The Supreme Court agreed decide whether to block key aspects of the Obama administration’s plan aimed at cutting power plant and factory emissions of gases blamed for global warming. The justices will review a unanimous federal appeals court ruling that upheld the government’s unprecedented regulation of carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases.
The question in the case is whether the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate automobile emissions of greenhouses gases as air pollutants, which stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, also applies to power plants and factories.
The Obama administration’s plans hinge on the high court’s 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which said the EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act, to limit emissions of greenhouse gases from vehicles. Two years later, EPA concluded that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases endangered human health and welfare, a finding the administration has used to extend its authority beyond automobiles to develop national standards for large stationary sources.
More: Associated Press
Carbon Fee Most Cost-Effective Way to Cut Emissions: OECD
An explicit cost on carbon pollution is the best way for countries to reduce emissions, according to new research by the multilateral Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
“Explicit carbon pricing mechanisms, such as carbon taxes and emissions trading systems, are generally more cost-effective than most alternative policy options in creating the incentive for economies to transition towards zero carbon trajectories,” the group said in a new report.
More: The Hill
Shale to Scramble NG Flows, Price Spreads: Report
The Northeast is poised to switch from the nation’s largest demand region to a net supply region, and the U.S. Southeast is racing to become a much larger net demand region after being a major supplier to the U.S. gas market, according to a new report from Bentek Energy. The company says Utica shale production will play a major role in changing natural gas flows and price spreads.
More: Bentek Energy
NRC Enforcement Inconsistent: GAO
The number of safety violations at U.S. nuclear power plants varies dramatically from region to region, suggesting inconsistent enforcement, according to the Government Accountability Office. The GAO report shows that while the West has the fewest reactors, it had the most lower-level violations from 2000 to 2012 — more than 2½ times the Southeast’s rate per reactor.
More: Associated Press
NRC to Hear Challenge on Proposed MI Reactor
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hear challenges by environmental groups on DTE Energy Co.’s proposal to build a new nuclear reactor in Michigan.
The NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hold a hearing Oct. 30 to review a challenge by environmental groups who say the environmental review of the proposed reactor fails to adequately analyze and discuss impacts on the eastern fox snake at the site. DTE has not yet decided to build the new reactor at its Fermi nuclear plant but said it filed with NRC in order to keep its options open.
More: Reuters
Arrest Made in Ark. Grid Sabotage
Federal officials charged a 37-year-old Jacksonville, Ark. man with committing multiple acts of sabotage on the power grid in central Arkansas since August.
Jason Woodring was arrested after an investigation that began Aug. 21, when a 500 kV power line fell on a nearby railroad track. Officials said a shackle holding the line was severed and 100 bolts securing a support tower had been removed. Authorities also linked the suspect to a Sept. 29 fire that caused more than $2 million in damages at an Entergy switching station in Scott, Arkansas and an Oct. 6 incident near the suspect’s home in which two power poles were cut and one was pulled down.
More: TV 11 News
