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EPA Mercury Rule for Power Plants Upheld by U.S. Court

Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), Southern Co. (SO) and other energy companies must abide by federal limits on mercury and additional power-plant pollutants, a U.S. court said, upholding a rule regulators say will save lives and the industry claims was illegally drafted. Although the Environmental Protection Agency estimated in 2007 that the rule would cost the power-production industry $9.6 billion, its impact is likely to be less because companies are shifting away from coal-fired plants and have budgeted for compliance expenses, according to Paula DuPont-Kidd, a spokeswoman for PJM Interconnection LLC, which coordinates wholesale power markets in 13 states from Maryland to Illinois.

IPCC report: averting catastrophe is eminently affordable

Catastrophic climate change can be averted without sacrificing living standards according to a UN report, which concludes that the transformation required to a world of clean energy is eminently affordable.
“It doesn’t cost the world to save the planet,” said economist Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, who led the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team. The cheapest and least risky route to dealing with global warming is to abandon all dirty fossil fuels in coming decades, the report found. Gas – including that from the global fracking boom – could be important during the transition, Edenhofer said, but only if it replaced coal burning.

Commons committee warns of environmental impact of HS2

Tougher environmental safeguards should be imposed on HS2 to minimise irreplaceable damage, particularly to ancient woodland, and harmful impacts of the proposed north-south rail link, a parliamentary committee has recommended. HS2 Ltd should engage in much greater consultation and not resort to claiming that measures are not “practicable or reasonable” to “readily dismiss essential environmental protections”, the House of Commons environmental audit committee has said in a report published on Monday.

Has climate change adaptation lost its way?

Poor farmers regrow trees on their land in the Sahel for food, animal fodder, fuel and crop protection. Communities threatened by rising seas on the Carteret atoll in Papua New Guinea move permanently to Bougainville, the country’s main island. The Netherlands devises coastal and river-flood protection schemes with a planning horizon of two centuries. Scientists collaborate to breed new varieties of drought-tolerant maize for Africa.

Renewable energy agency warns companies of potential cuts in budget

Companies planning to apply for grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency have been warned there is a substantial risk the organisation could suffer even bigger funding cuts in the May budget. ARENA took the unusual step Wednesday of writing to “stakeholders” to advise that “given the fiscal outlook and media speculation concerning the forthcoming budget on 13 May 2014, the future of ARENA’s funding is unclear.”ARENA’s chief executive Ivor Frischknecht told Guardian Australia there was a “substantial risk” his organisation would face more cuts. He said companies needed to be aware of this as they considered spending money on land, permits and feasibility studies ahead of making an application to ARENA for funding.

UK could produce shale gas in 4 years in emergency – Cuadrilla

Shale gas production in Britain could begin within four years if the current crisis in Ukraine escalates to such an extent that a national state of emergency is declared, the chief executive of Cuadrilla Resources said. Britain is in the early stages of exploring for shale gas to counter its growing dependence on imports, and geologists have estimated it could have shale resources equivalent to several hundred years of demand. Cuadrilla is the only company in Britain so far to have used hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in test wells in Lancashire. It is two to three years away from establishing whether its British shale gas operations are commercially viable, Chief Executive Francis Egan said at an event at think-tank Chatham House on Tuesday evening.