Budget & Policy

The Department of Energy on Friday announced the availability of $68.4 million in funding for projects under its Carbon Storage Assurance and Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) initiative. In the two funding opportunity announcements, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy said it “seeks cost-shared projects that will determine the feasibility of developing onshore and/or offshore geologic storage complexes […]

The premature closure of nuclear power plants is a detriment to U.S. climate change goals, former assistant energy secretary Susan Tierney said during a June 17 Democratic Party event in Phoenix. Tierney, who was set to become deputy energy secretary under President Barack Obama in 2009 before she withdrew her candidacy, appeared during a regional […]

House Republicans hastily released the lower chamber for recess early Thursday morning, delaying votes on items including a bill that would eliminate the Chevron deference, a judiciary practice by which courts defer to the interpretation of a government agency in cases of ambiguous statutory meaning. On Wednesday morning, House Democrats staged a sit-in on the […]

Ten small businesses developing innovative fossil energy technology will receive roughly $1 million apiece under the Department of Energy’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, the department announced Thursday. Eight of the 10 projects selected focus on clean coal and carbon management. The two remaining projects involve oil and […]

The federal coal leasing program does not currently provide a fair return to taxpayers, and adjusting royalties to make that happen would have little effect on the coal industry, according to a report issued Wednesday by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “We can go way up on royalties and still bring in additional […]

Pointing to the Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture and storage project in Saskatchewan, Canada, as proof that the technology is viable, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) promised to advocate for its continued development in a state energy plan released Tuesday. “Washington D.C. has not done enough to advance and support clean coal technologies. We’ll need both […]

With her most of her friends on the left otherwise occupied, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on Wednesday faced off with Republican members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee during a long and at some points heated hearing on the use of “sound science” at the EPA. “The Environmental Protection Agency has […]

While reviewing the federal coal leasing program, the Department of the Interior should keep a few things in mind, 12 things to be specific, according to a paper issued Tuesday by the New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity. “The Programmatic [Environmental Impact Statement], conducted pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act […]

A seemingly dead extension to the 45Q tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration proposed for inclusion in the 2016 Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act may be back on the table as the bill might make its way back to the Senate for a second round of consideration. Environmental group Green Scissors is not pleased about […]

A group of over 90 scientists, including Nobel laureates and National Academy of Sciences members, submitted a letter Tuesday to President Barack Obama calling for U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles to be taken off high alert to prevent accidental nuclear launch. The June 21 letter says U.S. and Russian land-based nuclear missiles, hundreds of which are […]

Florida Power & Light on Monday moved to purchase a coal-fired power plant in Indiantown, Fla., that it in turn intends to phase out. “While many years ago it made sense to buy this plant’s power to serve our customers, we’re now able to purchase the facility and phase it out of service, preventing potentially […]

A bill that would eliminate the Chevron deference, a judiciary practice by which courts defer to the interpretation of a government agency in cases of ambiguous statutory meaning, is scheduled to hit the House floor this week. However, it remains uncertain what effect the legislation would have on existing legal challenges, such as that against […]

The nongovernmental World Resources Institute announced Thursday the appointment of Paula Caballero to the position of global director for its Climate Program. Caballero has held positions with the Colombian government, the United Nations Development Program, and the World Bank, with much of her work involving climate and environmental issues. “I am just so excited to […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) program cannot adequately measure its progress because of shortcomings in its program plan involving the articulation of goals and performance measures, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report released Friday. The NSDD program installs large-scale radiation detectors at border crossings, seaports, […]

Environmental groups got their chance to weigh in on the 2016 Democratic Party Platform on Friday, and their underlying message was one of praise for progress made on climate change and a desire to see more. The Democratic Party should stand behind President Barack Obama’s climate efforts and work to build on those them in […]

A Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office assessment released Wednesday raised questions about hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs claimed by URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), the DOE cleanup manager for the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. It also cited the contractor for not performing any cost-allowability audits for subcontractor work that totaled more than […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will not consider legislation that would transfer cleanup authority at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site in Missouri from the Environmental Protection Agency to the U.S. Army Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), a committee aide told RadWaste Monitor on Monday. Residents near the Bridgeton, Mo., landfill have […]

Energy company Exelon said this week it will close its Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1 and its single-reactor Ginna Nuclear Power Plant if New York state officials don’t approve nuclear incentives under the Clean Energy Standard (CES) by September. Gov. Andrew Cuomo in December directed the Public Service Department to create the […]

The Senate on Tuesday passed its fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by a vote of 85-13, following an agreement on June 10 to end debate on the bill. The upper chamber left the legislation largely the same as the version passed forward by the Senate Armed Services Committee, approving a handful of amendments […]

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in the latest installment of his “A Better Way” plan has called for the elimination of the Chevron deference, a judiciary practice by which courts defer to the interpretation of a government agency in cases of ambiguous statutory meaning. “It is the judiciary’s deference to agencies that emboldens […]

Much to the chagrin of opponents of the Clean Power Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency has continued work on the related Clean Energy Incentive Program regardless of a Supreme Court stay of the CPP, releasing a proposal for certain design details for the program Thursday. “Once finalized, the design elements in this proposal will help […]

The Environmental Protection Agency has inflated the benefits of the Clean Power Plan, according to a report issued Thursday by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. “The many flaws of the EPA’s cost-benefit analysis of the CPP do not necessarily mean that the U.S. should not adopt any policies to address climate change. While cost-benefit […]

In another party-line vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday sent the funding bill for the Environmental Protection Agency to the full chamber for approval. The fiscal 2017 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill would provide just over $32 billion for – as the name suggests – the EPA, Interior Department and its sub-agencies, […]

Carbon capture and storage projects are expensive, and investors know it, but that’s not the whole problem driving the lack of large-scale demonstration of the technology, according to United States Energy Association Executive Director Barry Worthington. The problem is that governments are not stepping up to do their part to drive the cost of CCS […]

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved a fiscal 2017 spending bill that would prohibit implementation of key Obama administration greenhouse gas emissions rules. The 31-18 vote along party lines in favor of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill followed hours of debate on amendments involving a wide array of matters, from funding for clean […]

Exelon said this week it will close its Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1 and its single-reactor Ginna Nuclear Power Plant if New York officials don’t approve nuclear incentives under the Clean Energy Standard (CES) by September. Gov. Andrew Cuomo in December directed the Public Service Department to create the CES, which includes […]

Advanced nuclear reactor work, light-water reactors, and the accident-tolerant fuel program are expected to be among the topics officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission discuss with Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy officials on June 20. Representatives from the two offices are set to meet at NRC headquarters. Bill Wicker, senior adviser for communications with […]

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday released the latest plank in the Republican Party’s “A Better Way” set of policy proposals, this one on strengthening the U.S. economy with an emphasis on culling unnecessary federal regulations. “Regulations are important. They help protect our health, safety, and well-being, and provide firm rules for us to […]

A Senate subcommittee on Tuesday approved the fiscal 2017 spending bill funding the Environmental Protection Agency, though not without a modicum of dissent. In line with the request from Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the Senate Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee offered no amendments to the legislation during a 30-minute markup. That will be […]

The Senate on Tuesday passed its fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with a vote of 85-13, following an agreement last Friday to end debate on the bill. The upper chamber approved two amendments on the bill – over 600 were submitted in total – leaving the legislation largely the same as the version […]