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Critical decisions loom for nuclear projects; LNG industry needs shake-up

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Critical decisions loom for nuclear projects; LNG industry needs shake-up

Top News

Critical decisions, deadlines loom for nuclear projects

The future of U.S. nuclear power remains unclear, with recent industry developments seeing some steps forward but also some backward as significant deadlines approach.

LNG industry needs shake-up more than federal push, energy expert says

The Trump administration is pushing U.S. LNG in meetings with international leaders, but the real catalyst for additional investment in multibillion-dollar export ventures will come with a change in the way LNG terminals are financed, one energy consultant said.

BLM approves Arch Coal's West Elk lease expansion, GCC mine decision

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued coal lease modifications for Arch Coal Inc.'s West Elk mine in Colorado on Dec. 15.

Power

* AES Corp. is divesting its 51% equity interest in its Masin-AES Pte. Ltd. subsidiary in the Philippines to SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. for $1.05 billion to pay down parent debt, according to a Dec. 18 news release.

* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved Louisiana's regional haze plan, which includes reducing sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter using best-available retrofit technology, or BART, at six electric-generating units and three other facilities. The plan also calls for emissions limits at NRG Energy Inc.'s Big Cajun 2, which is not subject to BART requirements.

* New Jersey legislators introduced a bill that offers the state's largest utility, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., payments for its nuclear plants in the form of "nuclear diversity credits."

* The U.S. will begin negotiating with Canada in early 2018 to modernize a treaty that governs hydropower and flood control operations along the Columbia River. The development comes as certain provisions of the treaty are set to expire in 2024.

* As a broad tax reform package nears a final vote in Congress, a bicameral conference committee agreed to preserve existing tax credits for wind and solar energy. A proposed tax for multinational companies could still limit renewable energy investment, industry experts say.

* Georgia Power Co. believes that a fire at its underground electric facility may have caused the power outage at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Georgia. As of 11:45 p.m. ET on Dec. 17, the Southern Co. subsidiary said it had restored power for all essential airport activities, including all concourses and flight operations.

* TransAlta Corp. will not proceed with a planned 21-MW wind farm in Montana, saying the price approved by the state Public Service Commission makes the project "economically unfeasible," the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune reported, citing a company official.

* Tesla Inc. is largely responsible for the slowdown in solar installations this year, as SolarCity Corp. has mostly stopped its "aggressive marketing campaigns and ambitious expansion" under Tesla ownership, Reuters reported, citing a new report from GTM Research.

* Illinois' Bureau County Board approved conditional-use permits for Hoover Solar LLC's planned 17-MW solar farm, SaukValley.com reported. The project is estimated to cost about $31 million.

* The offices of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will hold a "people's hearing" on the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan on Jan. 9, 2018.

* Puerto Rico missed a deadline, as promised by its governor, to reach 95% power generation and delivery on the island by Dec. 15, The Associated Press reported. Currently, the power generation and delivery rate on the island is at 64%.

* The New York Power Authority announced $1 million in funding from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation to support a U.S.-Israeli thermal energy storage with combined heat and power project.

Natural gas/Oil

* After a rocky past couple of years for the midstream energy sector, investors may be warming back up to the idea of investing in oil and gas pipeline companies in 2018, a Dec. 15 analyst report said.

* New Mexico's Sandoval County Commission voted against a proposed ordinance to regulate oil and gas operations, after opponents discussed its potential harms to the environment, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

* Elliott Management Corp. may not have a very high opinion of the leadership of Hess Corp., but some analysts back Hess.

* Statoil ASA agreed to acquire a 25% interest in the Roncador oil field in the Campos Basin in Brazil from Petrobras for an initial payment of $2.35 billion plus additional contingent payments of up to $550 million.

* Separately, Petrobras signed a memorandum of understanding with Exxon Mobil Corp. to jointly identify and evaluate potential business opportunities.

Coal

* CONSOL Energy Inc. is adopting a program to repurchase up to $50 million of its outstanding common shares or 11.00% senior secured notes due 2025 from time to time through the period ending June 30, 2019.

* One day after announcing that CEO Hunter Harrison would take medical leave for an unspecified illness, CSX Corp. confirmed Dec. 16 that Harrison died. Hired in March to turn around the flagging railway giant, Harrison was 73.

* Clean Coal Technologies Inc. is set to transfer its test facility at the AES Corp.'s Shady Point coal-fired plant in Oklahoma to Wyoming by the end of January 2018, the Gillette (Wyo.) News Record reported.

* A group of environmental groups including High Country Conservation Advocates, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club filed suit in federal court to block the expansion of Arch Coal's West Elk mine in Colorado.

* Roy Green, the newly appointed chairman of Port of Newcastle in Australia, sees an "urgent need" to diversify the port's business beyond coal. "Clearly the long term outlook for coal is a threat to the Port and Hunter region, but it is also a huge opportunity," Green said in a statement.

Commodities

* Next-day power values could diverge in the week's opening session Monday, Dec. 18, as predominantly softer demand forecasts for Tuesday collide with a renewed uptick in natural gas futures trading.

* After settling 7.2 cents lower at $2.612/MMBtu ahead of the weekend, NYMEX January 2018 natural gas futures were higher overnight leading up to the Monday, Dec. 18, open, as stronger demand associated with recent and imminent cold weather looked to ramp up the pace of storage erosion in the weeks ahead.

* Emissions allowance price indications under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule finished the week ended Dec. 15 unchanged to higher.

* The California ISO board voted Dec. 14 to increase automation and tweak the modeling that can be used in its energy imbalance market, in part to ease integration of Powerex Corp. into the market next spring.

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New from RRA

* Following in the footsteps of Connecticut and Florida, the Public Utility Commission of Texas in two rate case decisions issued Dec. 14 adopted mechanisms to address the impact of potential changes in federal corporate income tax rates on the company's prospective revenue requirement.

Quoted

"The Mine Safety and Health Administration's job is to protect coal miners, and that includes enforcing standards put in place to reduce mine dust exposure and protect them from getting black lung disease," said a statement by the office of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., responding to the Trump administration's intention to re-examine a rule created to protect coal miners from black lung disease.

The day ahead

* The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will announce increased oil and gas drilling inspections in 2017 at 11 a.m. ET.

* Covanta Holding Corp. will hold a conference call at 12 p.m. ET to discuss its joint venture with Green Investment Group Ltd.

* Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. equity markets. To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here. To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.

The Daily Dose is updated as of 7:30 a.m. ET. Some links may require registration or a subscription.