Budget & Policy

President Barack Obama had surprisingly harsh words for Senate Republicans holding up the nomination of his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy. 

A group of House lawmakers reintroduced legislation late last week that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing carbon standards for new or existing power plants until carbon capture and storage is deemed economically and technologically feasible by at least three government agencies. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 7/3/13 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The European Parliament narrowly passed a measure this week aimed at providing a lifeline to the European Union’s long-ailing Emissions Trading System. EU lawmakers voted 344-311 July 3 in favor of a “backloading” scheme that would temporarily remove up to 900 million carbon allowances from the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed reports that it sent its retooled carbon pollution standard for new power plants to the White House earlier this week. 

A House Republican has introduced a measure that would require the White House to accept public comment on recent changes to its social cost of carbon estimates.

7/3/13 The following interview with Babcock & Wilcox President and CEO Jim Ferland was conducted by ExchangeMonitor Publications CEO Martin Schneider, Editor Todd Jacobson and Reporter Tamar Hallerman. You’ve been on the job as the President and CEO of B&W for about a year now. What is your vision for the company, and where would […]

The early results of a new review performed at the troubled Kemper County gasification facility, under construction in eastern Mississippi, has found that the cost of the project is set to increase by at least $160 million, Mississippi Power said this week. 

The Department of Energy unveiled a new draft loan guarantee solicitation this week, seeking public and stakeholder comment on language that will eventually govern the allocation of up to $8 billion in new loan guarantee authority for “innovative and advanced fossil energy projects and facilities that substantially reduce greenhouse gas and other air pollution,” including carbon capture and storage, chemical looping and advanced coal technologies. 

Alstom is vying for additional Department of Energy funding to scale up its chemical looping pilot plant in Connecticut. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 7/12/13 IN CONGRESS A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee advanced a bill this week that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing any major energy-related regulations if the Secretary of Energy deems they could have “significant adverse effects” on the economy. The Energy and Power Subcommittee approved the “Energy Consumers […]

New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has outlined plans to strengthen the Department of Energy’s national laboratory system, telling lawmakers on the Energy Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee that he was planning to stand up a National Laboratory Policy Council and establish a group to look at increasing efficiency and effectiveness across the lab complex. 

Thorough site characterization and monitoring is key for the successful and permanent sequestration of carbon dioxide underground, according to a new study that evaluates geomechanical data from three of the world’s pioneering CO2 storage sites at Sleipner, Weyburn and In Salah. 

The White House has indicated that the Environmental Protection Agency will finalize its rulemaking conditionally excluding geologically sequestered CO2 from its definition of hazardous waste next month following a promulgation period that has stretched on for nearly two years.

A Senate vote on Gina McCarthy’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency is likely to occur next week after a key Republican removed a significant hurdle to her confirmation. 

The House of Representatives approved this week its version of the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, after a Democratic lawmaker was successful in amending the measure to move $20 million from the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy R&D program to an Army Corps of Engineers construction account, reducing the funding available for the program to $430 million. 

The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership has begun large-scale CO2 injection operations in a depleted oilfield in Michigan, Battelle announced this week. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 7/19/13 IN CONGRESS The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill this week that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from finalizing any major energy-related regulations if the Secretary of Energy deems they could have “significant adverse effects” on the economy. The committee approved the “Energy Consumers Relief Act” on […]

Babcock & Wilcox is laying off another 90 employees, completing an effort to streamline the way it does business, B&W President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ferland said this week in a message to employees obtained by GHG Monitor. 

Members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee noted the widening gulf between Congressional Democrats and Republicans on climate change during a hearing this week on the science behind the phenomenon. 

The top Republican on a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee sharply questioned the White House’s top regulatory official this week on why the Obama Administration did not seek public comment on recent changes made to the government’s social cost of carbon estimates. 

The Senate confirmed Gina McCarthy as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency late this week, more than four months after President Barack Obama had nominated the veteran air quality official for the position. 

A recently released joint federal and state report assessing the potential environmental impacts of SCS Energy’s Hydrogen Energy California project says the proposed carbon capture and storage facility faces “significant, and for the most part, unresolved issues.” 

New Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz announced changes to the leadership structure at the Department late this week that include combining the Under Secretary of Energy position with the Under Secretary of Science. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 7/26/13 IN CONGRESS A group of nearly two-dozen lawmakers from coal states sent a letter to President Barack Obama this week calling on him to abandon plans to implement carbon standards for new and existing power plants. The lawmakers—who notably include House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Rep. Shelley Moore […]

The Department of Energy’s fossil energy chief sought to fend off claims from Republicans on a House Science subcommittee this week that the Obama Administration is coordinating a “war on coal.” 

The Environmental Protection Agency’s first year of implementing new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards has progressed smoothly and that despite early concerns, the sweeping rulemaking has “churned action” among stakeholders, a senior EPA official said this week. 

The House of Representatives is set to consider a bill next week that would require the Department of Energy to sign off on all major energy-related Environmental Protection Agency regulations. 

A House Appropriations subcommittee advanced legislation this week that would significantly cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency in Fiscal Year 2014; and would block the agency from regulating CO2 emissions from new and existing power plants. 

The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said late last week that he does not think President Barack Obama’s recently-announced climate plan will reignite a serious discussion about pricing carbon on Capitol Hill. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 8/2/13 IN CONGRESS The House Science, Space and Technology Committee voted Aug. 1 to subpoena the underlying research data the Environmental Protection Agency uses to help formulate air quality regulations. The committee voted along party lines 20-18 to pass a resolution authorizing the subpoena—the panel’s first in more than 20 years—for […]