By Kennedy Maize Interior Secretary Doug Burgum can’t seem to figure out how to reconcile his offshore energy leasing policies with national security. Managing the linkage has left him looking less interested in substance than in bowing to Donald Trump’s often uninformed likes and dislikes. First, at Trump’s order, he halted work on five developing … More Doug Burgum’s goofy-footed national security stance
By Kennedy Maize The Trump administration is pondering resurrecting a nuclear power application 54 years after an earlier, quite similar, attempt cratered. The Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) earlier this month (May 7) issued a “request for information” launching what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described as “an initiative to develop Small Modular Nuclear Reactors … More Administration looks back to the future on nuclear powered ships
By Kennedy Maize The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday (May 21) began a process to update its fast-track “blanket permitting process” under the Natural Gas that allows routine natural gas pipeline projects to proceed without full regulatory review. The commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) outlining how it plans to streamline and modernize … More FERC to accelerate routine gas pipeline project reviews
By Kennedy Maize After a week of hints and speculation, Florida-based NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) and Virginia-based Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) Monday (May18) announced a friendly merger in a $67 billion deal that will create a $400 billion electric behemoth with some 10 million customers, In a news release, Dominion claimed the deal “will create the world’s … More NextEra, Dominion merger a sign of things to come?
By Kennedy Maize The Trump administration is working overtime to transmogrify the nation’s dirtiest fuel into what the president calls his “beautiful clean coal.” The White House has mobilized the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Tennessee Valley authority to boost its vision of restoring coal’s past glory. It isn’t working. The … More Trump administration labors to make ugly coal beautiful
By Kennedy Maize A major U.S. energy policy disconnect is developing over locating data centers to serve the promising but still infant artificial intelligence business. The federal government, driven by the Trump White House and many conventional electric utility generation and transmission companies, are boosting the nascent AI tech industry and its electricity gobbling data … More As the hyperscale data center backlash gathers momentum…
By Kennedy Maize Last month, iconic Texas-based technology giant Oracle Corp. announced a deal with California’s Bloom Energy to develop a behind-the-meter 2.45-GW artificial intelligence data center in the New Mexico desert, dubbed Project Juniper, powered by Bloom’s fuel cells. The announcement said, “This updated power design will replace Project Jupiter’s previously planned gas turbines … More Fuel cells and data centers: a natural mix?
By Kennedy Maize Donald Trump’s voluntary war on oil-rich Iran is having what the fossilized gang in Washington never anticipated: a global surge in renewable energy, including in the U.S. The impact of the war on oil supplies and prices has produced a dramatic shift to wind and solar that may be permanent. Energy analyst … More Iran war supercharges worldwide renewables
By Kennedy Maize The PJM Interconnection, the oldest and largest U.S. independent electric transmission system operator, on Wednesday (May 6) announced it has launched an effort to reform its troubled and controversial competitive energy capacity market. The announcement came just five days after PJM named insider David Mills its new president and chief executive officer. … More PJM launches capacity market reform process
By Henry Sokolski Last week, a month-long review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) began at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), a U.S.-funded service that reaches more than one million viewers in the Middle East, asked me whether the NPT keeps nuclear weapons from spreading. For more … More Guest Commentary: Can the NPT keep nuclear weapons from spreading?