Category Archives: Energy
What is the Green New Deal?
There has been a lot of confusion regarding a “Green New Deal.” The fact that people are now talking about a greenhouse gas reduction measure (regardless of what it really means) is an astounding turn-around from just two years ago … Continue reading
Donald Trump and his Administration’s Environmental and Energy Policy
Now that we know we will have a Republican House, Senate, and President beginning in 2017, it is time to consider is what environmental and energy changes might take place during Donald Trump’s first term as President. I am neither supporting nor … Continue reading
Supreme Court puts the brakes on the EPA’s Power Plant MACT rule in Michigan v. EPA
The Clean Air Act that we know today was passed in 1970 during the Nixon administration. Since that time, the EPA has been hard at work passing regulations aimed at cleaning the nation’s air. Its efforts have been extremely successful. … Continue reading
EPA Delays Rules on Clean Power Plan until summer of 2015
The Clean Power Plan proposed by EPA in June of 2014 has now received over four million comments. What is the Clean Power Plan? The EPA’s proposal has two main elements: (1) EPA-imposed state-specific emission rate-based CO 2 goals that each … Continue reading
EPA Decides Coal Ash is Not a Hazardous Material.
Just before the Holidays the Environmental Protection Agency approved new rules governing the disposition of coal ash. EPA Director McCarthy called the new rules “pragmatic,” which is a bureaucratic code word meaning “I don’t like it, but I’m doing it anyway.” Environmental groups … Continue reading
Iowa Supreme Court Approves the Sale of Electricity from Solar Power.
On July 11, 2014, the Iowa Supreme Court issued a long-awaited ruling holding that the “behind the meter” direct sale of electricity generated from solar power (photo voltaic) arrays and using a power purchase agreement that sold the electricity on a cents-per-kWh basis did … Continue reading
D.C. Circuit Rules That EPA Cannot Defer Carbon Dioxide Limits For Ethanol Plants
On July 12, 2013 the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion in the case entitled Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA, 722 F.3d 401 (C.A.D.C. 2013). In 2011 the EPA issued regulations deferring CO2 … Continue reading