New EPA Clean Fuels & Cars Standard

EPA Will Propose Achievable Cleaner Fuels and Cars Standard, Slashing Air Pollution and Providing Extensive Health BenefitsBased on extensive input from auto manufactures, refiners, and states, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed sensible standards for cars and gasoline that will significantly reduce harmful pollution, prevent thousands of premature deaths and illnesses, while also enabling efficiency improvements in the...

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Senate Symbolic Vote On Carbon Tax To Reduce Deficit

Sheldon WhitehouseSenator Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-R.I.) pro-carbon tax amendment to a nonbinding budget plan failed with 41 votes, showing that proposals to impose a price on greenhouse gas emissions lack political traction.  Last week’s symbolic Senate referendum on taxing industrial carbon emissions to fight climate change would have gotten 42 counting, but  Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), wasn’t there to vote.The Center opposes...

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Restart San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Unit 2

Recommendation To Restart SONGS Unit 2 and Accelerate Review and Restart of Unit 3Norris McDonald at SONGS on July 6, 2005The Center believes Southern California Edison can operate the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) without undue risk to public health and safety.  The Center commends the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its exhaustive review of the steam generator situation at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. ...

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Chino Hills Obstruction of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project

The Center supports the timely completion of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (TRTP).   The California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) should reject the Chino Hills underground transmission line proposal.  The Center opposes undergrounding the Chino Hills section of the line because it is an unnecessary alteration of an already approved plan.  The Center is particularly concerned about threats to a project that provides...

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TRTP CPUC Order To Analyze Underground Options in Chino Hills

Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (TRTP) Overview of TRTP Segments 4-11 and CPUC Order to Analyze Underground Options in Chino Hills Project Overview: TRTP Segments 4-11 consist of new and upgraded electrical transmission facilities spanning approximately 173 miles and are being constructed to deliver up to 4,500 megawatts of renewable energy, enough capacity to power three million homes.(TRTP Segments 1-3 were approved by the CPUC in...

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Oil Spills On Railroad Tracks

As energy companies have turned to trains to move crude fromNorth American oil fields not adequately served by pipelines, railroad-related incidents have risen sharply in the past few years, according to federal data. From 2010 to 2012, 112 oil spills were reported from U.S. rail tanker cars, up from just 10 in the previous three years, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a part of the Department of Transportation...

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SONGS Extended Outage Raising Southern California Electricity Rates

Note: Day-ahead, on-peak power prices from the California Independent System Operator for the SP-15 (Southern California) and NP-15 (Northern California) hubs. Daily prices are averaged on a rolling 10-day period to reduce apparent volatility and make the persistent difference between the two prices more visible. The outages of both units at Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), starting in...

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International Monetary Fund Wants To Reform Energy Subsidies

January 28, 2013 (Report Release Date) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY While aimed at protecting consumers, subsidies aggravate fiscal imbalances, crowd-out priority public spending, and depress private investment, including in the energy sector. Subsidies also distort resource allocation by encouraging excessive energy consumption, artificially promoting capital-intensive industries, reducing incentives for investment in renewable energy, and accelerating...

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California Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS)

Established in 2002 under Senate Bill 1078, accelerated in 2006 under Senate Bill 107 and expanded in 2011 under Senate Bill 2, California's Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) is one of the most ambitious renewable energy standards in the country. The RPS program requires investor-owned utilities, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators to increase procurement from eligible renewable energy resources to 33% of total procurement...

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Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project

Formerly Antelope ValleySouthern California Edison’s Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project (TRTP) is the first major transmission project in California being constructed specifically to access multiple renewable generators in a remote renewable-rich resource area. Segments 4 to 11 include new and upgraded electric transmission lines and substations between eastern Kern County and San Bernardino County.A series of new and upgraded transmission...

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Center for Sustainable Shale Development

The Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD), spearheaded by the Heinz Endowments, is a coalition of industry and environmental and philanthropic groups offering a voluntary certification process to make hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, less damaging to the environment and less risky to human health.Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) is an independent organization whose mission is...

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EPA SAB Panel To Peer Review Fracking Research

EPA’s Science Advisory Board Announces Independent Panel to Peer Review Agency’s Hydraulic Fracturing Research The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) independent Science Advisory Board (SAB) today announced the formation of its Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory panel. This panel of independent experts will peer review EPA’s 2014 draft report of results for its national study on any potential health and environmental impacts of...

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U.S. Senate Symbolic Vote To Support Keystone XL Pipeline

The Senate on Friday voted 62-37 to approve the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline in an amendment to Senate budget.  Sen. John Hoeven’s (R-N.D.) amendment was symbolic, but served as a clear statement that the Senate backs the pipeline. The White House, the the State Department, has the final say because the project crosses an international border.  It puts the Senate on record in support of the Keystone pipeline project....

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Pennsylvania Natural Gas Production Rose 69% in 2012 Despite Reduced Drilling Activity

Natural gas production in Pennsylvania averaged 6.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2012, up from 3.6 Bcf/d in 2011, according to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) data released in February 2013. This 69% increase came in spite of a significant drop in the number of new natural gas wells started during the year. Several factors contributed to the production increase. While accelerated drilling in recent years (primarily...

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Fixing America’s Inequities with Revenues (FAIR) Act

Mary LandrieuLisa MurkowskiSenators Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced legislation Wednesday that would give a portion of federal energy revenues to coastal states.  Currently, coastal states don’t get any federal energy revenues.States in the interior of the country, on the other hand, get half of the revenues from energy produced on federal lands within their borders. The senators said their bill would remedy...

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Center President Norris McDonald Appears on Arise TV

Center President Norris McDonald appeared on Arise TV on Monday, March 18th to discuss, "Nuclear Cure For Asthma."  Also appearing on the show was Frank Fraley, Executive Director of  Safe Healthy Affordable Energy (SHARE) and asthma specialist Dre. Aletha Maybank.The March 18 Program Segment can be seen at 1:07:...

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EPA Report Highlights Fuel Economy Gains In 2012

EPA released its annual report that tracks the fuel economy of vehicles sold in the United States, underscoring the major increases made in the efficiency of the vehicles Americans drive, reducing oil consumption and cutting carbon emissions. According to the report, EPA estimates that between 2007 and 2012 fuel economy values increased by 16 percent while carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have decreased by 13 percent, and in 2012 alone the report indicates...

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Energy Security Trust

  From The White House President Obama’s Blueprint for a Clean and Secure Energy Future The United States is on the path to a cleaner and more secure energy future. Since President Obama took office, responsible oil and gas production has increased each year, while oil imports have fallen to a 20 year low; renewable electricity generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources has doubled; And our emissions of the dangerous carbon...

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Oil & Gas Industry Running Ads To Protect Subsidies

The American Petroleum Institute (API) began running cable and broadcast ads inside the Beltway in March.  The oil-and-gas lobby group wants to convince Congress to keep its hands off its industry tax incentives.  The ads are also intended to oppose billions in new oil and natural gas taxes. API believes punitive tax schemes kill jobs and decrease revenues to the federal government over the long term.API has long called the incentives cost-recovery mechanisms and business deductions that other sectors receive. It says the...

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