EPA
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Coal
White House Formally Submits Climate Pledge to Slash GHGs
The U.S. will seek to cut its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025, the White House said on March 31 in a target submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The submission—otherwise referred to as an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)—is a formal statement […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Proposed Ozone Rule May Be the Most Costly Regulation Ever
Estimates vary widely, but even the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledges that lowering the ozone standard will cost billions. How will it affect power companies? It could make approval of new projects much more difficult. Even in the annals of expensive environmental regulations and the hyperbole that often accompanies them, the numbers are eye-popping: $140 billion […]
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Coal
Experts: EPA Clean Power Plan’s Legal Uncertainty May Have Lasting Impact
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan will certainly be challenged in court, but states and power companies must expend enormous resources developing and complying with state plans regardless of the outcome, witnesses testified on March 17 at a House hearing on the proposal’s legal and cost issues. The three-hour-long hearing at the House […]
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Legal & Regulatory
FERC’s Work on the Clean Power Plan
Cheryl A. LaFleur One of the most controversial issues facing the energy world today is how our electric sector will respond to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan
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Legal & Regulatory
States Can “Just Say No” to the EPA’s Carbon Rule, Expert Says
According to Peter S. Glaser, partner with Troutman Sanders LLP, who practices in the energy and environmental law fields, saying “no” is an option that states have in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan proposal. Speaking during a panel discussion at George Mason University’s Law and Economics Center on Feb. 4, […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Activists Show Up in Droves for EPA Ozone Hearing
The Byron Sher Auditorium in Sacramento, Calif., was filled at times with students, parents, and other concerned citizens as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held the last of three public hearings on proposed updates to the national air quality standards for ground-level ozone on Feb. 2. The hearings were scheduled as part of the policymaking […]
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Legal & Regulatory
U.S. Electric Utility Toxic Releases Decrease 49% During the Past Decade
On Jan. 14, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report for 2013 showing that electric utilities have cut toxic releases to the environment 49% since 2003. The drop was driven by a 73% decline in on-site toxic air releases as a result of a decrease in hazardous air pollutants (HAP) […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Issues Final Federal Requirements for Coal Ash Disposal
A final rule issued today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate coal combustion residuals (CCRs) from coal power plants clarifies technical requirements for coal ash landfills and surface impoundments nationwide under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), the nation’s primary law for regulating solid waste. The final rule is […]
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Renewables
[UPDATED] Viewpoints on the EPA’s Clean Power Plan Abridged
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed carbon rules for existing power plants amassed more than 1.6 million remarks before the public comment period ended on Monday. Here’s a snapshot of what states, regulators, industry groups, and environmental alliances told the agency about its Clean Power Plan. States Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, […]
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