Coal

Costly Overseas Energy Investment Can’t Match Chinese Demand

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Chinese companies continue to “overpay wildly” for foreign energy investments but still can’t keep pace with growing consumption in China’s subsidized domestic market, Derek Scissors of the Heritage Foundation told the China Environment Forum in Washington last week.

Fuel prices are controlled and kept well below market in China, he said, so Chinese companies end up selling oil and gas into international markets whenever possible rather than sending the resources home. The government is promising reform but has set no schedule. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 18, 2012 at 10:30 AM

US Shale Gas Development May Be Tough To Copy

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The unique structure of the US natural gas industry enabled development and rapid deployment of new shale gas technology, and the lack of that structure is complicating efforts of other countries to follow suit.

That’s according to Laszlo Varro, head of the Gas, Coal & Power Division at the International Energy Agency, speaking at the Center for Strategic & International Studies recently. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 17, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Old King Coal Stays On World Energy Throne

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China has the world’s largest-ever program to build new nuclear generating plants, the world’s largest-ever program to build renewables, government mandates to vastly improve efficiency – and the world’s largest coal building program.

China’s situation was used by International Energy Agency experts to illustrate why their first report on coal’s prospects over the next five years, the Medium-Term Coal Market Report 2011, has concluded coal will remain the world’s dominant fuel, despite growing worries about climate change. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 12, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Can A Cleaner Environment Create Jobs?

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The tactic du jour for environmentalists trying to sell a skeptical public on tighter regulations is this: spin the thing as a job creator. Last week a Maryland-based environmental group said efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay would actually create 240,000 jobs over the next several years, mainly by employing people to upgrade sewage systems. In a recent report defending stricter mercury pollution limits on power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency said 8,000 more people would be needed to build and run the pollution control equipment than would be laid off as a result of older plants shutting down. Economists that aren’t aligned with either industry or activist groups say that, when it comes to creating or destroying jobs, environmental regulations come out somewhere near neutral — adding costs to industry but producing benefits in public health or other areas.

 /  Published January 10, 2012 at 11:00 AM

Cross State Air Pollution Rule Stayed In Court Ruling: Policy Community Divided

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A federal appeals court may have handed the Obama administration a New Year’s election gift, ensuring the President won’t be forced to choose between electricity price spikes and his environmental constituency this summer.

The US Court of Appeals in Washington stayed the Environmental Protection Agency rule tightening caps on sulfur and nitrogen oxides, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), late on Dec. 30. The court told EPA to keep using the Clean Air Interstate Rule temporarily.
CAIR was written in 2005 by the Bush administration, invalidated by the court in 2008, and left it in effect until a new rule could be written. So 2012 will be the fourth year governed by CAIR standards. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 4, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Biomass Facility At Savannah River Set To Save DOE Nearly $1 Billion

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A biomass generation plant serving a giant Department of Energy installation has been delivered under the largest Energy Savings Performance Contract to date.

The 20 MW biomass power facility will provide roughly 30% of the 310 square mile Savannah River Site‘s power needs once it becomes fully operational in 2012. During six weeks of performance tests the biomass facility produced more than 3 million kilowatt hours of power. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 28, 2011 at 10:00 AM

EPA Utility MACT Rule Released: Coal Plants Set For Closure As Blackout Risks Cited

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Santa arrived a few days early for environmentalists, but the coal industry is getting Scrooge.

The Environmental Protection Agency released its Utility MACT rule on Wednesday, issuing a controversial order to slash mercury and other hazardous emissions from coal-fired power plants. By 2016, all plants must emit as little mercury as the best 12% do today, lowering national emissions 90%. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 21, 2011 at 4:00 PM

ExxonMobil Says: Oil In 2040, Made In The USA

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US oil imports will continue to decline as domestic production rises, and by 2040 the US could be importing crude only from Canada, according to the latest forecast from ExxonMobil.

That forecast depends on off-shore, Arctic, oil sands and unconventional resources being available for development in coming decades. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 8, 2011 at 3:30 PM

New Jersey Energy Plan Includes Ambitious Renewable Energy Goal

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New Jersey released the final version of a plan designed to develop new sources of clean energy and boosting the use of renewables to meet an ambitious statewide goal.

Republican governor Chris Christie’s Energy Master Plan aims to have 22.5% of the state’s energy coming from renewable sources by 2021, and says it could reach a renewable portfolio standard of 70% by 2050 if the definition of clean energy was broadened to include nuclear, natural gas and hydroelectric. For a copy of the plan, see here. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 7, 2011 at 9:30 AM

Impending EPA Rule Attacked By State Environmental Agency

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A division emerged between federal and state environmental regulators this week, with Pennsylvania urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to revise impending CASPR rules or face new strains on the electricity grid.

Pennsylvania on Wednesday urged the EPA to make further revisions to its Cross State Air Pollution rule, which the state said would reduce the use of waste coal by power generators and drive up their costs. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 2, 2011 at 10:30 AM
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