In the news today…
EPA:
- Inside EPA reports industry groups are praising EPA’s decision to forgo setting financial responsibility requirements under the Superfund law for the electric power generator sector, while environmentalists argue the approach increases risks of contamination.
- Inside EPA reports environmental groups have begun to outline issues they intend to raise in their litigation challenging EPA’s ACE rule, targeting the ACE rule’s narrow interpretation as unlawful.
- E&E Greenwire reports a pair of judges would like to investigate whether they should drop the case over the Obama administration’s Clean Water Rule in light of the repeal and eventual replacement of the WOTUS rule.
Coal:
- The Casper Star-Tribune and E&E Greenwire report the federal government has been investigating coal operator Blackjewel for potential fraud since before the company filed for bankruptcy.
- Argus reports the U.S. Interior Department has asked a federal bankruptcy court to extend the deadline for some of Blackjewel’s financial restructuring while it completes an investigation into potential fraud.
- Argus reports U.S. electric power sector coal use will fall by 14 percent this year according to the EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook.
- Politico Pro and E&E Energywire report a federal judge blocked the parts of an Obama-era Interior Department rulemaking that updated how royalties are calculated on coal mined from federal lands.
- E&E Energywire reports Xcel Energy Inc. is planning new investments in wind and solar in order to shut down coal plants and shift the market towards electric vehicles.
- WV Metro News reports three underground coal mines and two preparation plants in West Virginia have been idled by Blackhawk Mining and its subsidiaries.
Mining:
- E&E Greenwire reports the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine is one of many controversies over public lands.
- E&E Greenwire reports Senate Indian Affairs Committee ranking member Tom Udall led a field hearing on the Southwest’s legacy of uranium mining.
- Politico Pro and E&E News PM report a coalition of Alaskan groups sued EPA on Tuesday over its withdrawal of an Obama-era proposal that would have preemptively vetoed the construction of the Pebble Mine.