Feds Designate Offshore NY Wind Lease Area

The Interior Department on Thursday proposed a commercial wind lease for 81,130 acres 11 miles off Long Island, an area that the department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management identified earlier this year. (See Feds Set Offshore Wind Site near New York.)

“This is another major step in broadening our nation’s energy portfolio, harnessing power near population centers on the East Coast,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said.

The notice for the proposed lease includes a 60-day public comment period.

More: Department of the Interior

Appeals Court Upholds NRC’s Onsite Fuel Storage Rule

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission followed all necessary rules when it wrote the regulation allowing long-term storage of spent fuel at nuclear generating stations.

The ruling, which means spent fuel rods can be stored onsite indefinitely, is important because the federal government hasn’t yet fulfilled its obligation to develop a site for depleted fuel, despite spending billions at the now-moribund Yucca Mountain site.

The attorneys general of New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut had challenged the rule, joined by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, vowed to continue the fight.

More: The Hill

Clinton Vows Increase in Renewables on Fed Property

As Californians go to vote in the state’s primary elections, Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton is pledging to increase the development of renewable energy projects on federal lands and water if elected.

“Now, as we work to combat climate change and build America into the world’s clean energy superpower, our public lands can once again play a key role in unlocking the resources we need,” Clinton wrote in a piece published in The Mercury News. “While protecting sensitive areas where development poses too great a risk, we can accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy by increasing renewable energy generation on public lands and offshore waters tenfold within a decade.”

More: The Hill

NRC to Review Entergy’s Response to Baffle Bolt Issue

The discovery of the failure of more than a quarter of the bolts used to secure baffles crucial to channeling cooling water in Entergy’s Indian Point 2 reactor has spurred an investigation into what caused it and what the company is doing in response.

“We will review Entergy’s analysis and plans before deciding if the company’s proposed course of action is acceptable,” Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

The Indian Point discovery prompted another operator, PSEG Nuclear, to inspect its Salem 1 reactor, where it found that 18 of that reactor’s baffle bolts were degraded.

More: The Huffington Post

Navy Looking at SMRs To Provide Base Power

The Navy is looking to expand its nuclear operations from shipboard reactors to onshore locations.

Secretary Ray Mabus said he wants the Navy Department to look at the possibility of employing small modular reactors to provide power for shore installations. “With some of the new technology that’s coming along, it’s much safer, produces far less residue and nuclear waste, and it is an option that I think we should explore,” he said.

The Navy and the Marine Corps set a goal in 2009 of getting more than 50% of its shore power from alternative sources. Using solar, wind, geothermal and hydro, they met that goal at the end of last year.

More: Federal News Radio

FERC Approves $2 Billion Kinder Morgan LNG Project

FERC approved Kinder Morgan’s proposed $2 billion LNG export terminal on Elba Island near Savannah, Ga.

The first units will come online in early 2018 and eventually the terminal will liquefy up to 350 Mcfd. Kinder Morgan has a 20-year contract to supply Royal Dutch Shell.

Kinder Morgan already has an import terminal at Elba Island, built in the 1970s, but it has seen little use since domestic natural gas supplies expanded with the shale-gas revolution. The terminal has 11.5 Bcf of LNG storage capacity and 1.76 Bcfd of peak vaporization send-out capacity.

More: FuelFix Blog

EPA Orders 2 Utah Plants To Install New Controls

EPA decided Wednesday that two Rocky Mountain Power coal-fired plants must install pollution controls to improve atmospheric visibility near national parks. The company, which said it would cost $700 million to comply with the ruling, said it is reviewing its legal options.

The agency’s ruling, and its Regional Haze Rule, are aimed at restoring natural air conditions at 156 national parks and wilderness areas by 2064.

Utah officials said the goals can be reached less expensively by following its own regulations. Part of the state-sponsored plan was to shut down one of the company’s plants. But EPA ordered selective catalytic reduction systems installed at the two remaining coal-fired plants in Emery County.

More: Salt Lake City Tribune

Study Calls for ‘Proactive’ Transmission Planning

A report released Monday by a trade group for the transmission industry calls for a new “proactive” approach to transmission planning, saying it could save consumers as much as $47 billion annually.

The report, prepared for WIRES by The Brattle Group, says traditional planning, focused primarily on addressing reliability issues over a five- to 10-year horizon, is too myopic and results in “piecemeal projects instead of developing integrated and flexible transmission solutions that enable the system to meet public policy goals more cost effectively.”

The paper says a more proactive approach is desirable regardless of whether generation changes because of energy markets, technology or EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

More: WIRES