The new year starts out where the old year ended with opponents fighting to block the Obama Administration’s tough new environmental rules to reduce cross-state air pollution from power plants in 27
states.

The Associated Press reports that industrial critics won a delay on Friday when a federal court put on hold the controversial EPA regulations that are under challenge by more than a dozen electric power companies, municipal power
plant operators. 

Six states— Texas, Nebraska, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, and Ohio — had
asked the court for the delay pending resolution of litigation challenging the new rules.  All  six would have had to reduce pollution
from their power plants under the new EPA rules. They were joined by Ames,
Iowa, local power plant operators and power generating companies,
including Entergy Corp., Luminant Generation Co. and GenOn Energy.

In the first two years, the EPA estimates that the regulation and
some other steps would have slashed sulfur dioxide emissions by 73
percent from 2005 levels, and nitrogen oxides will be cut by more than
half.

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution from power plant
smokestacks can be carried long distances by the wind and weather. As
they drift, the pollutants react with other substances in the atmosphere
to form smog and soot, which have been linked to various illnesses,
including asthma, and have prevented many down-wind states and cities from
complying with health-based standards set by law.

Environmentalists
on Friday said they would continue to defend the regulations, which are
essential for some states to be able to meet air quality standards for
soot and smog and are far more protective than the ones proposed under
the Bush administration.

“The pollution reductions at stake are
some of the single most important clean air protections for children,
families and communities, across the eastern half of the United States,”
said Vickie Patton, the general counsel for the Environmental Defense
Fund.

But Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability
Coordinating Council, a coalition of power companies, said in a
statement Friday that the ruling was the “first step to setting it
right.”

“The underlying rule was the subject of hasty process,
poor technical support, unequal application and substantial threat to
jobs, power bills and reliability,” he said.

A number of downwind states have joined to defend the EPA rule in court. Not among them is New Jersey where Governor Chris Christie is taking a different approach to out-of-state, power-plant air pollution. Christie’s interstate air pollution decision is a puzzlement

Despite offshore wind energy’s disappointing collapse this week in Delaware, there was some good news for the struggling industry in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that the state public
utilities department was right to deny a motion filed by project opponents against a 2009
power purchase agreement between Cape Wind, a proposed 24-square-mile wind farm in the Nantucket Sound, and National Grid which agreed to purchase power from the wind farm.

And, although wind developers seeking to install turbines off the coast of New Jersey face many of the same economic challenges that unhinged Delaware’s project, at least one analyst says Garden State lawmakers took steps that could make a big difference.   

Related:
Coast Guard to study future of boat traffic, wind farms

A few of our recent blog posts:
Time runs out on Delaware’s offshore wind project
Philadelphia now recycling milk & juice containers, too

In NJ, a clash over control of environmental regulations 
EPA report links fracking to groundwater contamination
Energy and environment bills in NJ Legislature on Dec 8 

———————————————————————————————————————————-

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it free for 30 days!  No obligation. Cancel anytime with one click   

With no prospect of federal support in sight and no domestic or European buyer willing to assume future costs, Delaware’s offshore wind energy project is officially dead.

The (Wilmington) News-Journal reported today that NRG Energy terminated its landmark offshore wind power contract with Delmarva Power on Tuesday.

“The
hard-won 2008 power purchase agreement, the first for offshore wind in
the United States, was considered an essential ingredient in building a
wind farm off the coast of Delaware. Tuesday was the final day under the
contract for Bluewater to exercise an escape clause without forfeiting a
$4 million security deposit.

“Officials
at NRG, which purchased Bluewater in 2009, notified Delmarva’s parent
company, Pepco Holdings Inc., of the termination Tuesday afternoon, said
Matt Likovich, a Delmarva spokesman. Delmarva reported it accepted the
termination.”

See the full story here
 
Related:
Delmarva Power to credit Del. customers $2M
Delaware offshore wind farm proposal abandoned
Bluewater: What went wrong?
New Jersey Developer Says It’s Giving Up on Offshore Wind
Editorial: Offshore wind farms still have Delaware potential  
NRG Energy dumps N.J. offshore wind farm plan

A few of our recent blog posts:
Philadelphia now recycling milk & juice containers, too

In NJ, a clash over control of environmental regulations 
EPA report links fracking to groundwater contamination
Energy and environment bills in NJ Legislature on Dec 8 

———————————————————————————————————————————-

Like this post? You’ll love our daily newsletter, EnviroPolitics
Try it free for 30 days!  No obligation. Cancel anytime with one click