Free Republic

On Thursday, Biden's Environmental Protection Agency announced a new set of rules aimed at reducing pollution from natural gas and coal-fired power plants by 90 percent by 2039. About 42,000 Americans work in the coal industry. Under the regulations, the nation's 200 or so coal-fired power plants will be forced to abide by strict new emissions standards unless they stop burning coal within ten years, in which case they will be allowed to follow the less stringent existing standards. According to the rules, a "new compliance path" for coal-fired power plants means they "will be able to continue meeting existing...

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid. In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of new electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent...

The final coal-fired power plants in New England are slated to shutter in the coming years, making it the second region to phase out the energy source that powered the U.S. economy for decades.

Earlier this year, authorities found a tape with 12 hours of mysterious footage as the result of an anti-terrorism raid in Brussels. The hours of tape revealed that someone was spying on Belgium’s nuclear power chief, which led authorities to believe that the terrorist cell was likely planning on attacking a nuclear power plant or retrieving nuclear material to build a dirty bomb. It looks like they were right. Belgium is currently on “high alert” after authorities found a nuclear power plant security officer dead with his pass missing. The concerning development, which occurred on Thursday but was only reported...

Colorado utilities regulators will consider the new plan, which was revised in hopes of capturing lucrative renewable energy credits while slashing greenhouse gas emissions... Xcel Energy has a vision for Colorado’s clean energy future — one independent power producers, consumer advocates and regulators didn’t see coming — a vision that is both expensive, with a $15 billion price tag, and unparalleled in its sweep. Xcel Energy’s preferred electric resource plan submitted to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in September includes 7,100 megawatts of new generation and storage, mainly wind and solar and nearly $3 billion in new transmission lines. “We...

At #COP28 , I joined President @EmmanuelMacron & other leaders to proudly announce the United States is joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance. We will work with partners around the world to phase out unabated coal, an absolutely essential step for keeping 1.5 C within reach.

A driver tried to crash through the exit gates of a South Carolina nuclear plant Thursday night about an hour after security asked the same car to leave when it tried to enter, authorities said. A pop-up security barrier stopped the car with an Arkansas license plate at the Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca around 8 p.m., Oconee County Sheriff’s spokesman Jimmy Watt said in a statement. The driver backed up and tried to drive down a dirt road as Duke Energy security tried to block him in. The driver tried to hit the guards, then drove through a fence...

Germany's cabinet on Wednesday approved putting on-reserve lignite-fired power plants back online from October until the end of March 2024, the economy ministry said, as a step to replace scarce natural gas this winter and avoid shortages. In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a sudden drop in Russian gas imports to Germany, Berlin reactivated coal-fired power plants and extended their lifespans, with a total output of 1.9 gigawatt hours generated last winter. Despite gas bottlenecks easing since last winter with new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal deliveries, coal-fired power plans will be reactivated

The utility’s 1.6 million Colorado customers will see their bills rise 4.4% — about $4 on the average residential bill — on Sept. 1 ... lectricity bills for 1.6 million Colorado customers of Xcel Energy will rise 4.4% — about $3.99 on the average residential bill — on Sept. 1, under a settlement approved Wednesday by the state Public Utilities Commission. In 2022, Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electricity supplier, filed for a $312 million rate hike, but under the settlement it will get an increase of $96 million. The reduced revenue figure was reached in a settlement between Xcel Energy...

On May 23, EPA put out its long-expected proposed Rule designed to eliminate, or nearly so, all so-called “greenhouse gas” emissions from the electricity-generation sector of the economy. The proposal came with the very long title: “New Source Performance Standards for GHG Emissions from New and Reconstructed EGUs; Emission Guidelines for GHG Emissions from Existing EGUs; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule.” The full document is 672 pages long. Various not-very-far-off deadlines are set, ranging from as early as 2030 for some changes to coal plants, to at the latest 2038 for the last changes to natural gas...

The Biden administration is reportedly finalizing a proposal that would force fossil fuel-fired power plants to substantially curb emissions or utilize costly carbon capture technology.The proposal — which will soon be released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — is expected to require coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to cut or capture the vast majority of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2040, The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing officials briefed on a draft of the plan. The regulation, if finalized, would represent the first-ever federal action curbing power plant emissions."EPA cannot comment because the proposals are currently...

China approved 168 coal-fired power plants in 2022, the most rapid expansion of the country’s coal-fired power capacity since 2015, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) Monday. Chinese companies began constructing 50 gigawatts (GW) worth of coal-fired power capacity in 2022, more than triple the rest of the world put together and spiking 50% from 2021, according to the report. Conversely, President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to lead to the retirement of 30 GW to 60 GW of U.S. coal-fired power...

The nation's largest grid operator is warning it may face a major coming shortfall in electric generating capacity as utilities retire more and more traditional fossil fuel power plants. It's a challenge facing grid operators across the country as power generators mothball coal and natural gas-fired plants for various reasons, such as reducing high maintenance and regulatory compliance costs or cutting greenhouse gas emissions. ... PJM Interconnection, which manages grid operations across 13 states and the District of Columbia, published new analysis Friday showing retirements outpacing new additions in the coming years that could leave its service area short of...

Former President Donald Trump detailed his plan for “reclaiming American energy dominance” and creating the “power plants, pipelines, grids, ports, refineries, and shipping terminals of tomorrow” in his latest campaign ad video shared exclusively with Breitbart News.Trump, who remains the lone candidate in the 2024 presidential primary field, pledged to “bring back a pro-American energy policy at long last” if he is elected to the Oval Office, unveiling his plan to de-regulate the industry, once again exit the Paris Climate Accords, and “rapidly” approve “worthy” domestic energy infrastructure projects to lower prices and create jobs for Americans:I will deploy a...

In France strike plans forming for Thursday in opposition to "pension reform" planned by President Emmanuel Macron... In Ukraine tonight a US delegation has arrived led by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman... Meanwhile the International Atomic Energy Agency has established a permanent presence at the "South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant"... US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to travel to China next month... Protests in Peru continue opposition to the ouster of Leftist President Pedro Castillo... Monday night in Germany means protest walks... Israeli Politics: Massive Opposition Protests And Calls For "Compromise Talks" On Judicial Reform... US politics and...

The brutal, unrelenting cold that lasted for several days over the Christmas holiday froze off a sizable portion of Appalachia’s ample gas production, cutting off supply to power plants when they needed it most. Gas transmission pipelines said the gas they were promised simply didn’t show up. On the electric grid that connects Pennsylvania to 12 other states, at one point almost 25% of the capacity on the system either didn’t start up or broke while operating, leaving coal and petroleum-fired units to pick up the slack. PJM, a Valley Forge-based grid operator, is still analyzing what happened during the...

Rolling blackouts during the recent cold wave has raised concern about the reliability of our electricity grid, but the growing possibility of deliberate sabotage may be a bigger threat. The first sign America’s electricity grid might have become a target occurred in 2013, when a marksman disabled an electricity substation south of San Jose with more than a hundred long-range shots reportedly from a .50-caliber rifle. This was no casual prank or random act of vandalism. It was clearly planned, and the damage required nearly a month to repair. At the time the FBI downplayed the incident, saying publicly that...

As temperatures in the UK plummet, National Grid, the transmission system operator, asked two contingency coal-fired power plants to be ready to send more electricity to the grid on Monday if needed. "We've issued a notification to warm two winter contingency coal units. This measure should give the public confidence in Monday's energy supply," National Grid said today, as temperatures dropped and snow fell in London, creating traffic chaos. ... With low temperatures and low wind speeds, wind generated just 7.6% of Britain's electricity on Saturday, National Grid ESO said on Sunday. Natural gas generated 62.0% of electricity, more than...

Someone has been attacking power plants all over the country, and federal authorities are trying to determine who it is. In recent days, we have seen significant sabotage on both the east and west coasts, and so it can’t just be one individual that is responsible. During the first eight months of this year, there were a total of 106 attacks on the electrical grid in the United States, and that represents the highest number ever recorded in a single year. Hopefully authorities will be able to get to the bottom of this mystery, because winter will soon officially begin....

Yes, oil prices are slightly down, but that is only because Joe Biden continues to dip into the dwindling supply in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. So you can expect the average price at the pump, which even as it now stands is still much higher than you paid before Biden’s ascent, to spike again. While it would run counter to the environmental partners of the administration, the solution would be to extract more energy from the land under our feet. That means drilling for natural gas and oil. And if one believes the mainstream media, one would think that the...