Latest
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Coal
Xcel Energy’s Harrington Generating Station Earns Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group Award
Harrington Generating Station, located near Amarillo, Texas, began burning Powder River Basin (PRB) coal when its units first entered service, beginning in 1976. A unique feature of the plant is that TUCO Inc. buys and delivers the coal and Savage Services owns and operates the plant’s coal-handling facility. Incomparable housekeeping and exceptional safety performance evidence […]
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Commentary
NETL: Providing Energy Technology Solutions and Options
The United States is continuing its successful track record of providing global leadership in technologies critical to ensuring the prosperity of current and future generations, as it has done for decades. Today, clean energy technologies need to be quickly developed to satisfy often opposing energy needs: national security, affordability, and environmental sustainability. The nation is […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Supreme Court Strikes Down EPA’s MATS Rule
In a 5–4 decision announced on June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) rules limiting mercury and other hazardous air pollutants released from power plants. In April 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), ruling in a 2–1 decision […]
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Legal & Regulatory
House Passes Measure to Stall EPA Clean Power Plan
A bill that would halt the Clean Power Plan’s compliance deadlines until litigation on the rule has been completed has passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a 247–180 vote. The Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 2042) now goes to the Senate, where the GOP is working on a similar measure to suspend the Environmental Protection […]
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Legal & Regulatory
NSR Settlement Requires New Pollution Controls for Four Corners Coal Plant
Several Arizona and New Mexico–based utilities will be required to install pollution controls at the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant to curb sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) under a settlement reached with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department. The settlement involves the Arizona Public Service Co. (APS), the operator and primary […]
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Nuclear
DOE Issues Remaining $1.8B in Loan Guarantees for Vogtle Nuclear Reactors
The last of three conditional commitments offered by the Department of Energy (DOE) to the coalition building two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia was finalized on June 24, allowing the project to be fully financed. Since it conditionally offered $8.33 billion in loan guarantees in 2010, the DOE has issued $6.5 billion in guarantees […]
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Legal & Regulatory
MISO Says Clean Power Plan Could Cut Its Coal Generation by Half
A new analysis from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the nation’s second-largest ISO, predicted that compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP) could slash coal’s share of its generation from 59% in 2014 to potentially as low as 26% by 2030. The report came ahead of MISO’s planning advisory committee […]
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Nuclear
Nuclear Developments From S. Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan
Several major nuclear announcements surfaced from around the world this week. South Korea plans to retire its oldest nuclear reactor early, Nigeria selected two sites for the construction of four nuclear reactors, while Pakistan approved the construction of two China-assisted reactors. KHNP Moves to Retire Kori 1 Early Amid growing concerns about the safety of […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Duke Proposes Full Excavation of 12 More Coal Ash Basins
With plans already approved for the closure of 12 of its coal ash basins, Duke Energy on June 23 recommended the full excavation of 12 additional basins located in North Carolina. The company proposed excavating five basins each at its Cape Fear Plant in Moncure and its H.F. Lee Plant in Goldsboro. Additionally, it recommended […]
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Legal & Regulatory
GOP Bills Target Clean Power Plan, EPA
As Congress works through its array of annual appropriations bills, Republicans opposed to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) are moving forward with a variety of riders, amendments, and other bills that would stop the plan in its tracks, at least until the federal court system passes final judgment on its […]