Environmental

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 […]

Strategies for compliance with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards led the list of topics covered during the Power Plant Pollutant Control “MEGA” Symposium held Aug. 19–21, in Baltimore, Md., but carbon dioxide (CO2) control solutions and sessions dealing with water problems weren’t far behind. The conference—hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Electric […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) today issued a final rule on continued spent nuclear fuel storage and terminated a two-year suspension of final licensing actions for nuclear power plants and renewals.  The federal regulatory body’s new rule revises the Waste Confidence Decision—which the D.C. Circuit vacated in June 2012—and renames it the “Continued Storage of […]

Duke Energy is scrambling to contain another major river spill—this time, of about 5,000 gallons of diesel. The company on Tuesday reported that the discharge of diesel oil #2 into the Ohio River inadvertently occurred at about 11:15 p.m. during a routine transfer of fuel oil used for boiler ignition sources at the W.C. Beckjord […]

Europe’s third-largest power provider last week revealed it may be forced to shut down more conventional power plants compromising a total of 1 GW and terminate 470 MW in supply contracts if market conditions in Germany do not improve.  RWE has blamed “political intervention” for “making [its] business challenging”—and specifically, the subsidized expansion of renewables […]

The nation’s coal fleet is under threat, alleged Dr. Larry S. Monroe, chief environmental officer and senior vice president for research and environmental affairs with Southern Co. during the keynote plenary session at the Power Plant Pollutant Control “MEGA” Symposium on Aug. 19 in Baltimore, Md. Monroe was part of a four-member panel, which included […]

NRG Energy is the latest company in a string of generators choosing to cease burning coal at generating units to comply with environmental rules.   An environmental action plan to reduce air pollution in Illinois released by the New Jersey–based company on Aug. 7 proposes to retire the 251-MW coal-fired Unit 3 at the 761-MW […]

American Electric Power (AEP) has agreed to close a coal plant and make changes at two others to resolve alleged Clean Water Act (CWA) violations. According to consent decrees filed in two West Virginia federal district courts, the company on Friday agreed to settle allegations from numerous citizen groups that the coal-fired John E. Amos, Kammer, […]

A final rule governing continued storage of used nuclear fuel is expected from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) next month. NRC staff on July 24 submitted a draft final rule to replace the court-vacated 2010 “Waste Confidence Decision” and a supporting generic environmental impact statement to the commission for approval. The D.C. Circuit in June […]

Judging by the long-running dispute between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of Texas over greenhouse gas permitting under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program, one might assume GHG permitting in Texas has been stalled, or at least slowed. That assumption would be wrong according to an announcement from the EPA this […]