In the news today…
Grid:
- Utility Dive reports that regulators are urging grid operator PJM to speed interconnection for new generation in the face of power plant retirements. State utility regulators are urging the PJM Interconnection to push certain proposed generating projects through its stalled interconnection process to help replace retiring power plants.
- Michigan Radio reports that Michigan regulators have formed a new work group aimed at improving grid reliability by holding utilities financially accountable for the number and duration of outages.
Mining:
- E&E Greenwire reports a precedent-setting legal decision four years ago around the dumping of mine waste continues to send shock waves through the mining industry — delaying and halting projects and ratcheting up the likelihood that Congress will try to step in.
- Washington Post reports a Nevada Democratic U.S. senator is looking to Congress to ensure mining companies can use established mineral claims to dump waste on neighboring federal lands as they always had before a federal appeals court adopted a stricter interpretation of a 150-year-old law.
EPA:
- The Hill reports the Biden administration faces what could be one of its most consequential climate decisions yet as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) weighs how to regulate power plants.
- E&E Greenwire reports EPA is expected to soon propose the strongest-ever restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants, the nation’s second-largest contributor to global climate change.
- Argus reports the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing changes to Texas haze standards that would require upgrades at a handful of coal- and natural gas-fired power plants.
Congress:
- E&E Daily reports Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Joe Manchin threatened Monday evening to back efforts to undo Democrats’ historic climate legislation that he helped write if the Biden administration continues to implement the law in a direction he disagrees with.