EPA issued a formal notice amending its 2012 rules governing toxic air pollutants from power plants in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling them illegal.
The agency issued a formal notice amending the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, saying that the costs of regulating emissions such as mercury, nickel and arsenic are reasonable and far outweighed by the public health benefits. EPA had issued a similar finding, but while the rules were being written. The Supreme Court ruled that the cost analysis should have been done before.
The court remanded the rules back to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which declined to halt their enforcement. EPA’s new cost analysis is largely based on its earlier one, with some supplementary material.
More: The Hill
EPA Ups Methane Emissions Estimates
EPA last week increased its estimates of U.S. methane emissions, a change likely to figure in a battle over regulations the agency plans to issue on oil and gas drillers. The change, which increased 2013 emission estimates by 13%, were contained in an annual inventory the agency submitted to the U.N.
The agency said the new data show that the oil and gas sector is the largest source of methane, accounting for a third of U.S. emissions. The agency had said previously that cattle and other livestock were the largest source.
Methane has a much larger effect on global warming than carbon dioxide but dissipates more quickly than CO2.
More: The Washington Post
Brenner Returns to FERC As Administrative Law Judge
FERC Chairman Norman Bay appointed veteran jurist Lawrence Brenner as senior administrative law judge.
The appointment marks Brenner’s second appointment as a FERC administrative law judge. He also served as an ALJ for the Department of Labor and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Additionally, Brenner has been a Maryland Public Service Commissioner since 2007.
Prior to his appointment, Brenner practiced law in Maryland, D.C. and New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brooklyn College and his doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Brenner also served in the Army in the Vietnam War.
More: FERC
Feds Seek Review of Dakota Access Spill Plan
EPA, the Department of the Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take a closer look at the Dakota Access pipeline plan.
The three federal agencies have asked the corps to perform another review of its spill contingency plans for the Energy Transfer Partners project. If constructed, the pipeline will stretch from North Dakota to terminals in Illinois. The corps has a role in the review process because of the pipeline’s multiple waterway crossings.
The pipeline received the final state regulatory approval from Iowa on April 8, but construction cannot begin before all federal approvals are obtained. There are also numerous legal challenges to the proposed pipeline, which could delay the start of construction.
More: The Associated Press; Newton Daily News
Company Proposing Nuclear Waste Storage Facility in NM
Holtec International has filed a letter of intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a $5 billion storage facility for nuclear waste near Carlsbad in Lea County, N.M. The company intends to build a long-term facility, with the idea that it would handle the waste while a permanent solution is found.
Holtec, a major supplier of stainless steel vessels used for dry-cask storage of nuclear waste, said its facility would store waste for up to 100 years, but it plans to initially apply for a license for 40 years.
If approved, it would give federal authorities time to come up with a longer-term solution for storing waste from commercial reactors. The government planned to use the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada, but opposition led the Obama administration to pull the plug on that facility.
More: The Associated Press
Former NRC Scientist Gets Prison for Hacking Attempt
A former Nuclear Regulatory Commission scientist was sentenced to 18 months in prison for attempting to infect the Department of Energy computer network with malware.
Prosecutors said Charles Harvey Eccleston, a disgruntled, ex-NRC employee, first tried to sell email information to a foreign country at its embassy in the Philippines.
He later met with undercover federal agents in a sting operation, agreeing to upload a virus onto government computers.
More: The Associated Press
FERC Approves Transco Expansion in Jersey
FERC has approved Williams Partners’ Transco Garden State Expansion Project, a series of compression improvements to an existing line aimed at boosting delivery in central New Jersey.
The $116 million New Jersey project will deliver an additional 180,000 dekatherms a day of natural gas to customers of New Jersey Natural Gas, which serves about 500,000 customers in Monmouth, Ocean, Morris, Middlesex, Sussex and Burlington counties.
Opponents complained that FERC’s action is another illustration of the agency’s willingness to side with pipeline operators.
More: Williams Partners; NJ.com
TVA to Seek Early Permit for Small Modular Reactors
The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to apply for an early site permit for building small modular nuclear reactors on its Clinch River site, but federal design approval is expected to take a decade.
TVA’s application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will only evaluate the possibility of constructing an as-yet chosen design at its Clinch River site. It is starting the process with public meetings to discuss environmental and safety aspects.
The NRC review of the early site permit is expected to take three or more years. Design certification of a small modular reactor is expected to take up to five years, so a project could not realistically begin construction until the early 2020s.
More: Oak Ridge Today
Mass. Staffers Say Pipeline Co. Filed Misleading Documents
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection staff accused Tennessee Gas Pipeline of filing misleading information to FERC in a bid to get permission to begin logging a pipeline right of way in a state forest.
The department says the Kinder Morgan subsidiary told FERC that Massachusetts officials wouldn’t require a water quality certificate before allowing logging operations in a bid to get approval for tree cutting in the Otis State Forest as part of a pipeline construction project.
Tennessee Gas officials mischaracterized statements from state authorities, the department said.
More: The Republican
Forest Service Allows Pipeline Surveying in Va.
The U.S. Forest Service has granted developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline permission to survey new routes through the Monongahela and George Washington national forests. The agency previously rejected the planned route for the $5 billion, 500-mile project.
The agency is still requiring developer Dominion Resources to investigate alternate routes that don’t go through national forests. The Forest Service previously criticized surveys done by project contractors, suggesting the surveys were flawed and shouldn’t be used by FERC in determining approval.
More: Augusta Free Press
US Nuclear Workers Allegedly Sold Information to China
An East Tennessee resident who worked as a senior manager in the Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear program is one of six Americans workers in the nuclear industry accused of selling information to China’s top nuclear power companies.
None of the workers was named in a federal espionage conspiracy indictment against China General Nuclear Power, Chinese nuclear engineer Szuhsiung “Allen” Ho and Ho’s firm, Energy Technology International. Ho allegedly conspired to solicit information that would allow his country to produce nuclear material based on American technology.
Aside from the Tennessee resident, whose gender was not specified, the Americans referenced in the indictment are engineers. Four work for an unnamed Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy firm, while the fifth works for a Colorado-based firm that supplies technical support to the nuclear industry.
More: Knoxville News Sentinel
Damages Awarded to Nuclear Plant Operators
The Court of Federal Claims has ordered the federal government to pay $76.8 million in damages to three New England nuclear plant operators for failing to create a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel.
The ruling is the third time that the government has been ordered to pay Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee Atomic Power and Yankee Atomic Electric for costs they incurred for on-site storage of nuclear fuel at their decommissioned plants in Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The companies sued in 1998, and the latest order covers costs incurred by the three companies from Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2012.
More: New Haven Register