America’s biggest power-grid operator said electric supplies to a 13-state region would not be disrupted by state efforts to comply with the federal Clean Power Plan, and that wholesale electricity costs would rise only modestly in the drive to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants, thanks largely to low natural gas prices. An analysis [...]
Every year the King Coal parade winds through the center of Carmichaels. Hundreds of people line up to see the fire engines, classic cars, floats, and marching bands. It’s fair to say the presidential race has people pretty fired up –and worried– in this small town in Greene County, about an hour’s drive south of [...]
State and local officials attended a ceremony Wednesday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking for a 20-inch pipeline that will deliver Marcellus Shale gas to a new power plant in central Pennsylvania. The Sunbury Pipeline is being built by UGI Energy Services. It will begin in Lycoming County and travel 35 miles to feed into the [...]
This story has been corrected to change some meeting locations, reflecting updated information from FERC. Opponents of a plan to build a natural gas pipeline from northeastern Pennsylvania to central New Jersey registered their objections with federal regulators on Monday, and accused officials of trying to control public discussion on the controversial project. Participants were [...]
A future Clinton administration would assume that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to uphold both the Clean Power Plan and the Environmental Protection Agency’s responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, Hillary Clinton’s energy adviser said on Wednesday. Trevor Houser also said that if the Democratic nominee becomes president, her administration [...]
Carbon dioxide emissions from mine water could be greater than previous estimates, according to new research from West Virginia University. The study calculated that CO2 emissions from 140 coal mine drainage sites in Pennsylvania could equal those from a small power plant. “The numbers are higher than I expected to see,” said Dorothy Vesper, associate [...]
Natural gas is expected to surpass coal this year as the nation’s primary source of electric power generation, according to a new forecast from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Until the mid-2000’s about half the electricity in the country was produced by burning coal and 20 percent or less came from gas. But the fracking boom [...]
FirstEnergy has idled a coal burning power plant in western Pennsylvania due to historically low energy prices spurred by competition from cheap natural gas. As the fracking boom continues to unlock large quantities of gas, the nation’s electric grid is shifting away from coal. The 340 workers at the Bruce Mansfield plant are still on the [...]
The Homer City Generating Station looms like a cathedral in the landscape of Indiana County, Pennsylvania. The plant can be seen for miles near the western foothills of the Allegheny Mountains. Four years ago, Homer City—in operation since 1969—was faced with a choice: either clean up to comply with new EPA air rules or close [...]
As part of the Obama administration’s ongoing efforts to combat climate change, the Department of Interior announced Friday it will temporarily halt new coal leasing on federal lands. “There was broad agreement the federal coal program was in need of modernization,” says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. The leasing moratorium will be in place while agency [...]
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