A federal court in California will hear arguments Feb. 26 in a case pitting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against Barclays that could result in the British bank having to pay penalties and disgorge profits of up to $470 million.
FERC alleged that Barclays and four of its traders engaged in so-called swap trades between several western energy hubs from 2006 to 2008. FERC cited the bank in 2012. Barclays had the option of defending itself before a FERC administrative law judge or to have the case heard in U.S. District Court.
More: Reuters
Obama Administration Working to Open Up East Coast to Offshore Drilling
The Department of the Interior last week said it was working on a plan to open up vast offshore tracks to oil and gas exploration in the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, while declaring 9.8 million acres in Alaskan waters off limits indefinitely.
The plan, which would open the Atlantic to offshore drilling for the first time, drew protests from New Jersey Democrats. “Opening up the Atlantic coast to drill for fossil fuel is unnecessary, poses a serious threat to coastal communities throughout the region and is the wrong approach to energy development in this country,” Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Robert Menendez and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey said in a joint statement. The Atlantic leases are for areas more than 50 miles offshore.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said the withdrawal of the Alaskan offshore tracts amounted to a war against her home state. The Obama Administration said the environmentally sensitive areas in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, as well as a shallow 30-mile shelf in northwestern Alaska, were important to Alaska natives.
More: PennEnergy
NRC Board Denies Vermont’s Request to Force Entergy to Maintain Emergency Monitoring
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected Vermont’s request to order Vermont Yankee owner Entergy to maintain various emergency monitoring systems on the shut-down nuclear plant. The board said Vermont’s petition challenged an NRC regulation and was therefore inadmissible.
Entergy closed the plant last year, and asked to reduce on-shift and Emergency Response Organization staff due to the decreased risk. The board said the plant’s Emergency Response Data System requirement was put in place after the 1979 Three Mile Island incident but that plants being decommissioned were exempt.
“Expressly excluded from the proposed rule were those nuclear power reactor facilities that are permanently or indefinitely shut down,” the board’s ruling stated.
More: Nuclear Street
Department of Energy to Pay $44K Fine on Hanford Violations
The Department of Energy signed a consent agreement agreeing to pay $44,772 in fines assessed by the Environmental Protection Agency for hazardous waste storage violations at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington.
The EPA cited the Energy Department for two incidents in 2013 when the department moved 136 drums of waste to an unapproved site and when it submitted a plan to close eight storage sites without required information.
More: KGW.com
Energy Information Admin’s Short-Term Outlooks Already Out of Date Due to Oil Slowdown
The Energy Information Administration’s short-term energy outlook was out of date less than two weeks after it was released, thanks to the volatile energy markets.
The administration, part of the Department of Energy, is having trouble keeping up with fast-changing energy markets. Its recent forecasts of rig counts and oil and gas operations failed to predict the decline in new drilling operations because of the rapid plunge in energy prices.
More: Roll Call
DOE Releases $59 Million for Solar Energy Innovation Projects
The Department of Energy last week announced it was releasing $45 million in funding for solar manufacturing and putting up $14 million more for 15 new community solar deployment projects.
“As President Obama noted in his State of the Union address, the U.S. brings as much solar power online every three weeks as we did in all of 2008,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. “As the price of solar continues to drop, the Energy Department is committed to supporting a robust domestic solar manufacturing sector that will help American business meet growing demand and help American families and businesses save money by making solar a cheaper and more accessible source of clean electricity.”
The department said the new round of funding is aimed at helping the country reach the administration’s goal of doubling renewable energy by 2020.
More: PennEnergy
Lawrence Livermore Lab Signs 20-Year Solar Deal with juwi
In what is billed as the Department of Energy’s largest solar purchase from an on-site facility, the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration signed an agreement with a solar developer to provide 6,300 MWh per year for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif.
The facility, to be developed by juwi solar subsidiary Whitethorn Solar, will be a 3-MW ground-mounted photovoltaic system. The Whitethorn facility will sell into the Western Area Power Administration through a 20-year power purchase agreement with the department.
More: EIN News