ACE Rule

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to take final action to repeal the Clean Power Plan in June 2019, a federal court filing shows. The agency told the D.C. Circuit—in a May 6 status report—review of the Obama-era rule that sets the first carbon dioxide limits for existing power plants “continues to be a high […]

The Senate on February 28 officially confirmed Andrew Wheeler to be administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a 52–47 vote, mostly along party lines. The nomination of Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, was controversial, with many lawmakers and environmentalists criticizing his ties to the coal industry.  Wheeler has held the role in an acting […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that if states fully implement the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule—which it proposed in August 2018 to replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan—by 2025, U.S. power sector carbon dioxide emissions could be about 34% below 2005 levels. At the end of 2016, they had fallen 24%, and by the end […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s third coal plant conversion to gas combined cycle generation, at the venerable Allen plant near Memphis, Tennessee, created the most-efficient combined cycle plant in its

California Gov. Jerry Brown on September 10 signed into law a measure requiring the state to produce all its electricity from renewable sources by 2045. It’s a goal that also has been set by Hawaii and is being discussed by other states. Environmental groups and renewable energy advocates immediately praised Brown’s action. Utilities operating in […]

Seventeen states have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the Trump administration’s efforts to further delay the court’s decision on legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan. In a filing with the court on September 4, the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, […]

The Trump administration has extended a potential lifeline to coal-fired power plants with its Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. Now the debate is about how much the plan will actually help coal generation. Energy analysts and other industry experts who spoke with POWER on August 28 say the new rule, which would give individual states the […]

The Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule announced August 21 calls for coal-fired power plants to meet state-designed performance standards, most notably focused on increases in heat rate and overall efficiency for individual generating stations. Energy experts speaking at the MEGA Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 22 agreed it’s a goal worth pursuing. […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule is proposed to replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan—which the Supreme Court stayed in February 2016 and never went into effect. According to the EPA, the replacement is necessary because the Obama-era Clean Power Plan “exceeded the EPA’s authority.” However, like the Clean Power Plan, […]