Free Republic

Georgia Power asked state regulators for permission to shut down 15 power plants yesterday, claiming new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) make the plants too expensive to run. The 15 coal-, oil- and natural gas-fired power plants currently produce 2,061 megawatts (MW) for Georgia energy consumers. Georgia Power plans to close 11 of the plants on the exact day the EPA’s new mercury regulations are set to take effect, April 16, 2015. Georgia Power will seek waivers from the EPA to keep four of the other plants open for a single year, and then shut those down too...

A federal court has struck down an Environmental Protection Agency rule that forces cuts in soot- and smog-forming power plant emissions that cross state lines, dealing a major blow to the White House's air quality agenda. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that forces cuts from plants in 28 states in the eastern half of the country, finding that it exceeds EPA’s powers under the Clean Air Act. The 2-1 court decision Tuesday is a victory for industry groups, some states and GOP lawmakers, who alleged the rule would...

GenOn Energy Inc. has put power plants in Elrama, Washington County, and in New Castle on its list of eight plants to shut down by May 2015 because of environmental regulations. Elrama, a 460-megawatt plant, will be deactivated in June, according to the company's announcement today. The 330-megawatt New Castle plant is expected to close in April 2015. GenOn said the eight plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey represent about 13 percent of its generating capacity, or 3,140 megawatts in the wholesale market. One megawatt can power about 800 homes. Read more: GenOn to mothball power plants in Elrama,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The most detailed data yet on emissions of heat-trapping gases show that U.S. power plants are responsible for the bulk of the pollution blamed for global warming. Power plants released 72 percent of the greenhouse gases reported to the Environmental Protection Agency for 2010, according to information released Wednesday that was the first catalog of global warming pollution by facility. The data include more than 6,700 of the largest industrial sources of greenhouse gases, or about 80 percent of total U.S. emissions. According to an Associated Press analysis of the data, 20 mostly coal-fired power plants in...

President Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans broke sharply Wednesday over new EPA power plant pollution rules , underscoring election-season divides about environmental regulation that have spilled onto the campaign trail. The White House sought to put Obama’s stamp on the new mercury standards for coal-fired power plants while emphasizing that the administration is providing “flexibility” to industry. In a video posted on the White House website Wednesday, Obama said his administration has had “enough” of efforts to delay clean air rules, noting that 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act mandated limits on mercury pollution from power plants. 

“Today,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democrat-controlled Senate on Thursday rejected a Republican attempt to block a regulation intended to curb power plant pollution that blows downwind into other states. By a 56-41 vote, senators defeated a resolution by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who said the step was needed to rein in what he called the Obama administration's overzealous job-killing approach to environmental protection. "We are simply asking that the clean air regulations already on the books stay in place and we do not make the regulations so onerous that they put utility plants out of business and we have an...

Major Security Firms Detect New Trojan Capable Of Disrupting Power Plants, Oil Refineries and Other Critical Infrastructure Networks Mac Slavo October 19th, 2011 In our October 7, 2011 report There Have Been Intrusions, we noted that DHS Undersecretary Greg Shaffer warned that hackers and foreign governments are “knocking on the backdoor” of the networked systems which connect everything from infrastructure grid control systems to financial networks. It now appears that our interconnected smart grid is actively under attack, as evidenced by a new Stuxnet-style trojan that has been detected by major cyber security leaders Symantec and McAfee. Much like its...

So if somebody wants to build a coal-fired plant they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them… – Barack Obama speaking to San Francisco Chronicle, January 2008 The United States has the world’s largest coal resources. In fact we have 50 percent more coal than Russia, the country with the next largest reserves. But coal use in the United States is under assault. Before becoming President, Barak Obama promised to bankrupt coal companies. As President, he has tried various strategies to force Americans to use less coal. After failing to pass a national energy tax (cap-and-trade), the President vowed...

Energy: It won't matter which light bulbs we use as the administration's implementation of cross-state pollution rules shuts down coal plants across the country. Where will the jobs be when the lights go out? It's called the Cross-State Pollution Rule, announced last month, and its implementation over the next 18 months will likely result in the loss of a fifth of the nation's electricity-generating capacity. The result will be likely power shortages, skyrocketing rates and inevitable brownouts and rolling blackouts. Based on Bush-era EPA proposals that the federal courts threw out in 2008, this latest example of legislation is designed...

Texas Governor Rick Perry and two top state regulators on Thursday blasted the U.S. environmental agency for including Texas in a rule to slash sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants, warning that the last-minute action could threaten the state's electric supply. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule to reduce air pollution from coal-fired power plants in states east of the Rocky Mountains. "Today's EPA announcement is another example of heavy-handed and misguided action from Washington, D.C., that threatens Texas jobs and families and puts at risk the reliable and affordable electricity our state needs to succeed," said Perry,

Thousands of power plants, manufacturing plants, paper mills, refineries, chemical plants, schools and hospitals use boilers at their facilities. Literally millions of jobs rely on affordable energy from these facilities, and those jobs are put at risk if those boilers can no longer be installed and run in a cost effective manner.

American Electric Power on Thursday announced it plans to shut down several coal-fired power plants, convert or retrofit others, and cut as many as 600 jobs in the next few years to comply with regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Based on the proposed regulations, AEP will have to retire nearly 6,000 megawatts of coalfueled power generation; upgrade or install new advanced emissions reduction equipment on another 10,100 megawatts; refuel 1,070 megawatts of coal generation as 932 megawatts of natural gas capacity; and build 1,220 megawatts of natural gas-fueled generation.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced Thursday that he would pull out of a regional climate pact by the end of the year, delivering a political setback to the fledging effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. In a news conference, Christie said the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a 2005 accord in which 10 states agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants 10 percent by 2018, would not be able to meet its goals. The program requires plants in the region that burn fossil fuels to buy pollution allowances for the carbon they...

Fury as hospitals hit with outages while post-industrial collapse of America accelerates The rolling blackouts now being implemented in Texas and across the country as record cold weather grips the United States are a direct consequence of the Obama administration’s agenda to lay siege to the coal industry, launch a takeover of infrastructure under the contrived global warming scam, and help usher in the post-industrial collapse of America.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's administration said Thursday it will regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, after legislation on climate change died in Congress. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it would regulate fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries -- which together emit nearly 40 percent of US greenhouse gases -- starting in 2012.

It sounds innocuous enough. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new guidelines Thursday requiring state and local authorities that issue pollution permits based on federal standards to use the "Best Available Control Technology," or BACT. The stated goal is to achieve a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. Most of the facilities affected by the new guidelines will likely be power plants, refineries and cement production operations. What the BACT guidelines simply mean, according to the agency, is this: "After taking into account technical feasibility, cost and other economic, environmental and energy considerations, permitting authorities should narrow the...

Three power plants on the San Diego County coastline face major changes — from shuttering operations to building new cooling towers — in the wake of a landmark ruling by California’s water-quality officials to protect sea life. The State Water Resources Control Board last week decided to phase out once-through cooling for seaside power plants because the process kills more than 2.6 million fish and 19 billion fish larvae annually, according to the agency. The policy may be contested by energy companies concerned about the cost of compliance, including fitting new infrastructure into existing facilities. Ratepayers statewide will pay the...

Tough new rules imposed by the State Water Board Tuesday would force 19 coastal power plants to begin phasing out their reliance on ocean-water cooling systems — raising the specter of giant towers erected along I-5 to cool the San Onofre nuclear plant. San Onofre and the other plants, including the AES plant in Huntington Beach, were given deadlines to make technological updates to their cooling system by the Water Board, which voted to approve the new rules late Tuesday. The deadlines are years away — for San Onofre, it’s 2022. The new rules could force many plants to switch...

(picture) - at the time, the world's fastest - the subs were the bane of American sailors. Now, the reactors that powered those submarines are being marketed as the next innovation in green power. Environmentalists say the technology is outdated and potentially dangerous, and marketing it as green energy is an abuse of nuclear power's good green name. The Russians are not alone in pushing the idea that the next generation of nuclear reactors should have more in common with the small power plants on submarines than the sprawling installations of today. But the kinds of marine reactors the Russians...

"New Jersey jihadist arrested in Yemen worked at nuclear power plants" SNIPPET: "The South Jersey man who Yemini officials are calling a terrorist with links to al-Qaeda previously worked at three local nuclear power plants. Sharif Mobley, 26, is being held in a jail in Yemen after he allegedly killed a police guard and seriously injured another during a shootout at a hospital on Monday. The Buena, N.J. native has also been accused of taking part in several acts of terrorism, Yemini officials say. He also purportedly has ties to the same branch of al-Qaeda who are suspected of attempting...

A controversial economist working at the Office of Management and Budget has raised questions about whether a new air pollution rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would impose too high a cost on coal-fired power plants...Randall Lutter, who served as the Food and Drug Administration's head of policy under George W. Bush and has battled environmentalists for years on issues such as climate change and smog, has been examining the economic impact of federal rules at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Lutter is a long-time ally of OIRA's director, Cass Sunstein. While Lutter's job portfolio remains unclear,...

Representatives from the electrical industry sharply criticized on Tuesday a proposal in the House to extend federal regulation to include local power plants in major cities to protect them and the national power grid from cyberattacks. Under the 1935 Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforces security standards for most of the nation's power plants, including facilities and control networks -- known as bulk power systems -- that connect power systems. But the commission does not have regulatory jurisdiction over electrical systems outside the continental United States and to local distribution facilities, which include some in large cities...

Blog: Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Blog Details Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria to Link Their Power Networks Iran, Iraq, and Turkey yesterday signed an agreement for power and energy cooperation and for linking their power networks with that of Syria. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Iran's Minister of Energy Parviz Fattah and his Iraqi and Turkish counterparts at the end of the first regional power conference, held in Baghdad. Under the agreement, power networks of the Persian Gulf Arab states, Central Asian republics and regional countries will in the long run be connected to those...

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the government may consider cost in deciding whether to order power plants to undertake environmental upgrades that would protect fish. The court's 6-3 decision is a defeat for environmentalists .. could have required an estimated 554 power plants to install technology that relies on recycled water to cool machinery. .. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates water-intake systems at power plants kill 3.4 billion fish and shellfish each year.

SACRAMENTO — Blamed for the widespread killing of marine life, California's coastal power plants are under mounting pressure to abandon an antiquated process that draws in ocean water to cool turbines. The battle has raged from the statehouse to the White House. California agencies are divided, the San Diego County Water Authority is worried, legislation has been introduced in Sacramento, and even the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to weigh in. Opponents of more controls have warned of higher bills and tighter energy supplies. Water supplies from desalination plants built alongside power generators also could be at risk, they say....

New Jersey raised more than $15 million from power companies and other bidders this week through its participation in a regional auction designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The auction is part of the first market-based cap and trade program in the nation to make polluters pay for the right to emit carbon dioxide and ultimately lower emission amounts. Each power company in the 10-state coalition must purchase allowances for every ton of carbon they emit each year. The proceeds will be invested by the states in energy efficiency projects and developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar....

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Kenya will pave the way for increased cooperation between the two countries, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Sheikholeslam said on Friday in Nairobi. In a meeting with Kenyan Vice President Stephene Kalonzo Musyoka, he stated that there has been substantial improvement in Tehran-Nairobi relations. Iranian companies are currently implementing road and power plant projects in Kenya and are interested in expanding their activities in the East African nation, Sheikholeslam said. He also expressed appreciation for the Kenyan president's invitation to Ahmadinejad. The Kenyan vice president stated that Nairobi is committed to supporting the Islamic Republic...

MARIETTA, Ohio (CNN) – Campaigning in coal country just two days before the presidential election, Sarah Palin is highlighting an interview Barack Obama gave to the San Francisco Chronicle in January in which the Democrat suggested coal plants would be bankrupted by his cap-and-trade proposal. Audio of Obama’s comments began bubbling up on major conservative blogs over the last 24 hours, and Palin wondered why voters were only now hearing about the remarks. The insinuation that the Chronicle had been hiding the coal comments from the public brought about shouts of “Liberal media!” from the crowd. “Why is the audio...

With news today that the United States Nuclear Watchdog, Dale Klein, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is set to visit the Turkey Point Nuclear Reactor Power Plant in South Miami-Dade Florida we thought we’d look at just how safe our nuclear reactors are from a surprise terrorist attack. A 1982 study by Sandia National Laboratories found that a core meltdown and radiological release at one of the two operating Indian Point reactors could cause 50,000 near-term deaths from acute radiation syndrome and 14,000 long-term deaths from cancer. When these results were originally disclosed to the press, an NRC official...

A coalition of water users filed a notice Thursday stating its intent to file a lawsuit alleging that power plants are harming fish in the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The four water districts allege that Mirant Corp.'s natural gas-fired power plants in Antioch and Pittsburg are harming species including the delta smelt. The smelt's decline triggered a recent federal court decision that was expected to limit the amount of water available from the delta for people and farmers, including those served by the Belridge, Berrenda Mesa, Lost Hills, and Wheeler Ridge-Maricopa water districts. The plaintiffs say that Mirant's power plants...

Eighty-two percent of Americans living in close proximity to nuclear power plants favor nuclear energy, and 71 percent are willing to see a new reactor built near them, according to a new public opinion survey of more than 1,100 adults across the United States. Only residents within 10 miles of an operating nuclear power plant—electric company employees excluded—were questioned. The survey also found that 86 percent give the nearest nuclear power plant a “high” safety rating and that 87 percent are confident that the company operating the power plant can do so safely. The telephone survey of 1,152 randomly selected...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House agreed Wednesday to give the government broader powers to review foreign investments in U.S. power plants, ports and other facilities that could be vulnerable to terror attacks. The legislation, passed 423-0, would give legal muscle to a once- obscure federal office that gained attention a year ago with the uproar over plans by a Dubai-owned company to manage six of the nation's largest ports.

WASHINGTON – One of the world's top scientists on global warming called for the United States to stop building coal-fired power plants and eventually bulldoze older generators that don't capture and bury greenhouse gases. But 159 coal-fired power plants are scheduled to be built in the next decade or so, generating enough power for about 96 million homes, according to a study last month by the U.S. Department of Energy. Burning coal is one of the major sources of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas causing global warming. In prepared remarks to be delivered at the National Press Club Monday...

In what is being projected as an economic boom for the East Texas region (if it comes to fruition), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will soon begin work on a feasibility study for an East-West corridor. The announcement was made last week as the TxDOT Commission voted to move forward with the study that will cost an estimated $2 million. The corridor is the brainchild of the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition. "If we had a major four-lane, east-west highway through Jasper it would mean to us what I-10 means to Beaumont and I-20 means to Shreveport," said Jasper...

AUSTIN — Carrying signs with slogans of "Stop the Coal Rush" and "Shame on Texas," about 1,000 people rallied at the state Capitol on Sunday to call for lawmakers to slow down a plan to build up to 18 new coal-fired power plants. Environmentalists fear the new plants, with 11 proposed by energy giant TXU Corp., will pump millions of tons of pollutants into the air every year. "Coal plants seem so archaic," said Stacy Foss, an Austin teacher who brought her two young children to the rally in the 50-degree weather. "Texas is so environmentally incorrect." Organized by about...

A TV advertisement opposing TXU Corp.'s plan to build 11 new coal plants in Texas begins airing Wednesday in the Waco market, and will air next week in Dallas. The ad campaign, titled "Profits and Pollution," are being paid for by Environmental Defense, a nonprofit environmental group that is suing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over the permit applications process. The ads are asking viewers to contact their state legislators and ask them to slow down TXU's fast-tracked coal plan. The fast-tracking plan could cut down the regulatory approval process for a new plant to six months. It previously...

Elected officials, business leaders and environmental watchdogs, invited by the editorial board, recently met at The Dallas Morning News to discuss clean air issues. This is the first of three excerpted transcripts from the roundtable. The speakers quoted: Colleen McCain Nelson, editorial writer; Margaret Keliher, Dallas County judge through 2006; Richard Greene, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency; Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office; Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk board member; Todd Campbell, director of public policy for Clean Energy and mayor of Burbank, Calif.; Al Armendariz, assistant professor, SMU School of Engineering; Robert Cluck, Arlington...

Facing new regulations intended to limit greenhouse-gas emissions by the electricity industry, California utilities are using their clout as big power buyers to snub "dirty" resources outside the state and push forward development of renewable resources in and around California. At a meeting next month, California utility regulators are expected to approve a measure that will prohibit utilities from entering into contracts to buy electricity from resources that emit substantial greenhouse gases, such as coal. The policy, believed a first among states, implements a new state law that takes aim at global warming. (See related article.) Utilities in the state...

BEIJING - China and the United States on Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way for Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four civilian nuclear reactors in China, a multibillion dollar deal. The memorandum of understanding was signed by China's Minister for the National Development and Reform Commission Ma Kai and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. Stephen Tritch, Westinghouse's president and CEO, said the details of the contract have yet to be finalized but that it was a multibillion dollar deal. He said the company want the plants up and running by 2013. Westinghouse, which was acquired by Japan's Toshiba...

March 3 — Suspected Sept. 11 planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is believed to command a global network of al Qaeda terrorists, but in the three days since his arrest he has refused to tell interrogators anything about planned attacks, instead reciting the Koran to himself, U.S. officials told ABCNEWS. Mohammed was questioned for a third day by U.S. and Pakistani agents today. Analysts said interrogators were seeking details of any planned al Qaeda attacks and leads on the whereabouts of the world's most-wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Though the arrest of Mohammed in Pakistan on Saturday has been described as...

SACRAMENTO - The effects of California's sweltering heat became a political issue today for the candidate seeking to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Phil Angelides, the Democratic nominee for governor, charged that Schwarzenegger has failed to deliver on a campaign promise to attract new power plants to ease energy shortages on summer days that lead to high electricity consumption, thus creating a new energy crisis. ``With this heat wave our energy grid has been strained almost to breaking,'' Angelides said. ``His lack of attention on this issue, his failure to move us forward, has resulted in the state once again playing...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's power grid is expected to post a new electricity demand record on Friday as air conditioners across the state battle a powerful heat wave, the California Independent System Operator said on Thursday. The Cal ISO manages the power grid that connects major power lines in the state. The grid operator called on Californians to conserve electricity by calling a "power watch" from Friday to Monday, said Stephanie McCorkle, spokeswoman for the ISO. By Thursday evening, there had been no weather-related outages, McCorkle said. "New temperature data (are) indicating a warm air mass is pushing up...

Recently the Trib showed a map of the proposed 640-mile-long Trans-Texas Corridor-35 and the initial 316-mile toll road-and-rail segment between San Antonio and Dallas. Notice the area through Williamson, Bell, Fall and McLennan counties, then deduce why TXU’s previous plans to build three coal-burning plants in Robertson and Milam counties were suddenly switched to McLennan County. You will see, raising its ugly head, a 10-mile-wide “blue line” east of and roughly parallel to our Interstate 35. This marks the path of the TTC-35 tollway with its proposed electric-powered bullet train. With 11 coal-burning plants planned in Texas, is corporate TXU...

(2006-03-02) — As part of an historic nuclear deal between the U.S. and India, President George Bush announced today that officials at U.S. nuclear power plants who experience technical difficulties will call a toll-free number to get immediate help from a tech-support center in New Delhi. “Our friendship with the people of India grows stronger every day,” said President Bush. “It’s good to know that from now on, when a nuculer reactor starts to overheat, or meltdown, the plant manager can call on the world leaders in concise and courteous customer service. They’ll hear that cheerful voice saying, ‘Hello, my...

VIENNA (Reuters) - Most people back the use of existing nuclear power plants but are against building new reactors as some states are considering, a survey conducted in 18 countries for the U.N. nuclear watchdog showed on Wednesday. The survey, commissioned by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is charged with promoting nuclear energy, showed 62 percent of the roughly 18,000 respondents said existing nuclear facilities should continue to be used while 59 percent were opposed to building new plants. Its release comes two weeks after British Prime Minister Tony Blair put nuclear power back on the agenda by...

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday the government may consider building a new generation of nuclear power stations, in a speech delayed briefly by anti-nuclear activists. "The issue back on the agenda with a vengeance is energy policy," Blair told the Confederation of British Industry. "Energy prices have risen. Energy supply is under threat. Climate change is producing a sense of urgency." Nuclear power currently provides one-fifth of Britain's electricity, but the nation's 12 nuclear power plants are aging and unless replaced will provide just 4 percent by 2010. A government policy paper on energy resources will be...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration proposed new regulations Thursday that could allow the nation's dirtiest power plants to release more air pollutants each year — and possibly undercut lawsuits aimed at forcing companies to comply with the Clean Air Act. The proposal follows a June federal court ruling that said power plants can throw more pollutants into the air each year when they modernize to operate for longer hours. It's the latest in a series of attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency to make the nearly 30-year-old Clean Air Act rules for coal-fired power plants more industry-friendly. Some changes were...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge here said environmental groups and four U.S. cities can sue federal development agencies on allegations the overseas projects they financially back contribute to global warming. The decision Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White is the first to say that groups alleging global warming have a right to sue. "This is the first decision in the country to say that climate change causes sufficient injury to give a plaintiff standing, to open the courthouse door," said Ronald Shems, a Vermont attorney representing Friends of the Earth. That group, in addition to Greenpeace and the...

Officials in New York and eight other Northeastern states have come to a preliminary agreement to freeze power plant emissions at their current levels and then reduce them by 10 percent by 2020, according to a confidential draft proposal. The cooperative action, the first of its kind in the nation, came after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Once a final agreement is reached, the legislatures of the nine states will have to enact it, which is considered likely. Enforcement of emission controls could potentially result in higher energy prices in...

WASHINGTON — Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report to be released Thursday. Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment. The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical cord blood taken by the American Red Cross. They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA. "These...