Budget & Policy

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 1/4/13 AT EDWARDSPORT: REGULATORS GREENLIGHT $2.6 BILLION SETTLEMENT Indiana regulators approved a settlement agreement late last week that requires Duke Energy to absorb nearly $900 million in cost overruns from its 618 MW Edwardsport integrated gasification combined cycle facility. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) said that the Charlotte-based utility can […]

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 1/4/13 IN CONGRESS Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) will return as the top Republican on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee for a third term, House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said this week as he announced a new slate of 12 appropriations cardinals. Frelinghuysen, who was rumored to be a […]

This year will be critical for carbon capture and storage in the U.S. as a series of upcoming large-scale project milestones, high-level leadership changes, federal regulations and potential legislation could ultimately help determine the future viability of the technology. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 1/11/13 IN CONGRESS Incoming Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced Committee staff appointments this week, including Joshua Sheinkman as staff director. “The committee has a tremendous combination of veteran committee staffers and dedicated newcomers to work on issues that can give a major boost to the […]

Congress should spare tax breaks for fossil fuel companies as its looks to reduce the federal deficit, the head of the American Petroleum Institute said this week. 

Environmentalists appear to be ramping up efforts to push for Congressional and White House action on climate change this year, based on potential legislation and an open letter to President Barack Obama that was floated this week. 

Those hoping the results of November’s elections would silence the frequently-used “war on coal” mantra were proven wrong this week after a new round of coal retirements induced the familiar rallying cry from House Republicans. 

Denbury Resources recently finished construction of a 232 mile-long pipeline in the Rocky Mountain region that will soon begin delivering CO2 to a depleted oil field in Montana for enhanced oil recovery operations. 

Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), one of the Senate’s most vocal supporters of advanced coal and carbon capture and storage technology, will not seek reelection in 2014, he announced Jan. 11.  

Given the success of enhanced oil recovery operations in regions like the Permian Basin and the northern plains in recent decades, some of the technology’s proponents are beginning to look offshore for new opportunities. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 1/18/13 IN CONGRESS Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.), along with several senior Republican colleagues from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced a resolution this week that rejects the prospect of a federal carbon tax on fuels for electricity and transportation. McKinley’s office said a blanket tax on emissions would increase unemployment […]

A draft report on climate change released by a federal advisory panel late last week warns of possible global temperature increases of 5-to-10 degrees Fahrenheit in the coming decades if the world’s current greenhouse gas emissions trajectory is not soon altered. 

Global investment in carbon capture and storage projects has largely flatlined in recent years, according to new figures released this week by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The head of one of D.C.’s most active coal industry lobbying groups this week urged power generators to tread cautiously when considering the switch from coal to natural gas capacity. 

Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s recent retirement announcement leaves the Senate without an obvious champion for carbon capture and storage, but some analysts think enhanced oil recovery could provide an opening for bipartisan cooperation on the issue. 

Weeks after finishing construction of its nearly $300 million Greencore CO2 Pipeline, Denbury Resources has announced its purchase of nearby oilfields in the Rockies that could be flooded with CO2 from the transport network as soon as 2017. 

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 1/25/13 IN THE COURTS A U.S. federal appeals court this week denied a petition filed by the Environmental Protection Agency to rehear a case in which the body vacated an agency rulemaking aimed at curbing SO2 and NOx pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants. A majority of judges on the […]

One of the Obama Administration’s top climate negotiators stepped into a new role this week as the Department of Energy’s new deputy assistant secretary for Climate Change Policy and Technology. 

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) launched a bicameral task force Jan. 24 that will formulate recommendations for how the president can limit climate change using his executive authority. 

Mississippi Power Company and state regulators reached a settlement agreement Jan. 24 that will allow the utility to seek a rate increase on its customers to help pay for its $2.88 billion Kemper County gasification facility. 

Nearly four years after Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and allocated nearly $3.5 billion to carbon capture and storage development, the Department of Energy has finally brought a large-scale integrated demonstration project online. 

Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Chuck McConnell is leaving the Department of Energy Feb. 1, GHG Monitor has learned. In an email to DOE employees this afternoon, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said McConnell will be leaving after nearly two years at the helm of DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, but did not specify his reason for leaving or his future plans. Notably, McConnell’s departure comes days after as DOE received its FY 2014 ‘pass back’ from the White House Office of Management and Budget in preparation for the FY14 budget request. “I am honored to have had the chance to serve and progress the fossil agenda by focusing strongly on the business case and business community needs for commercial reality, energy security and environmental sustainability. I am looking forward to continuing my efforts as an active part of the energy marketplace both domestically and internationally,” McConnell told GHG Monitor in an e-mail.  Chu lauded McConnell for “helping bring a “sense of urgency and adopting some best practices from the private sector to help further the agency’s mission.” He added: “Chuck enthusiastically supported a new strategy, carbon capture, utilization and storage, which uses carbon produced by the burning of fossil fuels for enhanced oil recovery.  Capturing CO2 from power plants and using it for enhanced oil recovery creates a win-win-win proposition for the environment, the economy, and American energy security.  …  If we can continue this progress, and continue driving down the price of captured CO2, the effect could be transformative.” Chu also announced that Scott Klara will be stepping down as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, the No. 2 position in the Office of Fossil Energy, and will return to his previous role as Deputy Director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. Chu said that Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oil and Natural Gas Chris Smith will now be acting Assistant Secretary.  For more information, see this Friday’s edition of GHG Monitor.

Tamar Hallerman GHG Monitor 2/1/13 IN CONGRESS Members of a recently-created bicameral task force on climate change wrote to stakeholders this week requesting input on how the federal government could act to reduce carbon pollution and strengthen the nation’s resiliency to climate change. Task force co-chairs Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) […]

Illinois regulators this week denied a handful of requests from several stakeholders that requested a rehearing related to FutureGen 2.0’s electricity sourcing agreement. 

The operators of Norway’s carbon capture test center at Mongstad launched an international consortium this week aimed at helping the industry share knowledge and operating experience from similar testing facilities. 

The House passed the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill this week after fending off several attempts to gut the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy R&D program. 

Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Chuck McConnell appointed two new deputies this week, formally filling a senior-level leadership void in the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and kicking off a new management strategy that aims to bridge the gap between headquarters and its field offices using corporate techniques.

The generating capacity of thermoelectric power plants in the United States could decline by up to 19 percent between 2031 and 2060 due to warmer temperatures and reduced river flows, according to a study published in the most recent issue of Nature Climate Change. 

Researchers in California and Texas say they have tested a class of materials that has the potential to be ideal for capturing CO2 emissions in post-combustion systems.  

Sen. Lisa Murkowski , ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said earlier this week that she decided not to support a Clean Energy Standard in this Congress due to what she describes as a lack of consensus on the issue from stakeholders.