Legal & Regulatory

Steam electric power plants preparing to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and standards as they concern bottom ash transport water and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) waste streams will get—for now—a two-year reprieve under a new rule the agency finalized on September 12. The ELG rule, which was finalized by […]

Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency has given Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) conditional approval to restart two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. The units were taken offline after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in March 2011. The country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on September 13 said TEPCO could restart the units after it provides a detailed plan […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will propose a replacement rule for the Clean Power Plan (CPP) this fall, according to a September 7 court document filed by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The document, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, provides an update on the EPA’s efforts to develop […]

Mexico’s energy reform, which began in 2013, has opened up key parts of the country’s electricity sector to new market participants, foreign investors, and innovative technology. Prior to the reform

On March 9, 2017, the New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) issued an order announcing a transition from a traditional net energy metering (NEM) compensation mechanism for certain energy resources to a

In a long-awaited study of electricity markets and grid reliability, the Department of Energy has called out natural gas as the No. 1 reason for retirements of coal and nuclear plants, breaking from the Trump administration’s prior talking point blaming regulations and renewables for the nation’s shrinking coal and nuclear fleets. The report attributes four […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) much-anticipated study on grid resilience and reliability elicited immediate chatter from a variety of industry stakeholders, from power generators and trade groups to environmental and clean energy advocates. The 187-page study essentially notes that unprecedented changes are transforming the electricity industry. Over the past 15 years, market forces—namely, cheap natural […]

Nine states in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region have said they will cut emissions from power plants by 65% below 2020 levels by 2030, expanding a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce carbon output usually associated with power plants. States in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) agreed to increase emissions cuts by an additional […]

A lawsuit filed in South Carolina wants state-owned utility Santee Cooper to sell the parts from a coal-fired power plant project it suspended in 2009, saying customers should receive the proceeds as payback for Santee Cooper raising residential and commercial rates after the project was stopped. Conway, S.C., attorney George Hearn Jr. filed the lawsuit […]

Those waiting for a decision in the court case against the Clean Power Plan are going to have to wait a bit longer. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on August 8 ordered that the case, which pits a coalition of 27 states and numerous energy producers, utilities, and trade organizations […]