POWERnews

Leaders of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Friday called on the Department of the Interior to investigate whether coal companies are understating the value of coal mined on federal and tribal lands to avoid paying full royalties.

A fire in the main transformer of the South Texas Project (STP) Electric Generating Station’s Unit 2 on Tuesday evening automatically tripped the reactor in Bay City, Texas, and powered on emergency diesel generators.

Two U.S. nuclear reactors that have long been idled—one for roughly two years and the other for three—may see even longer periods of shutdown, new reports suggest. Federal regulators said significant work remains before the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska can be restarted, while Progress Energy Florida on Monday told the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) that it was a week away from submitting a draft report evaluating repair options for its Crystal River reactor.

In a settlement with the federal government, Kentucky Utilities has agreed to spend $57 million to install a sulfuric acid mist emission control system, replace a coal-fired boiler, and pay a civil penalty of $300,000 to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations at its 2-GW coal-fired Ghent Station.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 20 finalized changes to a specific set of adjustments to Clean Air Act that apply to a coal, oil, natural gas and biomass boilers and certain solid waste incinerators.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson on Thursday announced she would step down after President Obama’s state of the union address later this January.

Japanese firm Toshiba Corp. is reportedly holding discussions with three parties to sell off up to 16% of its subsidiary, U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co.

A long-sought extension of the wind energy tax credits are included in the “fiscal cliff” bill signed today by President Obama. Unlike past extensions, it allows the credit to cover wind farms that begin construction—not just those that begin operations—in 2013.

Six months after withdrawing a $1 billion plan to retrofit its 49-year-old Big Sandy coal-fired plant near Louisa, Ky., from the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), American Electric Power (AEP) operating unit Kentucky Power on Wednesday announced it would retire the plant’s 800-MW Unit 2 by 2015 and will decide on the future of its 278-MW Unit 1.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday issued a final rule that strengthens its National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to 12.0 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) but declared it would not finalize a proposal to update separate secondary PM2.5 standards. The final rule’s issuance was lauded by environmental and public health groups, though industry groups opposed it, citing concerns that nonattainment areas would suffer economic setbacks.