Energy
Power plant debate helps push lobby spending to new high for Kentucky legislature
FRANKFORT — Legislation affecting power plant retirements helped drive spending to lobby the Kentucky legislature to a new high of $12.4 million during the 2024 session. A bill that created new hurdles for utilities that want to retire power plants fired by fossil fuels spurred investor-owned utilities and power cooperatives to spend much more than […]
Biden administration proposes ending future federal coal leasing in Powder River Basin
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday released plans to end future leasing of its managed coal resources in the Powder River Basin in eastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming in a move that has angered Montana’s Republican political leaders but is being cheered by environmental groups who fought for changes to leasing plans over […]
New federal rule will overhaul transmission planning as electric grid strains
A divided Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday issued a long-awaited overhaul of how regional electric transmission lines are planned and paid for, a move cheered by clean power groups but blasted by a conservative commissioner who said it was driven by “special interests” and exceeds the commission’s authority. The commission’s final rule on transmission […]
Kentucky’s Coleman joins other GOP attorneys general in challenging Biden power plant rules
Kentucky’s chief law enforcement officer has joined Republican attorneys general from 24 other states in challenging new federal rules aimed at curbing water pollution and nearly all greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and newly constructed gas-fired power plants. A news release from Kentucky Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman on Thursday said the […]
In some parts of the U.S., the grid of the future might be closer than you think
A little more than two years ago, a clean energy record was broken. For the first time, a regional transmission organization met more than 90% of its electric demand, called load, with renewable power. But if you don’t follow the electric industry closely, you might be surprised where it happened. On March 29, 2022, Southwest […]
Avalanche of aid could help Kentuckians reinvent mountain economy
CORBIN — Eastern Kentucky is about to get an avalanche of federal and state money to help it transition from its largely disappeared coal economy, but some of its towns are already lifting themselves up and setting examples for the region. That was the upshot of the 36th annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Corbin, […]
Kentucky AG gets funding to fight Biden administration on climate, air and water pollution rules
When Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman told state lawmakers in January about the budget needs of his office, Rep. Patrick Flannery, R-Olive Hill, asked if he needed more resources to address a “regulatory avalanche” regarding a “green agenda” coming from the federal government.? Coleman, a Republican, said his office would welcome them, saying there was […]
New federal rules aim to clean up toxic coal ash, including nearly a dozen sites in Kentucky
Kentucky is one of a minority of states that produces most of its electricity by burning coal. A byproduct of that legacy today: creating millions of tons of what’s known as coal ash, a waste from burning coal containing a slew of toxic metals that’s often stored by utilities and power producers in impoundment ponds […]
New?EPA rules will force fossil fuel power plants to cut pollution
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Environmental and clean energy groups celebrated the announcement as long overdue, particularly for coal-burning power plants, which have saddled hundreds of communities across the country with dirty air and […]
Kentucky to receive $62 million to expand solar energy access to low-income households
The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding a more than $62 million grant to Kentucky’s state government to help expand residential solar energy to low-income households, one of dozens of awards given across the country as a part of a federal grant competition.? The “Solar for All” competition, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, is allocating […]
‘Panicked rush to gas’ could hike energy costs, report warns regulators
The nation’s largest public power company, the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves 10 million people in Tennessee and parts of six neighboring states, has put forward plans for eight new natural gas plants since 2020. In South Carolina, Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper are pushing the state legislature to pave the way for a 2,000-megawatt […]
Government transparency decisions await Kentucky lawmakers when they reconvene Friday
FRANKFORT — A bill that open government advocates warn would introduce loopholes into Kentucky’s open records law could make its way to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk when lawmakers return to Frankfort later this week.? The final two days of the 60-day regular session — Friday and Monday — are set aside to consider gubernatorial […]