court

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a 1,020-page rule to control carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and new natural gas-fired power plants. The rule is part of the administration’s plan to shut down coal-fired power plants in the U.S. and impose its will on the nation’s electricity system. This is the […]

Crafting solutions to address the pressing challenges of our time is Congress’s foremost job. There is no doubt that policy-making can be messy, take time, and require compromise. But, overall members and their staff do incredible work for the American public. During my tenure serving Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, I prided myself on working with […]

Federal courts have been pretty kind to energy infrastructure in recent weeks, particularly in cases involving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For starters, this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit removed one of the hurdles to construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The court decided that a new presidential permit—issued […]

Siemens, Three Mile Island, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) made notable headlines over recent days. Here is this week’s POWER notebook.  Siemens Bags First Order for 41-MW Aeroderivative Gas Unit Siemens on March 25 said it received its first order for its newest aeroderivative gas turbine offering—the SGT-A45. The buyer, Bayat Power, a subsidiary […]

New York and Connecticut on January 17 filed suit to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to curb ground-level ozone blowing in from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia with federal implementation plans (FIPs) issued under the “Good Neighbor Provision” of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The two states allege in their […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will propose a replacement rule for the Clean Power Plan (CPP) this fall, according to a September 7 court document filed by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The document, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, provides an update on the EPA’s efforts to develop […]

A federal appeals court has ruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should not have denied a 2012 proposal by PJM in which the regional power operator sought to revise its minimum offer price rule (MOPR). The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 7 said FERC went beyond its “passive and reactive role” under […]

Beyond the bitter disputes that have recently cropped up between Ukraine and Russia concerning Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the subsequent separatist violence in Ukraine’s Donbass region

GenOn has begun its transition back into a standalone power generation company after NRG Energy—which acquired it in a $1.7 billion deal just five years ago—struck a comprehensive restructuring agreement with GenOn’s creditors, and GenOn filed for Chapter 11 protection. A June 14 financial filing confirms that NRG, GenOn, and an ad hoc group of […]

The English Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal on the long-running dispute in connection with the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm. The decision promises to be significant for the offshore wind industry, its

A federal court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to file a plan and schedule to evaluate the consequences of its air pollution rules on jobs, finding for a giant coal company that is suing the agency for an alleged “war on coal” waged over the past five years. In an October 17 summary […]

  A recent motion filed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking a federal court to remand parts of its final coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule could have major new consequences for the power sector if upheld, an expert has said. In its 16-page motion filed on April 18, the agency asked the U.S. Court of Appeals […]

A diverse coalition of major investor-owned utilities, public power authorities, and one of the largest independent power producers, as well as a combination of cities and states, clean energy groups, and environmental groups, filed briefs with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan. The involved […]

Germany’s tax on nuclear fuel rods is not against European Union (EU) law, the bloc’s top court has ruled. The decision from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union on June 4 may be detrimental to utilities that own nuclear power plants, which have already paid about $5.67 billion in the levies that […]

A Japanese court has blocked plans to reopen two reactors that had been previously cleared to resume operations by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA).  Local residents in western Japan’s Fukui Prefecture, where Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear plant is located, successfully petitioned a court to issue an injunction halting plans to restart Units 3 […]

In an apparent legal victory for the states of Washington and South Carolina, a divided federal court on Tuesday directed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to continue its legally obligated review of a license application to build the proposed permanent nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nev. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. […]