Ohio: The Swing State for Presidential Elections, and National Energy Policy Too
Every four years, Ohioans brace for the presidential election. Ads flood the airwaves, yard signs sprout like daffodils, and it seems presidential candidates (of all stripes) appear at every Labor Day...
View ArticleHow to Tell Truth from Fiction in an Energy Development Proposal (Part 1)
“Never trust announcements. Never trust groundbreakings. Only trust ribbon-cuttings.” That’s a wise piece of advice a seasoned Army Corps of Engineers analyst gave me several years ago when we were...
View ArticleHow to Tell Truth from Fiction in an Energy Development Proposal (Part 2)
Yesterday, I laid out some questions that skeptical residents, community leaders, and local officials can ask when presented with an energy development project that sounds too good to be true. Today: a...
View ArticleA War on the EPA Isn’t What Americans Want
When Sen. Mitch McConnell says states should refuse outright to comply with federal clean-air rules, he’s continuing a long tradition of stubborn resistance by the coal industry and its political...
View ArticleThe Truth About Prairie State Energy Campus (Part 3): A Crippling Burden to...
That Giant Sucking Sound? An Ill-Conceived Power Plant Sapping the Economic Vigor of Communities Far and Wide … Imagine, if you will, the small-business pillars of a town shutting their doors suddenly...
View ArticleAn Ohio Wind Farm Proves the Case for a Wise Renewable-Energy Policy
Ohio, it’s fair to say, isn’t known as a leader in the transition to renewable energy. In fact, it attracted some well-earned infamy last year when it became the first state in the country to “freeze”...
View ArticleHow a ‘Clean Coal’ Myth Squandered Hundreds of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars...
When the U.S. Department of Energy pulled the plug in February on a $1 billion subsidy to build FutureGen, a “clean coal” plant in Illinois, it put a merciful end to a twisted tale that had been...
View ArticleTraditional Owners of Galilee Basin Urge Wall Street Not to Finance Adani’s...
Hoping to block Adani’s proposed coal project in Queensland, two representatives of the Wangan and Jagalingou people of northern Australia were in New York this week to discourage Wall Street from...
View ArticlePrairie State, Sold as a Clean Coal Plant, Wants a Pass on New EPA Rules
The president of Prairie State Generating Co. has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to exempt the coal-fired Prairie State Energy Campus in southern Illinois from new pollution-control rules....
View ArticleFirstEnergy Continues Its Fear-Mongering Ways
Andre Porter, the new chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, made headlines a couple of weeks ago when he said utilities have got to “stop attempting to scare Ohioans.” Porter’s admonition...
View ArticleAccountability in Coal Country: The World Is Watching the Don Blankenship Trial
Something momentous is going on in the heart of coal country today: The once-mighty CEO of Massey Energy is on trial for violating mine safety laws, for covering up those violations, and for lying to...
View ArticleA Double ‘New Normal’ Hobbles the Natural Gas Industry: Low Prices and Public...
The U.S. natural gas industry is facing a daunting set of “new normals” that in combination are presenting significant obstacles for infrastructure expansion. These shifting dynamics, well documented...
View ArticleThe Global Energy Transition Continues
This has been a remarkable year in energy markets across the U.S. and around the world. Change has unfolded fast, and dramatically. The coal industry is in deep structural decline in 2015, oil and gas...
View ArticleFive Years On, Millions in Costs From AMP’s Cancelled Coal Plant Still Hang...
By Sandy Buchanan Five years ago this Thanksgiving, newspaper headlines across Ohio announced the cancellation of a coal-fired power plant that American Municipal Power (AMP) had planned to build along...
View ArticleOhio: The Swing State for Presidential Elections, and National Energy Policy Too
Every four years, Ohioans brace for the presidential election. Ads flood the airwaves, yard signs sprout like daffodils, and it seems presidential candidates (of all stripes) appear at every Labor Day...
View ArticleHow to Tell Truth from Fiction in an Energy Development Proposal (Part 1)
“Never trust announcements. Never trust groundbreakings. Only trust ribbon-cuttings.” That’s a wise piece of advice a seasoned Army Corps of Engineers analyst gave me several years ago when we were...
View ArticleHow to Tell Truth from Fiction in an Energy Development Proposal (Part 2)
Yesterday, I laid out some questions that skeptical residents, community leaders, and local officials can ask when presented with an energy development project that sounds too good to be true. Today: a...
View ArticleGroundswell in Ohio Against FirstEnergy and AEP Bailouts (With More to Come)
Opposition to FirstEnergy’s campaign to get Ohio regulators and ratepayers to save several struggling coal and nuclear plants has gained steam in the Buckeye State, where questions mount over who...
View ArticleFirstEnergy’s Scheme to Protect Aging Power Plants in Ohio Will Cost...
We’ve published a report today that outlines in fresh detail how the proposed bailout of the Ohio utility giant FirstEnergy is a raw deal for ratepayers. Our report, “A $4 Billion Bailout in the...
View ArticleIEEFA Energy Finance 2016: Fast-Moving Markets Signal More Change Ahead
Energy markets are changing so fast these days that they bring an inundation of fresh headlines. Peabody Energy, the worlds largest private sector coal company, is said to be teetering on the...
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