POWERnews

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday—opening day of the 12-day international climate change talks in Copenhagen—formally declared carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) threats to public health and welfare. The move responds to the Massachusetts v. EPA U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2007 that found that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants.

A permit issued by Idaho’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) last week to Southeast Idaho Energy to operate a clean coal gasification fertilizer plant near American Falls is the first in the state and the nation to set enforceable greenhouse gas emission limits.

San Antonio’s CPS Energy on Sunday filed a petition with a Bexar County court to define the liability faced by the utility and NINA (Nuclear Innovation North America), a Toshiba-NRG Energy consortium, if both parties pulled out of a project to expand the South Texas Project (STP) nuclear plant near Bay City, Texas.

In a “push” to the economy and employment, the European Commission today granted €1 billion to six carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and €565 million to nine offshore wind energy projects.

The U.S. Energy Department last week said it would fund three carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects with a value of $3.18 billion to accelerate their development: American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) proposed Mountaineer demonstration project; Southern Co.’s Plant Barry demonstration in Alabama; and Summit’s Texas Clean Energy Project in Midland-Odessa.

The week brought news of more closures or cancellations related to coal-fired generation. Exelon Corp. said it would permanently shut down four older units—a total capacity of 933 MW—in Pennsylvania; Progress Energy announced the closure of 11 North Carolina units in a shift to burning natural gas; and cost increases for an Ohio plant are prompting American Municipal Power to consider a combined-cycle gas plant instead.

An analysis released today by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) projects that if Congress adopts climate change legislation based on a blueprint released by the organization earlier this year, the nation’s economy would grow about 70% through 2030 despite adopting carbon emission–curbing measures.

Last week, President Barack Obama set a U.S. target for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% by 2050, while China separately said it would reduce the intensity of its carbon dioxide emissions by 40% to 45% by 2020. The announcements come weeks before the 12-day international climate meeting at Copenhagen, Denmark, which will begin on Dec. 9.

Australia’s parliament today rejected—for a second time—a climate change bill that would effect a carbon trading program. The world’s biggest coal exporter was proposing to reduce greenhouse gases by 5% to 15% of 2000 levels via a carbon trading system similar to Europe’s within the next decade.

French nuclear giant AREVA on Monday announced it would sell its lucrative transmission and distribution (T&D) division to Alstom and Schneider Electric—both French firms—for €4.09 billion, rejecting bids from U.S.-based General Electric and Japan’s Toshiba Corp.