There was a lot of anticipation this summer about the scope of the energy bill coming out of the U.S. Senate. Would the Senate try and tackle climate change? Would it develop a national renewable portfolio standard?
The bill was released yesterday and the answer was "no" on both accounts.
The White House kept a glimmer of hope that
Ohio has one of the best state brownfield grant programs in the country. There are two pots of money available at the state level:
Recently, Ohio EPA released its newsletter directed toward those interested in brownfield redevelopment (SABR News). The July 2010 newsletter included some important recent developments at the federal and state level.
Federal Brownfields Legislation
The Federal Brownfield Re-authorization Bill was introduced in May 2010. If the bill passes it could include some important reforms to
U.S. EPA has released its CAIR replacement program called the "Transport Rule." In a previous post I discussed EPA’s efforts under the Transport Rule to address the Court’s ruling striking down the CAIR rule. After listening to a presentation by EPA, the structure of the Transport Rule is a little clearer.
The major issue identified by the Court
Ohio is using federal stimulus money to establish a new grant opportunity in the renewable energy area. The Ohio Department of Development has released an RFP soliciting proposals with a total of $10 million in available funding.
Minimum award is $500,000 and maximum is $1 million.
The grant program is looking for projects that convert feedstocks such as
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U.S. EPA released is long awaited replacement rule for the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) which was the controversial cap and trade program for coal-fired utilities. In December of 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled CAIR exceeded EPA’s regulatory authority and ordered the Agency to develop an new proposal.
Originally, the
President Obama is convening a meeting tomorrow to explore all possible alternatives that would lead to passage of a climate bill before the midterm elections. The most likely alternative that will receive consideration is a much narrower cap that would only be applied to utilities. Under this approach, the provisions covering large industrial emitters and
Ohio’s best hope for reducing its overwhelming dependence on coal for electricity generation is biomass. While wind and solar have significant benefits, it is unquestioned that current technology does not allow these renewable sources to be forms of base-load power generation.
Biomass does have that potential in Ohio, as is evidenced by the recent announcements
In a very close vote 53-47, the U.S. Senate defeated a resolution designed to block U.S. EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases utilizing its existing authority under the Clean Air Act. Six Democrats supported the Republican effort to block EPA. Republicans needed 51 votes to effectively block or delay EPA’s efforts. Now everyone is offering their opinions as