Coal production and mining jobs over the past half-century have been influenced by several factors, principally demand from the utility sector, technological breakthroughs in natural gas production, railroad deregulation, and...more
A California appellate panel has handed environmental and community groups a legal victory in their decades-long dispute with the Port of Los Angeles over its failure to enforce air pollution controls at China Shipping's...more
An article in Science published last week indicates that the mortality risk from exposure to PM2.5 from coal-fired electric generating units is roughly twice as high as the risk posed by PM2.5 from other sources. According...more
In early August 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed denial of Alabama’s permit program to manage coal combustion residuals (CCR) in landfills and surface impoundments within the state. The...more
The Sierra Club and a number of other environmental organizations submitted to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on September 26th Petition for Rulemaking (“Petition”) styled: To Establish...more
Oregon’s most populous county, and home to Portland, sued more than a dozen oil, gas, and coal companies for over $50 million in damages related to a 2021 “heat dome” the county alleges was caused by the defendants’...more
The National Association of Clean Air Agencies (“NACAA”) submitted June 22nd comments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in its docket addressing Proposed National Emission Standards for Hazardous...more
The Illinois Attorney General (“AG”) and Dynergy Midwest Generation LLC (“Dynergy”) entered into a June 9th Consent Order (“CO”) addressing alleged violations associated with three coal combustion residual (“CCR”) ponds. ...more
On May 4, 2023, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the EPA’s proposed new rule to regulate landfills containing coal combustion residuals (CCR). The new rule would close a regulatory gap left open by the EPA’s...more
Today, the US Environmental Protection Agency released its long-awaited proposal for New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating...more
If carbon in the atmosphere is a problem, and that atmospheric carbon resulted from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, then a simple solution is to remove the carbon from the atmosphere and to put it back into the...more
With names like “boiler slag” and “bottom ash,” it’s no wonder that anyone who has ever heard of coal ash, or the coal combustion residuals (CCRs) produced from burning coal, assumes they are the basest forms of pollution....more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a November 9th news release stating that it had reached a Settlement with Evergy Kansas Central Inc. (“Evergy”) to address alleged violations of the Coal...more
Several environmental organizations have sued the U.S. EPA in an attempt to force the agency to revise its coal ash rules to include inactive, coal ash landfills. Currently inactive, coal ash landfills are exempt from the...more
The Supreme Court ended its 2021 term with a much-anticipated decision in West Virginia v. EPA.1 The 6-to-3 decision held that the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) does not have the authority under Section 111(d) of...more
In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, or the “Agency”) promulgated national regulations governing the disposal of coal ash generated by coal-fired power plants, or coal combustion residuals (CCRs). Following...more
I’m not sure it’s even really news at this point, but earlier this week Ameren Missouri announced that it would close its Rush Island Energy Center generating plant early, rather than spend the money to install flue gas...more
China Risks Winter Energy Crunch - "China is at risk of the same energy-crunch chaos seen in Europe, with a state-run newspaper warning that coal-fired power plants will struggle to keep the lights on this winter." ...more
Texas is now the third state with an approved CCR permit program. On June 28, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency published the approval of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s partial State Coal Combustion...more
The swearing-in of Michael Regan as EPA Administrator means that open questions on policy, agenda-setting, and prioritization for the Agency will soon be answered. Issues that have risen to the top of the new EPA...more
The United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (“Eleventh Circuit”), in a February 17th Opinion addressed a dispute involving a terminal contract with a minimum coal tonnage use provision. See Drummond Coal Sales Inc....more
The United States Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) issued a Decision on December 29th addressing a preemption issue related to the Clean Water Act. See Association of American Railroads – Petition for Declaratory Order,...more
JANUARY 2020 - FEDERAL APPELLATE COURTS - U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit - El Paso County, Texas, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al. On January 8, 2020, a divided panel of the court quickly granted a...more
Welcome to our first issue of 2021! We have been publishing a weekly edition of Currents since 2017 and hope that you find it informative and helpful. Our goal for 2021 is the same -- provide access to interesting and...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a Prepublication Notice on November 24th stating it would not issue final regulations for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act...more