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The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) plans to conduct a large-scale grid security exercise later this year that will involve bulk North American power system owners and operators.

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) on Tuesday filed draft rules with the state Legislature that could require large wood-burning power producers to meet strict greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards before they can receive state financing. The rules were modeled on conclusions reached in a June 2010 study that burning forest trees for power is not carbon neutral.

A law signed by Governor Chris Gregoire on Friday phases out coal-fired power production in Washington State with the closure of two coal boilers at TransAlta’s Centralia power plant.

In the past week, Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano separately rejected suggestions that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) could be exempt from liability for damages at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant caused by the magnitude 9 quake and 14-meter tsunami wave on March 11.

Workers are scrambling to contain highly radioactive water and prevent another explosion at the quake-devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, the situation—which still remains “very serious,” according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—has improved only incrementally, the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) told lawmakers.

Seventeen industry groups, including the Biomass Power Association (BPA) and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, last week petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to put on hold rules for industrial boilers while the agency reconsiders them.

John Hanger, who led Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection until January, talked with ProPublica earlier this year about the challenges of trying to regulate the expanding drilling industry.

Not complying with current law can be expensive in today’s legal climate. Employers should review their employee handbooks and employment-related policies to make sure they are up to date. More importantly, employers should draft their handbooks so that employees actually read them and follow their policies.

Wish you could get inside your customer’s head? If so, forget data and go to the source.

Regulators are asked to balance a societal need with the cost burden placed on those who pay for the service. Sometimes they forget that it’s other people’s money at stake.