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The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) controversial Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) survived another day as the U.S. Supreme Court on June 13 declined to review the D.C. Circuit’s decision to leave the rule in place while the EPA revises it to comply with a 2015 Supreme Court ruling. The 2015 decision sent MATS back […]

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) approved Minnesota Power Co.’s integrated resource plan (IRP) on June 9, which calls for the economic idling of the company’s Taconite Harbor Energy Center—a two-unit 150-MW facility (Unit 3 was retired in June 2015)—this fall and ceasing coal operations at the site in 2020. The MPUC also adjusted the […]

One of the witnesses testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on June 9 believes states and regulated entities will be granted additional time to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP), if the rule is ultimately found to be lawful. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court has […]

Michigan utility DTE Energy announced on June 8 that it would retire a total of eight aging coal-fired units at three of its plants by 2023. The units slated for retirement are located at the 651-MW River Rouge plant, the 536-MW Trenton Channel plant (Figure), and the 1,547-MW St. Clair plant. All three are located in […]

  Even though it may dominate forecasts, natural gas–fired generation faces a troubled expansion in the U.S., according to experts from a variety of stake-holding entities—including an industry group, a utility, a generator, and a pipeline company. Challenges that have few solutions—from price volatility, to gas transport concerns, to rule uncertainty—may upend the nation’s dependence […]

Fresh on the heels of its decision to finally move ahead with the long-anticipated retirements of the Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants in Illinois, Exelon officials told an Iowa newspaper that its Byron and Three Mile Island (TMI) plants face the same challenges and could be forced into retirement without changes to markets and […]

The last of six gigantic modules in the nuclear island for Unit 3 at the Vogtle AP1000 reactors under construction near Augusta, Ga., have been placed. The CA02 and CA03 modules, weighing 52 tons and 237 tons respectively, are critical components and part of the In-Containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST), Georgia Power said on […]

North Carolina’s governor has vetoed a coal ash bill backed by Duke Energy that would have reinstated the recently dissolved Coal Ash Management Commission. Senate Bill 71 (SB71), introduced in February 2015, has passed both houses. Some media sources suggest that lawmakers have enough votes to override the veto. The bill seeks to re-establish the […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reached another milestone on June 3 when operators at Watts Bar Unit 2—the nation’s newest nuclear power plant and the first added to the fleet in 20 years—synchronized its generator to the power grid, generating electricity from the plant for the first time (Figure 1). 1. Reactor Operator Bill Hahn […]

Given the lack of progress on Illinois energy legislation, Exelon Corp. announced on June 2 that it would begin taking steps to permanently shut down its Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear power plants. In a statement, the company said Clinton would close on June 1, 2017, and that Quad Cities would follow exactly one year […]