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The Biden administration green-lit an 807-mile natural gas pipeline project in Alaska that environmentalists blasted as a threat to the climate and wildlife. The Department of Energy (DOE) issued a supplemental record of decision, reaffirming its original approval of the project in 2020 under the Trump administration, but amending it to include additional environmental protections. In addition to the pipeline, the $38.7 billion project proposed by the state-owned Alaska Gasline Development Corporation (AGDC) also includes liquefied natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure. "The Department of Energy today issued an order amending a 2020 decision to impose new environmental requirements that prevents...

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in West Virginia vs. EPA, ruling that the Clean Air Act did not specifically authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Now, any greenhouse gas regulations would need specific authorization from Congress. At issue was the Clean Power Plan (CPP), an EPA regulation promulgated by the Obama administration which mandated that existing coal and natural gas power plants reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. There were many problems with this regulation, some of them were legal, and some of them were practical. Legally Speaking.. The...

(CNN)With only a few days left in February, court watchers are trying to read tea leaves as to the identity of President Joe Biden's pick for the Supreme Court before his end-of-the-month deadline -- and a federal court on Thursday increased the buzz around DC Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit deviated from its typical procedure by issuing an opinion on a Thursday -- breaking with its usual schedule of Tuesday and Friday release days. Notably, Jackson -- who has interviewed with Biden for the Supreme Court nomination -- was...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued sweeping new guidance yesterday for natural gas projects, including a first-ever climate change threshold, upending decades of precedent for how major energy infrastructure is approved. FERC updated a 23-year-old policy for assessing proposed natural gas pipelines, adding new considerations for landowners, environmental justice communities and other factors. In a separate but related decision, the commission also laid out a framework for evaluating projects’ greenhouse gas emissions. The commission’s three Democratic members approved both policies, while the two Republicans on the panel opposed them.

The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said.On Thursday, DOE and NNSA officials began coordinating notifications about the breach to their congressional oversight bodies after being briefed by Rocky Campione, the chief information officer at DOE.They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office...

The Trump administration fired the heads of three federal agencies after the election, prompting one to claim he was retaliated against for disagreeing with some policy. The heads of the agencies that oversee the nuclear weapons stockpile, electricity and natural gas regulation and overseas aid were sent packing, NPR reported. The sudden departures included Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, who was forced to resign Friday. She was the first woman to oversee the agency in charge of the nuclear stockpile. Last year, she was on the president’s short list as a possible replacement for former National...

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission survived his confirmation vote Thursday, returning a GOP majority to the powerful federal agency. Bernard McNamee — Trump’s pick to become a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) — won confirmation by a 50-49 vote. The razor-thin margin fell along party lines, with Democrats sharply opposed to his nomination. The vote brings an end to what became a contentious candidacy for McNamee. Democrats on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee initially took umbrage with his past work in the Department of Energy, where he led an unsuccessful effort...

WASHINGTON — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a stop work order on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, ordering Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC and Dominion Energy Transmission Inc. to provide an interim right-of-way and work area stabilization plan. The order halts construction of the $5.5 billion project, which includes 600 miles of buried pipeline from West Virginia into eastern North Carolina. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an order on Aug. 6 vacating a right-of-way permit from the National Park Service and the Incidental Take Statement issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Commission staff cannot...

WASHINGTON, DC — Work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline has come to a halt after a Friday order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency issued the stop work order a week after the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pulled a permit needed for construction in the National Forest. The 300 miles pipeline is under construction to carry natural gas from Wetzel County, West Virginia to Pittsylvania County, Virginia. FERC ordered a halt to all work with the exception of what it considered measures necessary to land management and stabilization of the right of way and work areas....

Shortened title. Full title: Exclusive – Senior Energy Official: Local Dem-Controlled Gov’ts Block Infrastructure Projects to Resist Trump Democratic-controlled state governments are blocking federal energy infrastructure projects supported by the Trump Administration “for the sole reason of politics,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chief of Staff Anthony Pugliese told Breitbart News Sunday. An independent agency that regulates interstate transmission of natural gas, oil, and electricity, FERC relies on cooperation with state and local governments to ensure America has a reliable electric grid. During Trump’s presidency, though, “some parts of the country that are controlled by members of the Democratic party...

The Department of Energy’s proposed rulemaking to cover the costs of baseload coal and nuclear generators could lead to an unraveling of wholesale power markets if adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, energy regulators and industry analysts told Utility Dive. “This would blow the market up,” former FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, a Democrat appointed to the commission by President Bush in 2006, told Utility Dive. "And you can quote me on that." On Friday, the DOE directed FERC to open a rulemaking proceeding to provide “full recovery of costs” for power plants that keep 90 days of fuel supplied...

A California dam threatened by a damaged emergency spillway has operated under temporary licenses for a decade. A spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says a 50-year license for Oroville Dam, the nation's tallest, expired in January 2007. Mary O'Driscoll told The Associated Press that the facility has been operating under an existing license that's renewed each year. The California Department of Water Resources, which operates the dam, applied for a new 50-year license in 2005. O'Driscoll said the federal agency finally received all the necessary permits and other documents needed to decide on the new license last December....

""BREAKING: @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell To Surrender FCC To Dems In Trade To Get His Own #NeverTrump Staffer On FERC"" Multiple DC sources have confirmed to GotNews that an effort to give Democrats control of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for months into Trump’s presidency is actually being led by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell himself. McConnell has reached an agreement with President Barack Obama and Democratic Senator Harry Reid to trade away control of the FCC for in exchange for confirmation of his own staffer, Neil Chatterjee, to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The FCC has vast jurisdiction...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed doubt about whether the Obama administration had the authority to issue a regulation aimed at encouraging efficiency in the electricity market by having electrical grid operators pay users to reduce consumption at peak times. The court heard oral arguments in an appeal filed by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to reverse a May 2014 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that threw out the rule. The case pits the government's energy regulator against power companies that are fighting a regulation...

Sen. Joe Manchin broke ranks with the Democrats on Wednesday, saying he would vote against President Barack Obama’s pick to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Ron Binz, a move that could sink the nomination. The surprise decision by the coal-state Democrat is the latest twist in power struggle over the chairmanship of the agency that typically draws attention only from power sector and pipeline wonks. But the Binz nomination has recently jumped to the editorial pages of The Wall Street Journal as conservatives attacked a regulator they view as hostile to fossil fuels. Manchin’s move crimps the Democrats’ 12-10...

<p>BOISE -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says Idaho Power's long-term purchase agreement with wind farms means that it must buy electricity from the farms even when demand for power is low.</p> <p>The commission's decision, reached Thursday, is good news for Idaho wind farms but a loss for the state's largest utility.</p>

The Shnott family says they would have lost everything had the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission not ruled their way. The FERC has ruled that Idaho power providers must buy wind power even when demand for power is low. This could raise the price of electricity for customers, but it can save the family wind farms like the one belonging to the Shnott family. “This ruling was a God-send. It means we won't have to sell the farm at a major loss. It means the children can go to school knowing its not the last time they can see their friends.”...

<p>CAMDENTON, Mo. (AP) — Homeowners near Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks fear a decision by federal regulators could jeopardize thousands of homes, gazebos, boathouses and other buildings.</p> <p>The lake is formed by a dam owned by Ameren Missouri, which was required to develop a plan for the lake's shoreline. The utility says thousands of homes and other buildings appear to encroach on property designated for the dam. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says many of the homes and buildings should go.</p>

Say what you want about Duke Energy and the often-injudicious CEO James Rogers, but at least he is focused on his company’s profitability and the interests of shareholders. Last week he composed an op-ed forThe News & Observer of Raleigh in which he praised Democrat Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican Sen. John McCain for their introduction of the Foreign Earnings Reinvestment Act. The bill would give American companies a “holiday” from the 35 percent U.S. corporate income tax, enabling businesses to – as James Valvo of Americans for Prosperity explained – invest in capital and R&D, hire and train...

A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruling shifts virtually the entire responsibility of paying for transmission network upgrades to wind developers in the footprint of the Midwest ISO (Carmel, Indiana, U.S.). The FERC ruling requires that Midwest ISO wind generators pay 90% of the cost of transmission upgrades for projects rated 345 kV and higher. For projects rated lower than 345 kV, generators are required to pay the entire cost. The ruling comes as some wind developers struggle to finance projects under the traditional 50/50 cost-allocation arrangement. Jack Levi, president of developer National Wind (www.nationalwind.com), said the ruling “runs...