POWERnews

The week brought several developments concerning climate change legislation. A Republican senator is considering introducing an amendment to a fiscal appropriations bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources. Meanwhile, as reports emerged that Senate hearings on climate change legislation could begin next month, Texas Governor Rick Perry railed against the Waxman-Markey bill, and China pledged to slow growth of its carbon emissions.

Working Mother magazine has selected American Electric Power (AEP) as one of the 100 best companies for working mothers. AEP is the only electric utility and the only Ohio-based company on the 2009 list.

Southern Co. plans to implement an advanced integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology developed in conjunction with the Energy Department, KBR Inc., and other partners at an Alabama federal research facility at an existing fuel oil–fired power plant in China, the company said on Thursday.

The Department of Energy last week announced the award of 11 projects worth $75.5 million to conduct site characterization of promising geologic formations for carbon dioxide storage.

Babcock International last week agreed to buy the full commercial arm of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA)—a UK government body that provides nuclear decommissioning, waste management, and new nuclear build support services—for £50 million.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that it has completed a multi-year study of power plant wastewater discharges and concluded that current regulations—issued in 1982—have not kept pace with changes in the power industry over three decades. It now plans to revise existing standards for water discharges from coal-fired power plants. Revisions could include tightened restrictions on contaminants in wet scrubber wastewater streams.

Alstom last week pulled out of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), an industry group that advocates for the “robust” use of coal and advancement of cleaner coal technologies. The French company widely active in the development and testing of carbon capture technologies said it broke with the coalition because of its questionable support for climate legislation—the same reason Duke Energy cited when it withdrew from the ACCCE earlier in the week.

Competition for funding under the Energy Department’s Round 3 Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) heated up on Monday as Future Power PA Inc. (FPPI) announced it had applied for about $610 million for a proposed integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant with carbon sequestration in Pennsylvania.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed an executive order on Tuesday directing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt regulations by July 31, 2010, to increase California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 33% by 2020—one of the strictest in the country.

GE-Hitachi (GEH) Nuclear Energy last week said it had submitted a final design certification document for the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The submittal allows the regulatory agency to proceed with its evaluation of the third-generation reactor design.