Energy
Toyota to buy power from planned Martin County solar installation on former surface coal mine
Japanese car manufacturer Toyota says it plans to purchase 100 megawatts of power from a 200-megawatt solar installation in Martin County being built on a former surface coal mine and brownfield site.?? Toyota in a Wednesday news release stated the multi-billion-dollar company would use the solar power to offset some of its carbon emissions. Toyota […]
EPA narrows loophole by expanding regulation of coal ash dumped at power plants
The Biden administration is taking steps to address a regulatory loophole that public interest groups said allowed at least a half-billion tons of toxic coal ash to go unregulated. The Environmental Protection Agency published a new draft rule last week that the groups said would extend federal oversight to much of the coal ash disposed […]
Workers forced to clean up TVA coal ash spill without personal protection settle with company
After 10 years of litigation, workers who were forced to work without personal protection to clean up the Tennessee Valley Authority’s massive coal ash spill at its Kingston Fossil Plant in 2008 have reached a settlement in the case. TVA’s disaster clean-up contractor Jacobs Engineering posted a one-line notice Monday on its website affirming that […]
With summer coming fast, regulator issues electric reliability warning
This story was updated with comments from MISO and SPP on May 19. As much as two thirds of North America could face shortages of electricity this summer in the event of severe and protracted heat, according to the regulator in charge of setting and enforcing standards for the electric grid.? “Increased, rapid deployment of […]
Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loans
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. Congress approved the federal spending — $9.7 billion for a grant and loan program the department is calling the New Empowering Rural America program, or […]
Kentucky’s largest utility tests new law creating barrier to retire fossil fuel plants
Republican lawmakers in Kentucky, raising concerns that planned and ongoing retirements of coal-fired power plants could affect the reliability and resilience of the electric grid, passed a new law that creates an extra barrier for utilities to retire such plants. Kentucky’s largest electric utility, which strongly opposed that law, is now testing it before the […]
Speedier permitting of energy projects gains bipartisan backing on U.S. Senate panel
Members of both parties on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voiced their support Thursday for reforming the federal process for approving energy projects, saying it should be prioritized to secure domestic energy supply and boost renewable energy. There is bipartisan interest in revising the permitting process and members of both parties have […]
EPA again proposes power plant carbon rules
The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan — intended to cut carbon emissions from power plants — was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration’s much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, derided as a “tortured series of misreadings” of the U.S. Clean Air Act, was also tossed by a federal court. […]
Would her family’s financial stake in the coal industry affect Craft’s actions as governor?
As the two have vied for the GOP nomination for Kentucky governor, Kelly Craft has frequently attacked Daniel Cameron because as attorney general he supported closing a coal-fired power plant in West Virginia to avoid burdening Kentucky ratepayers with the cost of required upgrades to the more than 50-year-old Mitchell plant. What Craft doesn’t say […]
In the Southeast, where big utilities rule, calls for a real power market persist
A recent report prepared for the South Carolina state legislature determined that a range of electric market and transmission reforms — including creating a new independent organization to run the electric grid or joining an existing one — would bring? “substantial benefits” for customers, potentially as much as $362 million a year.? The report by […]
Here’s where gas prices are headed (for now) and why
Higher temperatures. Higher gas prices.? Drivers across the country have seen that seasonal given play out in recent weeks. The national average for a gallon of regular gas is $3.64 on April 26, up 21 cents over the previous month, according to AAA.? The good news is that gas is 49 cents below where it […]
With decarbonization, advocates see a bright future for nuclear after decades of dormancy?
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — At the sprawling array of laboratories and test facilities in the southeastern Idaho desert where the U.S. nuclear power industry was born more than 70 years ago, past, present and future are converging. Not far from where the first reactor to ever produce usable electricity made history in 1951, Idaho National […]