Clean Air/Emissions
Court Rules EPA Cannot Relax Strict Controls on Hazardous Air Emissions During Start-up, Shut-down and Malfunction
In a December 19 decision of potentially broad applicability to fossil fuel-fired electric generators, a divided (2-1) panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that the EPA violated the Clean Air Act when it adopted a final rule that would have lessened controls on emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) [...]
DC Circuit Orders Immediate Tightening of Mercury Control Rules
On March 21, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit made clear that its February 8, 2008 order mandating a return to tighter mercury control rules on coal-fired power plants must go into effect immediately. The court’s February order threw out the Bush Administration’s Clean Air Mercury [...]
Department of Energy Pulls Plug on FutureGen Program
The Department of Energy has cancelled the FutureGen project in which the DOE and a coalition of energy industry companies would have constructed a nearly emissions-free, coal-fired generator. The futuristic project involved carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) underground as part of an integrated gasification combined cycle 275 MW plant producing both electric power and hydrogen. [...]