The Continuing Impact of Coal Ash - Energy Law Insights
Volume 9, Issue 7 Welcome to our seventh issue of Currents 2025. In this issue, we look at the changing tides for coal, the new NEPA procedures, West Virginians desire for lower cost energy, southwestern Virginia's newest...more
Two recent studies show that, by the end of 2023, United States carbon emissions will decrease, despite an expansion in the overall economy of about 2.5 percent. That is, according to the United States Energy Information...more
What is the Hydrogen Hubbub? Hydrogen is seen by many as the fuel of the future, a substance that can provide heat through combustion, or electrical power from fuel cells, emitting only water in the process. Its potential...more
The explosion and fire of a tanker truck just north of Center City Philadelphia, leading to the collapse of sections of Interstate 95, one of the most heavily traveled roads in the United States and the chief highway...more
Coal Power to Increase for First Time Since 2014, US Says - "The amount of electricity produced by coal plants is expected to tick up 22% in 2021, reversing coal’s six-year downward trend." Why this is important: For...more
How a Colorado Coal Plant Could Become a Massive Battery for Renewable Energy - "If the idea works, it could be a case study for other communities trying to preserve jobs and property taxes as the world shifts to cleaner...more
WV Legislature Adopts Compromise Amendment to Natural Gas Property Tax Bill - "HB 2581 would provide a revised methodology to value oil and natural gas properties by the State Tax Commissioner in response to a West...more
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf Floats Natural Gas Tax to Pay for $3 Billion Pandemic Recovery Plan - "Long a proponent of an extraction tax, Wolf said it could pay for improvements to workforce training and support, remove...more
Renewables to Dominate New U.S. Power Capacity in 2021 - "Renewable energy, mostly solar and wind, are set to account for more than two-thirds of the new electricity generation capacity that the United States will...more
Overview of the current energy mix, and the place in the market of different energy sources - Due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. total energy consumption in 2020 is on pace to decline for a second straight...more
West Virginia Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Horizontal Drilling Taxation Case Involving Antero - "At issue is a consumer sales tax assessment of around $1 million the West Virginia State Tax Department has levied on...more
Mountain Valley Says Natural Gas Pipeline Timing Depends on Litigation, U.S. Approvals - “'As the litigation process progresses and as we receive additional information from FERC regarding potentially releasing the...more
More Federal Permits Handed Down as MVP Presses FERC for Construction Restart - "The Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC told FERC that it has received a series of key federal waterbody crossing permits, bolstering its case to...more
Massive New Bipartisan Senate Energy Legislative Package Could See Vote as Early as Next Week - "The 555 page legislative package combines almost all the 50 energy bills that were reported to the Senate in 2019, and is...more
Is the world hurtling irreversibly toward incinerating, extinction-causing, fossil-fuel induced destruction while we’re doing nothing about it? Maybe not, if you consider overlooked and ignored sources of information....more
Energy Blockchain’s Most Obvious Use Case is Not What You Think - "Instead, a select group of blockchain companies is finding success with a focus on certificates of origin, helping demonstrate the provenance of renewable...more
Energy Infrastructure Attacks are ‘Probable’: Oil Traders Fear Supply Disruptions in the Middle East - "A dramatic escalation of geopolitical tensions will most likely result in an unplanned oil supply shortage in the...more
Chevron to Take $10B+ Write-Down - "More than half the write-down is related to gas drilling operations in Appalachia." Why this is important: In recent years, the pressure to reduce carbon emissions has affected...more
Court Ruling Vindicates ExxonMobil in New York ‘Climate Change’ Fraud Case - “'The Office of the Attorney General failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that ExxonMobil made any material misstatements or...more
Russian, Colombian Competition Continuing to Slow U.S. Thermal Coal Exports - "'Central Appalachian and Northern Appalachian exports remain out of the money for shipment to Europe and Illinois Basin coal has significant...more
Q&A with Vivek Warrier - Vivek Warrier moderated the panel on Gas and LNG in North America at the Oil & Gas Council's recent North American Assembly in Houston. Panel members were...more
Expenses and Delays Continue for Mountain Valley Pipeline, Where Work has Halted Again - "The pipeline’s developers announced that construction now isn’t expected to concluded until late next year at a cost of $5.3 to $5.5...more
Big Oil’s Climate Change Reckoning Finally Arrives in Court - "New York’s $1.6 billion lawsuit arose from a national effort to hold Big Oil responsible for global warming." Why this is important: The most important...more
In a move that will have a significant impact on Pennsylvania's power producers, Governor Tom Wolf signed an executive order on October 3rd directing the state's Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to create...more
FERC Proposes to Modernize PURPA Regulations - "The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed to modernize its regulations governing small power producers and cogenerators under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies...more