View this email in a web browser.
With House passage of bill scrapping carbon rules expected today, eyes turn to Senate odds
If legislation to stymie U.S. EPA carbon rules is to clear the Senate this Congress, it will be because moderate Democrats from coal states insist on it, a key House legislator said yesterday. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) expects to see his bill to scrap EPA greenhouse gas rules for the utility sector pass the House today with little difficulty. But the Energy and Power Subcommittee chairman acknowledged last night that the Senate version — S. 1905, sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — faces more hurdles. [ read more … ]
Harvard paper wades into debate on scope of power plant rules
U.S. EPA’s upcoming rule to limit carbon dioxide emissions from today’s power plant fleet should encourage as much demand-side energy efficiency as possible, according to a white paper released yesterday by the Harvard Environmental Policy Initiative. The initiative, which is a project of Harvard Law School, argues that Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act allows — and perhaps compels — EPA to reach for proven strategies “outside the fence line” of individual plants in setting emissions standards. And because many states already require their utilities to meet energy efficiency targets or run programs to help their customers save energy — programs that have been proved to reduce emissions — EPA must promulgate a standard that takes into account the success of those existing programs, it said. “Any adequately demonstrated system of emission reduction available for compliance with a performance standard must also drive the standard’s stringency,” said the paper, authored by EPI Director Kate Konschnik. [ read more … ]
Iowa gets about 27 percent of energy from wind, report says
Iowa received about 27 percent of its energy from wind generation last year, placing it first in the nation, ahead of South Dakota at 26 percent, a new report today shows. The American Wind Energy Association said Iowa generated enough wind last year to power 1.4 million homes, second only to Texas, which generated enough wind energy to power 3.3 million homes. Iowa has 5,117 megawatts of installed wind energy capacity, with 1,055 megawatts under construction. [ read more … ]
States’ Model Climate NSPS Plan May Help Address SIP Burden Concerns
The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA), representing state and local air officials, is crafting a template for how states could craft plans for complying with EPA’s pending climate rule for existing utilities, which may help address states’ concerns over the burden in meeting the rule’s tight timeline for writing the plans. One state source says the model will help state air agencies as they grapple with questions like “what the heck do I have to do” and “what are the choices I need to make or can make” as they scramble to meet an aggressive deadline set by President Obama to get state implementation plans (SIPs) for compliance submitted to EPA by June 2016, just one year after the agency has been directed to finalize the utility new source performance standards (NSPS). [ read more … ]
How does conservative money work on climate change?
Searching for a reason major climate change legislation hasn’t passed Congress yet? You could do worse than start looking around Washington, D.C., with its endless think tanks, lobbying firms and trade groups, many of which have swung into action in the past to block such bills and stand ready to do so in the future. [ read more … ]
Large-scale Ore. wave energy project is scrapped
Plans to build the country’s first big wave energy project off the Oregon coast have been abandoned by developers who said the costs were too high to justify the project. The project, as envisioned, would have put a flotilla of 100 buoys that generate energy from the waves off the town of Reedsport, Ore. Each buoy would be as big as a school bus. [ read more … ]
EPA adds 60 days to comment period on power plant proposal
The agency gave no explanation for its decision to extend the comment period from March 10. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 8, months after its release. Some onlookers attributed that delay to last-minute concerns at EPA about the legality of a proposed mandate that all new coal-fired power plants use carbon capture and storage technology to limit emissions, but the agency put it down to a work backlog caused by October’s federal government shutdown. The proposal was published with no significant changes. [ read more … ]
As hiring scandal fizzles, BPA fills vacancies
The head of the Bonneville Power Administration has named two top staff members, filling a pair of key vacancies at the head of the troubled agency. BPA Administrator Elliot Mainzer selected Greg Delwiche to serve as the agency’s deputy administrator and named Claudia Andrews as its chief operating officer. Andrews replaces former Chief Operating Officer Anita Decker, who resigned after being put on administrative leave last year. [ read more … ]
Bird groups ask FWS to probe proposed Ohio turbines in migration corridor
Two bird advocacy groups, fresh off a successful effort to block a wind turbine project at an Air National Guard base in northern Ohio, are raising concerns about an even larger proposed wind project at a nearby business park on the shores of Lake Erie that they say could harm bald eagles and other sensitive wildlife. But the owners of the Lake Erie Business Park in Port Clinton where the wind turbines would be sited say they have not finalized plans to build as many as five additional turbines to one already installed there last year, and that development is not imminent. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.