Courts

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 24 proposed to partially approve Georgia’s permit program for the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR). As it did so, it gave other states some advice: Follow Georgia’s lead and assume oversight of coal ash that power plants dispose within your borders. The preliminary approval marks another important […]

Federal courts have been pretty kind to energy infrastructure in recent weeks, particularly in cases involving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For starters, this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit removed one of the hurdles to construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The court decided that a new presidential permit—issued […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule to formally replace the Obama administration’s controversial Clean Power Plan (CPP).  Like the CPP, the June 19–issued final ACE rule will regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs), and it will be founded firmly on the agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding. However, the ACE rule focuses […]

The fight about who owns equipment at the now-abandoned V.C. Summer 2 and 3 AP1000 reactors in South Carolina intensified on May 14, as key stakeholder Santee Cooper sued lead contractor Westinghouse for certification documentation related to that equipment.  The lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division, […]

Legislative scrutiny of the energy industry have picked up of late. Here are practical steps from law firm K&L Gates that your company could take to prepare for congressional investigations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to take final action to repeal the Clean Power Plan in June 2019, a federal court filing shows. The agency told the D.C. Circuit—in a May 6 status report—review of the Obama-era rule that sets the first carbon dioxide limits for existing power plants “continues to be a high […]

In a legal victory for environmental groups, a federal court has vacated key portions of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) November 2015-promulgated effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for steam electric power plants, deeming them “unlawful.”  The decision adds a dramatic new element of uncertainty in timing of the rule, which the Trump administration has said it […]

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to reconsider industry-led challenges to state nuclear subsidy programs in New York and Illinois leaves the contentious matter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  The high court on April 15 declined to accept petitions for review of decisions by the Second Circuit and Seventh Circuit, dealing a major blow […]

Siemens, Three Mile Island, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) made notable headlines over recent days. Here is this week’s POWER notebook.  Siemens Bags First Order for 41-MW Aeroderivative Gas Unit Siemens on March 25 said it received its first order for its newest aeroderivative gas turbine offering—the SGT-A45. The buyer, Bayat Power, a subsidiary […]

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because it is facing tens of billions of dollars in liability for