In the news today…
Grid:
- Utility Dive reports that Texas Regulators should consider a combination of metrics to establish grid reliability standards, stakeholders urge. Following Winter Storm Uri in 2021 state lawmakers directed the commission to develop a reliability standard to improve performance of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.
Coal:
- E&E Climatewire reports in West Virginia, the price of saving one coal plant may come at the cost of closing another.
- E&E Greenwire reports a western Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant at the center of a high-stakes Supreme Court legal fight a decade ago will close by this summer, its owners announced Monday.
- E&E Greenwire reports the Biden administration is betting on a coal country renaissance that’s driven by renewable energy investments.
Energy:
- S&P Global reports the US is on track to shutter half of its peak coal-fired generation capacity by 2026, a key milestone in its energy transition, according to an April 3 report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
- E&E News PM reports roughly 100 environmental, public health and civil rights advocates gathered outside EPA headquarters Tuesday afternoon with a clear message: Do more — and do it faster — to rein in power plant pollution.
Minerals:
- E&E Greenwire reports environmental groups and a tribe fighting a massive copper mine in Arizona are pushing back against a bipartisan campaign on Capitol Hill to designate copper as a critical mineral, asserting that studies being used to promote that position are flawed.
- E&E News PM reports federal regulators have formally revoked a federal Clean Water Act permit for the Rosemont copper mine in Arizona, marking another chapter for a mining project mired in lawsuits and shifting regulations.