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Two natural gas–fired projects received key approvals from state regulators this week. The Florida Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) proposed 1,277-MW gas unit for Broward County, Fla., and Louisiana’s Public Service Commission approved Entergy’s 550-MW gas project for Jefferson County, La.

Pushing for an “all-out, all-of-the-above” energy strategy, the Obama administration last week announced new funding to advance the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday proposed its first-ever carbon pollution standard for new power plants, limiting carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from new fossil fuel-fired power plants to 1,000 pounds/MWh. The standard is achievable for new natural gas combined cycle units without add-on controls, but it would force new coal or petroleum coke units to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which is currently commercially unavailable, the agency acknowledged.

Freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and a civil society have made America exceptional. But without energy—secure and affordable energy—many of our great accomplishments would not have been possible.

FirstEnergy Corp., AEP, and GenOn have all announced coal-fired plant closures, totaling over 13 GW, caused by the recently finalized Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

A proposed rule issued in late February by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will not change the greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting thresholds for the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Operating Permit programs. However, it includes revisions to the permitting program that would provide some flexibility in how compliance is achieved with GHG emission caps.

A new report released in early March by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) found that loss of reactive power was the most likely outcome from a severe solar storm that was centered over North America. Significant losses of reactive power could lead to voltage instability, and, if not identified and managed appropriately, power system voltage collapse could occur, the report concludes.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. However, photos of the conflagrations that have resulted from ignition of minor lube oil leaks on a typical steam turbine room floor will leave you speechless. Full-scale physical simulations of oil fires by the insurance company FM Global leave no doubt that power plant fire prevention and mitigation is a judicious blend of art and science.

This unconventional technique for removing slag from solid fuel-fired boilers, used for more than two decades, has exploded in popularity. But the risks are very real, and not all blasters are created equal.

Moving into the election season, President Obama has again pointed to the number of green jobs supposedly created by his administration in a recent campaign advertisement, although the claims are not supported by available data. Now, other government authorities are using the same poor data as an excuse to increase spending.