new environmental regulations and practical realities is creating a boatload of challenges for power producers.

The 15-year-old Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. With U.S. CO₂ emissions at a 20-year low, what’s the point in the U.S. signing a new agreement?

Supporters of a new carbon tax are using arguments aimed at conservatives (it can be revenue neutral) and liberals (it can help the environment) alike. The damage to the U.S. economy, manufacturing competitiveness, and society’s poorest citizens outweighs the government’s need for a new revenue stream.

Expect the EPA to increase the use NEPA data requests, ostensibly related to climate change analysis, as an excuse to slow or stymie new energy system development.

It’s time for the leaders in the power generation business to step up and provide some leadership on cybersecurity

The first conquest of Mount Everest was not just a triumph of the human spirit but also a classic example of solid project management and good leadership. Hillary’s example offers sound lessons for today’s business leaders.

All leaders want to be liked, but letting that desire set your course is a path to frustration and drama. Though it sometimes seems counter-intuitive, the ability to set good boundaries is the mark of a good leader.

Adaptive, creative, and flexible, the humble octopus has much to teach managers in the modern world.

With the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) issuance of a final rule regulating cooling water intake structures at existing facilities potentially less than a year away, facilities should be paying close attention to the proposed rule’s provisions, data requests, and study requirements as they evaluate their compliance options and begin to formulate their compliance […]

The brave men and women of the U.S. military spend years crafting special skills and developing traits that prepare them for the challenging assignments they will be given throughout their terms of service. They receive orders for tours of duty and venture without hesitation into places steeped in peril and instability. Because of their consistently courageous responses to unimaginable challenges, civilians herald America’s servicemen and women as heroes. How can we begin to repay our veterans for defending our freedom?

The Boilermakers union has been a leader among the labor and business organizations that seek to shepherd the coal-fired energy sector through the worst effects of these forces. And we continue in those efforts.

President Obama’s Executive Order on industrial energy efficiency is another incursion of the federal government into the day-to-day operations of American industry. The symbol of a free enterprise is autonomy in determining how to efficiently invest capital, an activity that the government has proven inept time and again.

The American Wind Energy Association’s number one priority is renewal of the production tax credit in order to protect industry jobs. But wind isn’t the only industry sector that’s scrambling to protect jobs.

The recent London Olympics were not just a triumph of athletics. They also showed how solid project management can bring an enormously challenging job to a successful conclusion, putting on one of the most successful Olympic Games ever.

Success in life and business is all about seizing the right opportunities at the right time. Opportunities abound today in the electric utility business. Our industry is in the midst of an extraordinary period of transformation and investment that will affect how we produce and deliver electricity—and what customers pay for it—for decades. By 2020, […]

The environmental push for renewables and mandates to force them into existence are rightly facing some serious headwinds. The American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011 foundered in Congress, and more states are experiencing significant power rate increases to cover renewable energy production costs. While renewables are generally not ready for prime time in large quantity on today’s power grid, that doesn’t mean environment concerns ought to be trashed, especially when a more effective off-the-shelf solution is available.

Preliminary data published by the Energy Information Administration shows that the amounts of power generated by coal and natural gas in April were virtually equal. Was this a one-time event or an indicator of a future trend?

The D.C. Court of Appeals recently declined to examine the science behind the EPA’s Endangerment Finding that is the foundation beneath the its greenhouse gas rules. The next step is to challenge the EPA’s science.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released another report on green jobs. According to the BLS, an oil industry lobbyist could be considered as having a green job. The report’s definitions still lack common sense.

We are hot and heavy into election season, and there is a lot of buzz about “jobs.” We hear about job-killing regulations (mostly from Republicans) and the wonders of green jobs (mostly from Democrats). All this, of course, is aimed at tying favored policy options to something the average voter can understand, the need for […]

Along with the global economy, there are significant signs indicating how radically the energy business has changed in the past few years.

Is the clean energy technology sector doomed because federal spending is sharply dropping?

The U.S. hydropower industry has undergone a renaissance in recent years. One of the major drivers of the industry’s growth, the establishment of the production tax credit (PTC) for hydro, has seen strong policy support from our elected officials in Washington, D.C. More than any other federal policy, tax incentives, particularly the PTC, have sparked a level of growth in the industry not seen in nearly two decades.