Today marked the end of a two and a half year public input process by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) to reevaluate and, potentially, modernize the state’s energy system. In August 2018, the ACC opened up a docket (RU-00000A-18-0284) colloquially known as the Arizona Clean Energy Rules, which could impact everything from updating energy use and efficiency standards to utilities’ resource planning rules. In November 2020, the ACC voted to advance the energy rules to formal rulemaking.
Today, a coalition of environmental and community groups brought a challenge to a Trump Administration rule designed to make it harder for communities impacted by coal mining to hold state regulators and mining companies accountable for violating environmental protections. The Trump rule inserts a new process which, at best, will significantly delay actions to address violations and, at worst, will allow regulators to avoid addressing these violations entirely.
Sierra Club and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against EPA after former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler (for the next 24 hours) declined to correct the legal limit for dangerous particulate matter pollution, also known as soot. Wheeler had instead decided to retain the flawed 2012 standard despite medical evidence that the 2012 standard fails to protect public health.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the ‘Affordable Clean Energy’ rule and remanded it to the EPA.
The Sierra Club and South Carolina’s environmental regulators have entered into an agreement to update permits at three coal burning power plants that have been discharging mercury, arsenic and other dangerous pollutants into local waterways using permits that expired as long ago as 2010.
Kansas City, MO -- Following Sierra Club’s intervention, Evergy customers will not have to pay for electricity they did not use during the COVID-19 crisis. Last year, Evergy asked the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) for the ability to track lost revenues because of decreased power sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, which would have allowed the utility to recover the money from customers in a future rate case. The utility withdrew this proposal as part of an order the PSC issued yesterday.
DULUTH, MN -- Earlier today, Minnesota Power announced its “vision for 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050,” in advance of the utility’s integrated resource plan (IRP) due to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by February 1, 2021.
Atlanta, GA -- Last week, the Sierra Club continued its legal battle in Sierra Club v. Georgia Public Service Commission and Georgia Power Company over Georgia Power’s 2019 rate case. Specifically, appealing coal ash recovery costs to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Under growing pressure from state regulators, the governor and thousands of customers, Dominion Energy has agreed to a six-month pause on its request for a 7.8% electricity rate increase, which would have raised the average residential bill by $10 a month.
On the last day of 2020, the Office of Budget and Management approved an extreme anti-science rule first proposed by disgraced former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, which was designed to prevent peer-reviewed medical studies from being included in future rulemakings to protect public health.
Dominion Energy South Carolina must do a comprehensive coal fleet retirement analysis and assess replacement of the plants, and it must be completed before the utility makes decisions about spending customers’ money to retrofit the Williams and Wateree plants to comply with federal rules meant to protect waterways from mercury, arsenic, and other pollutants from coal plant wastewater.
Former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler finalized his decision to maintain the insufficient ground level ozone standard of 70 parts per billion, despite the scientific consensus that it is not strong enough to protect the most vulnerable communities.