By Adam Riedel, CCCL Associate Director With much fanfare and angst, on January 18 the Obama administration denied a permit for the hotly contested Keystone pipeline which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries in the Gulf Coast of the U.S. The decision over the pipeline […]
Energy
27 posts
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Fellow MIT released an interdisciplinary study on December 5, 2011, that examines “The Future of the Electric Grid.” Among many interesting findings, it nicely details the challenges we will face in adapting the electric grid to accommodate all the anticipated renewable resources coming on-line […]
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director In October, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an interesting though little-noted report on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) energy efficiency and capital expenditures planning. The report does an excellent job of illustrating how even commendable efforts at energy efficiency can fall short if a […]
By Shelley Welton, Deputy Director An ongoing battle over the potential tensions between air quality regulations and electric grid reliability has picked up steam recently, as two EPA air pollution regulations near the implementation phase: the cross-state air-pollution rule and the mercury and air toxics standard. Congressional Republicans and many […]
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Legal Fellow The question of how to regulate emissions leakage is at the forefront of policy makers’ minds in both California and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) states. A previous post described the problem of leakage; this post gives an overview of how […]
By Adam Riedel, Associate Director The U.S. Energy Information Administration has just published a new study, commissioned by Representative Ralph Hall (R-TX), Chairman of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, examining the climate and financial impacts of pursuing a national “clean energy standard” (CES).[1] Hall specified the structure of […]
by Daniel Firger Associate Director NOTE: This blog post is excerpted from a new report published on July 28, 2011 by the Columbia Center for Climate Change Law. The full report can be downloaded here (PDF). Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel, releasing far higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) […]
By Danielle Sugarman Fellow In a major setback in the effort to limit carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, on July 14th, American Electric Power Company (AEP)[1] announced that it would be putting on hold its plans to build a full scale carbon capture plant at Mountaineer, a […]