Green Rules Could Shutter Coal Plants

New clean air rules could force up to 500 U.S. coal plants to shut spurring billions of dollars in construction of cleaner plants to replace them, according to a study.

Pollution laws including the Clean Air Interstate Rule that caps emissions of smog components sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (NOX and SOX) could shut the plants in 25 states, according to the study by Colorado-based E3 Consultants, which advises energy companies.

The study, which was funded by E3, said that capital and construction costs to build cleaner new plants could reach well over $50 billion over the next five or 10 years.

Jim Short, one of the report's authors, said states most hit would be Texas and most of the states east of the Mississippi.

For more on E3, click here.

Technorati tags: Electricity, Energy, Politics, Coal, Environment, Clean Air Interstate Rule, Technology

Comments

Starvid said…

HA!

Ban new construction of coal, gas and oil plants in the United States and let nuclear power and renewables fight for market share.

The fossil plants of today are pretty old (especially coal and no one can affor dgas anymore) and willl decomission themselves after max 40 years as their lifetimes end.

No more global warming, thank you very much.

February 3, 2006 at 5:44 PM

Making Clouds for a Living

Donell Banks works at Southern Nuclear’s Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4 as a shift supervisor in Operations, but is in the process of transitioning to his newly appointed role as the daily work controls manager. He has been in the nuclear energy industry for about 11 years.

I love what I do because I have the unique opportunity to help shape the direction and influence the culture for the future of nuclear power in the United States. Every single day presents a new challenge, but I wouldn't have it any other way. As a shift supervisor, I was primarily responsible for managing the development of procedures and programs to support operation of the first new nuclear units in the United States in more than 30 years. As the daily work controls manager, I will be responsible for oversight of the execution and scheduling of daily work to ensure organizational readiness to operate the new units.

I envision a nuclear energy industry that leverages the technology of today to improve efficiency…

Why America Needs the MOX Facility

If Isaiah had been a nuclear engineer, he’d have loved this project. And the Trump Administration should too, despite the proposal to eliminate it in the FY 2018 budget.

The project is a massive factory near Aiken, S.C., that will take plutonium from the government’s arsenal and turn it into fuel for civilian power reactors. The plutonium, made by the United States during the Cold War in a competition with the Soviet Union, is now surplus, and the United States and the Russian Federation jointly agreed to reduce their stocks, to reduce the chance of its use in weapons. Over two thousand construction workers, technicians and engineers are at work to enable the transformation.

Carrying Isaiah’s “swords into plowshares” vision into the nuclear field did not originate with plutonium. In 1993, the United States and Russia began a 20-year program to take weapons-grade uranium out of the Russian inventory, dilute it to levels appropriate for civilian power plants, and then use it to produce…

Nuclear: Energy for All Political Seasons

The electoral college will soon confirm a surprise election result, Donald Trump. However, in the electricity world, there are fewer surprises – physics and economics will continue to apply, and Republicans and Democrats are going to find a lot to like about nuclear energy over the next four years.

In a Trump administration, the carbon conversation is going to be less prominent. But the nuclear value proposition is still there. We bring steady jobs to rural areas, including in the Rust Belt, which put Donald Trump in office. Nuclear plants keep the surrounding communities vibrant.

We hold down electricity costs for the whole economy. We provide energy diversity, reducing the risk of disruption. We are a critical part of America’s industrial infrastructure, and the importance of infrastructure is something that President-Elect Trump has stressed.

One of our infrastructure challenges is natural gas pipelines, which have gotten more congested as extremely low gas prices have pulled m…

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog