DOE-Commissioned Study Highlights Role that U.S. Can Play in Helping Other Countries Responsibly Develop Shale Resources
Last week, Rice University’s James Baker’s Institute for Public Policy released a Department of Energy-commissioned study entitled “Shale Gas and U.S. National Security.” Consistent with other recent studies, the report concluded the new U.S. domestic shale development offers significant benefits, including reduced liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and lower natural gas prices.
Continue Reading...Guest Blogger: AEP's Decision Reveals Legal, Political, and Economic Realities Associated with Implementing Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Technology
By John S. Wyckoff, CPG
Senior Regulatory Scientist, Technology Sciences Group, Inc. Washington, DC[1]
In less than four weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of American Electric Power Company and four other power companies (see SCOTUS Holds That Plaintiffs Cannot Maintain Federal Common Law Nuisance Claims Against GHG-Emitting Utilities,) American Electric Power (AEP) announced on July 14, 2011 that it terminated its cooperative agreement regarding its Mountaineer Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Demonstration project with the U.S. Department of Energy due to the uncertain status of the U.S. climate policy and the continued weak economy. As part of its announcement AEP stated that it is impossible to gain regulatory approval to recover its share of costs for validating and deploying the technology without federal requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions already in place. (see AEP Announcement).
Continue Reading...A Challenging Legislative Environment - Democratic and Republican Staff Directors Provide Legislative Outlook for Energy Policy
In a Politico sponsored event this morning, the Republican and Democratic Staff Directors for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (SENR) Committee both called this current Congress “the most difficult legislative environment” since either one of them has worked on Capitol Hill. This sentiment is common on the Hill with a divided Congress and deep ideological and partisan divides.
Continue Reading...Flying Green: Jobs for Europe, Lawsuits for the United States
Based on research by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the aviation industry accounts for just over 2% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and that figure will increase to at least 3% by 2050. In an increasingly carbon and fuel constrained world, some aviation firms and governments are seeing a competitive advantage in going green while unfortunately the U.S. is lagging behind.
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