Federal Briefs

EIA: Marcellus Production Booms

Dec 17, 2013

Briefs from federal agencies governing PJM Interconnection and other national organizations. This week's news include stories from the Energy Information Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court and the DC Circuit Court.

The Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania and West Virginia will account for 18% of U.S. natural gas production this month, the Energy Information Administration reported. “Production growth in the region has driven down the forward price of natural gas at the Columbia Gas Transmission Appalachia hub below Louisiana’s Henry Hub price, the benchmark for natural gas throughout North America.” EIA said. “Natural gas pipeline expansion projects are expected to add at least 3.5 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity to the New York/New Jersey and Mid-Atlantic markets by 2015.”

More: EIA

High Court Seems to Lean Toward EPA Rule

U.S. Supreme Court West Facade (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

In oral arguments Dec. 10, most Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic to at least some of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which was thrown out in 2012 by an appeals court after attack by coal-state interests and others. The rule gets to a long-running fight between Eastern states with air-quality problems and Midwestern states whose coal-plant emissions the Easterners blame for a good deal of the trouble.

Challengers say EPA went beyond its authority and improperly designed the program, which limits sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from upwind states and allows trading of emission allowances. A high-court decision is expected by June.

A number of the downwind states, including Maryland and Delaware, have at the same time petitioned EPA to require coal states’ emission reductions under a different Clean Air Act regime (See PJM States Face Off on Pollution as Court Hearings Open).

More: The Washington Post; Reuters

Mercury Rule Gets Marathon Argument

Photo of the Meade and Prettyman Courthouse (Source: DC Circuit) — Meade and Prettyman Courthouse (Source: DC Circuit)

Arguments lasted an exceptional four hours at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Dec. 10 as the Environmental Protection Agency defended its Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, which some states and coal interests have challenged as unjustified and overreaching in its requirements for coal-fired power plants.

On the same day that the Supreme Court heard the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule case, the D.C. Circuit asked detailed questions of both sides about the MATS rule. An environmental-group attorney saw reason to believe the judges would uphold EPA’s regulation, but an industry attorney thought the court was likely to find the agency vulnerable on at least some provisions.

More: Reuters

EPA De-emphasizing Enforcement; Focusing on Technology for Prevention

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to focus more on prevention and less on inspections and enforcement through 2018. “Next Generation Compliance” will use technology to keep a real-time eye on discharges and to have industry report electronically. The agency’s focus is on action “that makes the biggest difference,” an official said.