Commentary

With the recent push for the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from new and existing power plants (see “Turning the Heat Up on Carbon Emissions” in the October 2013 issue of POWER), the science behind this action needs to be revisited. The regulation of carbon dioxide emissions will apply to all fossil fuel energy sources; […]

After 30-plus years of false starts, delays, and political interference, the U.S. finally has an opportunity to make good on its obligations to store the spent fuel from our nation’s nuclear reactors. A

POWER Associate Editor Sonal Patel reported on Sept. 12 that “nearly 100 renewable energy and environmental groups and businesses have asked the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to reevaluate renewable energy forecasts, alleging the agency’s projections don’t reflect ‘the current status and recent, real-world growth rates of renewables.’” The EIA forecasts are presented in its Annual […]

The Marcellus shale formation—the second-largest natural-gas field in the world—has been a blessing for Pennsylvania’s workers and our economy. Almost a quarter-million people in Pennsylvania work to produce natural gas from the Marcellus shale or in related industries. Thanks to the growth of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, the Marcellus has been responsible for […]

Director and provocateur Josh Fox is confident, “There is no safe drilling” and has made two of what the New York Times called “muckraking documentaries” crusading against the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” His movies are powerful propaganda rife with misleading or inaccurate claims and leave little to no room for the other side. […]

Most Americans have never heard of Texas oilman George Mitchell, who died in July at the age of 94 at his home in Galveston, Texas. But Mitchell, the son of a Greek immigrant goat herder, was arguably the most important individual in America’s energy history since Thomas Edison and John D. Rockefeller. Mitchell truly was […]

If you’ve been paying attention to energy issues in the media lately, you may have encountered a curious narrative that’s starting to gain traction among supporters of renewable energy. Namely, that the core problem with wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, which is matching moment-to-moment demand with the intermittency wind and sunlight, isn’t really a […]

A common talking point among critics of hydraulic fracturing is that they somehow “own the science” on shale development. The industry is merely raising doubt about scientific studies, they claim—just enough to confuse the public and make them think there’s a legitimate debate. As the Washington Post recently characterized Gasland Part II director Josh Fox’s opinion: Fox frets […]

Even if you missed Bob Peltier’s retirement signoff in last month’s column, you will have noticed that something has changed. POWER has a new editor at the top of the masthead (its 10th in 131 years

The theologian John Wesley, so taken with electricity, reverently called it the soul of the universe. Less impressed, perhaps, are state regulatory commissions that nonetheless set service territory boundaries to avoid the added expense in duplicative facilities. Becoming the sole source of the good stuff also invited regulation of rates, service standards, and whatever else […]