environmental rules

Lee Zeldin has been sworn in as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 17th administrator, inheriting an agency that the power industry sees as increasingly central to the future of U.S. energy policy, grid reliability, and regulatory uncertainty. At his confirmation hearing on Jan. 16, Zeldin, a former congressman from New York’s First District with […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has denied an industry petition seeking to delist stationary combustion turbines from the agency’s list of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) major source categories regulated under section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The agency’s final action on April 11 responds to an August 2019 petition filed by several […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in February issued a final rule imposing tighter restrictions on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) or soot.  The final rule, issued on Feb. 7, strengthens the nation’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) by lowering the level of the primary (health-based) annual PM2.5 standard from 12.0 micrograms per cubic meter […]

In a significant but controversial final action, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 7 retained its existing National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for both fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). While the EPA said the decision came “after careful review and consideration of the most recent available scientific evidence and technical […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) unprecedented temporary policy to relax enforcement of noncompliance with certain environmental rules in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked an impassioned response from industry experts, environmental groups, and from the agency itself. As POWER reported, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) on March 26 adopted a […]

Adopting a new temporary policy that gives it more “enforcement discretion,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said March 26 it does not expect to seek penalties for civil violations of the agency’s rules that result from the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy adopted Thursday addresses concerns that regulated facilities are facing potential worker shortages, travel restrictions, […]

While the Republican-led U.S. House and Senate in the 115th Congress was mainly focused on reviewing, for modification or repeal, several environmental rules issued under the Clean Air Act (CAA), the new Democrat majority in the House could focus on a slew of different measures, a new report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) suggests.  […]

The owner and management company of the Berkshire Power Plant—a 252-MW natural gas–fired combined cycle plant located in Agawam, Mass.—agreed to plead guilty on March 30 to felony charges that the companies violated and conspired to violate the federal Clean Air Act. The indictments against Berkshire Power Co. (BPC), the owner of the plant, and […]

North America’s reserve margins are trending downward, even though electricity demand has generally fallen, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned in a new report. The international regulatory authority established to gauge and improve the reliability of North America’s bulk power system (BPS) said in its annual long-term report that electricity demand has dropped […]

India and 73 other countries submitted their carbon emission reduction targets for 2025 and 2030—or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)—ahead of the deadline last week, with just two months remaining until talks to confront climate change are due to begin in Paris.  The United Nations (UN) has so far received 120 separate pledges covering 147 […]