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An agreement reached between the City of San Francisco and Mirant Corp. could permanently shut down a controversial 50-year-old natural gas–fired power plant by the end of 2010 and force the Atlanta-based company to pay the city $1 million to address pediatric asthma in nearby communities.

Progress Energy Carolinas said on Tuesday that it would permanently shut down three coal-fired power plants near Goldsboro and seek state regulatory approval to build a new natural gas–fueled facility at the site. The decision will ensure compliance with North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks Act, which establishes more stringent emission-reduction targets in 2013, the company said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday issued final regulatory approval for Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s 77–wind turbine project with a nameplate capacity of 115.5 MW. The $250 million project, which will cover 30,000 acres about 15 miles south of Minot, N.D., could be the largest cooperative-owned wind farm in the nation when it is operational in early 2010.

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens and media magnate Ted Turner have teamed up in calling for a utility sector “cash-for-clunkers” program, which they say could save money and reduce emissions right away.

Dynegy on Monday said it would sell eight power plants to LS Power, a private equity firm that is a major stakeholder in the Houston-based generation firm. The transaction, estimated at $1.5 billion in cash and stock, is expected to enhance Dynegy’s "strategic and financial flexibility."

Montana last week revoked an air quality permit needed by the Southern Montana Electric (SME) Generation and Transmission Cooperative to build a 250-MW coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls, Mont. The decision was reportedly made at SME’s request.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is now looking to build a single reactor at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site in Hollywood, Ala., instead of the four reactors for which it had anticipated regulatory approval.

Duke Energy and the China Huaneng Group—among the largest utilities in the U.S. and China—on Monday signed an agreement to discuss and share information to explore a variety of clean energy technologies, especially those that pertain to cleaner coal.

A FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary has signed an official agreement with federal entities to repower two units at the R.E. Burger coal plant near Shadyside, Ohio, with biomass fuel—making it the largest coal-fired plant in the nation to do so—the U.S. Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Tuesday.

U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels dropped 3.2% in 2008 and are projected to fall a further 5% this year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Emissions from coal will account for more than a half of this decline.