http://www.coalpowermag.com COAL POWER en-us 2012 Sat, 4 Feb 2012 18:45:43 EST The U.S. power sector will see heightened electricity consumption over the next two years, a spurt in natural gas–fueled power generation that is expected to offset a slight decline in coal power, and a significant decline in hydropower generation that could mark a decline in overall renewable generation, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says in its latest short-term outlook.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/367.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 21 issued its final Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which will require about 40% of all coal-fired power plants in the U.S. to deploy pollution control technologies to curb emissions of mercury and other air pollutants such as arsenic and cyanide within three years.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/368.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit temporarily blocked the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) just two days before it was set to go into effect. The federal court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue administering the previously promulgated Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) until a final decision can be made on the merits of the rule, likely this summer or fall.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/372.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST The EPA's proposed rules on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from new, modified, and existing power plants has taken another step forward.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/353.html Thu, 1 Dec 2011 0:00:00 EST After three years of development, dozens of public workshops, and hundreds of meetings with stakeholders, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) on Oct. 20 adopted a final rule to cap California’s greenhouse gas emissions and put a price on carbon. The cap-and-trade program starts in 2013 for electric utilities and large industrial facilities.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/354.html Thu, 1 Dec 2011 0:00:00 EST ICF International, a consultancy group that earlier this year had predicted 68 GW of coal-fired power plants could retire by 2030 as a result of finalized and proposed regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), downgraded its retirement projections to 50 GW this fall.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/355.html Thu, 1 Dec 2011 0:00:00 EST Several states have already instituted mercury emission limits in expectation of tightening mercury emission rules that will require reductions of up to 91%. Coal-fired plants searching for an economical way to meet the new limits may need to look no further than replacing their baghouse filter elements.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/340.html Sat, 1 Oct 2011 0:00:00 EDT Dallas-based Luminant, Texas’ largest power generator, on September 9 filed a legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) but said the newly finalized rule that will require generators to dramatically reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants had forced it to idle two coal-fired units and reduce capacity at three other units. This decision follows a similar decision made by American Electric Power to shutter 6GW of coal-fired plants in June.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/343.html Sat, 1 Oct 2011 0:00:00 EDT Few reasonable people can dispute that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting a war against coal. If you doubt that conclusion, just look at the large number of new regulations affecting coal-fired power plants that have been proposed in rapid-fire succession by the EPA.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/345.html Sat, 1 Oct 2011 0:00:00 EDT Just two weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew its smog rule, the agency confirmed it would not meet a Sept. 30, 2011, deadline for issuing proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new, modified, and existing power plants. The agency did not specify a new deadline for proposing the rule.... http://www.coalpowermag.com/environmental/347.html Sat, 1 Oct 2011 0:00:00 EDT