Tag archives for EPA
Posted by Just hours before bidding opened on leases for new oil and gas development on 20 million acres of the western Gulf of Mexico this morning, U.S. environmental officials announced that BP would be temporarily suspended from contracts with the government, effectively barring BP from being awarded any leases in the sale. But by the time…
As Half the U.S. Contemplates Hydraulic Fracturing, First Liquefied Natural Gas Export Plant Approved
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on April 19, 2012 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday approved the first large-scale liquefied natural gas export terminal in the lower 48 states despite record falling gas prices. Shipping from the $10 billion Louisiana plant is projected to begin as early as 2015. The Cheniere plant is the third liquefied natural gas plant in the works in Louisiana. Others are planned elsewhere in the country. The plants…
EPA Makes Historic Announcement: First Greenhouse Gas Rule for New Power Plants
Posted by Tim Profeta of Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University on March 29, 2012 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released long-awaited greenhouse gas rules for new power plants this week. Using the Clean Air Act, the agency standard would set the first national limits on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions new power plants can emit. The EPA proposed the rule after delaying it several times since July 2011. Power plants are the largest…
More than 100 Coal Plants Shutting, but How Much Difference Will It Make?
Posted by Mason Inman on March 8, 2012 After public pressure, Chicago will shut two aging coal-fired power plants, and the owner of one of the power plants, Midwest Generation, may shut its other four coal plants in Illinois. Since the start of 2010, more than 100 coal plants have been slated for early retirement. A major reason for coal plants shutting has been public opposition to…
Rising Oil, Gasoline Prices Put Politicians on the Offensive
Posted by Mason Inman on March 1, 2012 In a major speech on energy at the University of Miami, President Obama said rising gasoline prices are a “painful reminder” of the need for alternatives. He was on the offensive, trying to counter criticisms of the GOP presidential candidates—including Newt Gingrich, who promised he’d get gasoline down to $2.50 a gallon. Countering calls to “drill, baby,…
Oil, Gasoline Prices Hit All-Time Highs in 2011—and May Continue Rising
Posted by Mason Inman on January 12, 2012 Average prices of oil and gasoline at the pump reached an all-time high in 2011, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, averaged $111 a barrel—the first time it broke $100 for a whole year. In some ways, these records snuck up on Americans, since there was no extreme…
Fight Over Tar Sands Pipeline May Lead to Cancellation, “Huge” Consequences
Posted by Mason Inman on January 5, 2012 In November, the Obama administration decided to delay a decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline to bring tar sands from Canada to the United States. But in December, Republicans attached a provision to a tax bill, which President Obama signed, that urges the administration to decide on the pipeline within 60 days,…
As Eurozone Crisis Deepens, Fight to Save Emissions Trading Scheme Begins
Posted by Mason Inman on December 22, 2011 Prices in Europe’s carbon emissions trading scheme have collapsed this year, in part because there were too many allowances in the system starting off, threatening the future of the whole market. “Without intervention … Europe’s climate policy is over,” one analyst said. Some of Europe’s biggest energy and manufacturing firms also wrote a letter to…
Posted by A tactical retreat or an abdication? It’s a scant 14 months to the 2012 elections. The economy’s in the tank, as are the president’s poll numbers. (See here, here, here and here.) The pundits tell us (for instance here and here) that Obama will pivot to jobs, jobs, jobs in an effort to rehabilitate his…
Attacking the long-standing problem of coal power plant pollution that drifts across state borders, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today finalized rules that will force a sharp reduction in the smokestack emissions. Here’s a look at EPA’s new regulations, by the numbers: Number of states that will need to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2),…
Nobody likes a methane leak. Now, now, don’t go there. We’re talking about leaks from natural gas production — and more specifically from horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing (or fracking) to extract natural gas locked inside shale. A look at the seesaw saga of the so-called bridge fuel to a bright, clean, renewable-fueled future. First came the natural gas “gold rush” …
Posted by For the past 35 years, the U.S. energy supply condition can be described as “precarious”, at best. But, over the past 5 years the Energy Sector in the US has been undergoing unprecedented change, spurred by a number of factors including a revolution in new energy technologies, rapid shifts in consumer attitudes, and the discovery…
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When president Barack Obama arrived in Copenhagen for the Summit of chiefs of government, Congress was still discussing a comprehensive climate and energy bill. Expectations were set too high for COP15. Most delegates and environmentalists hoped that Obama would lead the way towards a global climate agreement. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson explained on a side…
Posted by Forty years ago today, the Environmental Protection Agency was created. It’s fitting that the anniversary falls just one week after Thanksgiving, because every American from every state should be grateful for the Agency’s work. Consider that by 1990, the EPA’s actions had prevented 205,000 premature American deaths, 189,000 cardiovascular hospitalizations and 18 million child respiratory…
Make Mine a Boilermaker: Exploitation of Rural Pennsylvania’s Natural Resources is Nothing New
Posted by David Rain on November 12, 2010 From Colonel Drake’s discovery of oil in 1859 to the vast cut-over of remaining primary forest, to a little-known offshoot of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Project Plowshares called Project Ketch, which (before it was stopped) would have nuked a cavity in north-central PA for storage of natural gas, Pennsylvania’s rural areas have served as an…
