Budget & Policy

A University of Alabama professor was recently granted a U.S. patent for an organic solvent he says could more efficiently capture CO2 compared to traditional amine post-combustion capture systems. 

The National Energy Technology Laboratory is looking to issue a funding opportunity announcement later this fall related to the military’s potential for utilizing of coal-to-liquid-derived fuels. 

The Sierra Club said this week that the most recent status report filed by Mississippi Power to state regulators indicates that the utility will not be able reach its projected in-service date for its troubled Kemper County carbon capture and storage facility.

Researchers behind the industry-funded CO2 Capture Project (CCP) in Brazil said this week that oxy-firing a critical portion of an oil refinery is viable “from a technical and economic standpoint.” 

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) is looking to draw attention to recent proposed budget cuts to the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy as the Senate returns to Washington and continues hammering out a budget for the next fiscal year.

The White House nominated Chris Smith to be Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy last night, seven months after the former Chevron official took over the position in an acting capacity. 

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Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 9/13/13 IN CONGRESS The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to consider the nomination of Elizabeth Robinson as the new Under Secretary of Energy for Management and Performance next week. The panel’s hearing will be held Sept. 17 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 366 of the Senate Dirksen Office […]

Seven trade groups representing high-emitting industries are calling on the White House Office of Management and Budget to withdraw the social cost of carbon estimates the government uses to gauge the future social and economic costs of emitting a ton of carbon into the atmosphere. 

The House Appropriations Committee this week unveiled a short-term Continuing Resolution that would fund the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies through Dec. 15. 

Carbon capture and storage’s most vocal supporter in the European Parliament is calling on the European Union to create a technology-specific certificate system and set aside an additional 600 million allowances on its Emissions Trading System for CCS and other ‘innovative’ clean energy projects, extending the duration of a program that has proven to be a disappointment to date for CCS advocates. 

Reports that retooled carbon emissions standards for new power plants would maintain a de facto carbon capture and storage requirement have begun circulating in recent days as stakeholders gear up for the Environmental Protection Agency’s rollout of the highly contentious rulemaking, expected next week. 

Carbon capture and storage advocates touted Mississippi Power’s Kemper County gasification plant as a pioneering ‘clean coal’ facility at a roundtable event this week, sidestepping reports of further cost increases at the now $4.7 billion plant. 

Indiana regulators have denied a four-year-old request from Duke Energy for the company’s nearly 800,000 customers to foot the bill for a carbon management study for its 618 MW integrated gasification combined cycle facility at Edwardsport. 

Lawyers for a Mississippi Power customer this week argued before the State Supreme Court that the utility can’t charge him or its nearly 200,000 other ratepayers for capital costs related to its Kemper County carbon capture and storage facility, which is currently under construction, until it is online and producing electricity. 

A new study says the emissions reductions achieved from power plants outfitted with carbon capture and storage technology may not be as high as many figures suggest. 

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu officially announced Feb. 1 that he will step down as Secretary of Energy once a successor is named, confirming news that has been widely expected for weeks. 

Effective today, the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy will see new leadership—at least on an interim basis—from the head of its oil and gas program after Assistant Secretary Chuck McConnell announced his departure Jan. 29. 

The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed greenhouse gas emission performance standards are “bad public policy” because they dismiss advanced coal technologies like integrated gasification combined cycle, the head of one of Washington’s most influential coal lobbying groups said this week. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 2/8/13 AT DOE The Departments of Energy and Treasury announced Feb. 7 that they are making available an additional $150 million in tax credits to the manufacturers of clean energy technologies, including to those who produce carbon capture and sequestration-related equipment. The money for the Sec. 48C Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax […]

State utility regulators and industry stakeholders this week appeared to disagree on the true impact of the natural gas boom on the country’s emission reductions goals. 

Decisionmakers should aim to increase government incentives for carbon capture and storage in order to help stimulate the technology’s development worldwide, the head of one of the world’s largest CCS trade groups said this week.

The Obama Administration must significantly ramp up its emissions reduction efforts in order to reach its stated goal of achieving a 17 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2020, particularly in the absence of congressional action, according to a new analysis released this week by the World Resources Institute. 

President Obama has nominated the chief executive of outdoor equipment retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. to head the Department of Interior, defying many expectations in his first pick for his Cabinet-level energy and environment team. 

Many of the Environmental Protection Agency’s programs could be adversely affected by climate change in the coming decades and the agency must do its part to begin planning for that impact, EPA said this week.

An energy policy blueprint unveiled this week by the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee broadly calls for federal energy programs to support CO2 utilization and enhanced oil recovery. 

The Department of Energy approved a second phase for FutureGen 2.0 earlier this week, allowing the developers of the government’s flagship carbon capture and storage project to move forward with $130 million worth of engineering and design work. 

The Government Accountability Office for the first time added climate change to its running list of high-risk issues that could lead to government fiscal exposure. 

The acting head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy rolled out a new organizational structure this week that seemingly centralizes the office’s leadership chain. 

Stakeholders of a proposed coal gasification plant slated for construction in Rockport, Ind., received their last chance to testify before the Indiana state senate’s Utility Committee this week on proposed legislation that would derail the facility’s construction.