FERC to breathe new life into PURPA review effort
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission once again is set to consider revamping its rules implementing a 40-year-old law aimed at ensuring that small renewable power generators and cogeneration facilities have a reliable means of selling the electricity they produce.
Trump revokes another Obama climate directive, signs efficiency order
President Donald Trump signed an executive order to streamline directives for federal agencies to use energy and water resources more efficiently and has rescinded President Barack Obama's 2015 order that had agencies perform sustainability analyses and implement plans relating to climate change.
PJM pending auction results clouded by state nuclear subsidy debate
State-approved subsidies for nuclear plants and the planned retirement of three such facilities could bear heavily on the results of PJM Interconnection's most recent annual auction for future generating resources.
US industry, customers at odds on timing of returning extra tax collections
Comments submitted to FERC on the rate implications of last year's historic tax overhaul appear to show some consensus that any accumulated deferred income taxes collected by electric utilities and pipelines in excess of actual tax liabilities should flow back to ratepayers. However, industry and consumer views diverged on how quickly to return the excess balances.
'Extra-market additions' threaten competitive US power markets, new paper says
"Extra-market additions," including renewable energy credits and reliability must-run contracts, have left competitive U.S. power markets run by regional grid operators "in tatters," according to a new white paper from law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP.
FERC, NRC to hold periodic joint meeting
Members and staff of both the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold a joint meeting June 7 as part of an ongoing series of discussions on issues of mutual concern to the two agencies that began in 2006.
Top FERC economist Quinn to leave agency
Arnold Quinn, a prominent economist who heads FERC's Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, will be leaving the agency at the end of May. Quinn has been at the agency more than 15 years and has served in his current role since 2014.
Top FERC economist heading to Vistra Energy regulatory team
Vistra Energy Corp. has hired Arnold Quinn, an outgoing top-ranking agency director and senior economist at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to help lead the company's regulatory affairs group in Washington, D.C.
US Senate spending bill would give DOE energy programs a boost
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development May 22 approved a fiscal-year 2019 spending bill that would provide more money for U.S. Department of Energy research programs and increase funding for the DOE's Office of Science.
FERC staff: 25 GW of new power capacity to be added before summer ends
Citing external reports, FERC staff said while a lot of coal-fired power plant capacity has retired since May 2017, those retirements will be more than offset by the 25 GW of new capacity — mostly renewable and gas-fired generation — to be added before summer's end.
FERC moves to further protect US bulk power system from solar disruptions
FERC took steps to bolster the bulk power system's protections against geomagnetic disturbances, showing support for certain reliability standard revisions but also seeking further improvements to better address risks associated with the high-impact, low-probability threat.
US power groups urge support for EVs, national fuel economy program
A coalition of power industry groups asked the Trump administration to ensure any future fuel economy standards for cars support increased use of electric vehicles and maintain a single national program for vehicle fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards.
EPA science board says transparency rule restricts use of human health studies
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board determined that Administrator Scott Pruitt's science transparency rule "would limit the use of science based on human subject data" and was conducted without consultation from the scientific community.
EPA 'secret science' proposal: 'Trojan Horse' or a victory for transparency?
The EPA has proposed rules requiring that data from studies used to shape its regulations be made public as a means to ensure transparency, but some critics argue that rafts of scientific information crucial for safeguarding the environment and public health would be disqualified.
