The deadline for public comments on petitions seeking a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) expired last night on October 11, 2012. The Governors of Arkansas and North Carolina had submitted separate requests, in letters dated August 13, 2012 and August 14, 2012,  asking for a waiver of RFS volume requirements. Under Section 211(o)(7)(A) of the Clean Air Act, the Administrator of the EPA is permitted to waive national volume requirements of the RFS in whole or in part if implementation of those requirements would severely harm the economy or environment of a state, a region, or the United States, or if the Administrator determines there is an inadequate domestic supply of renewable fuel. Such a waiver may either be triggered through petition by one or more States, a party subject to RFS program requirements, or at the Administrator’s own motion. If a waiver is granted, it can last no longer than one year, but may be renewed by the Administrator after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Energy.Continue Reading Comment Period Closes for RFS Waiver Request: EPA Receives Nearly 30K Public Comments

California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”) announced today that it plans to issue an Energy Storage Request for Information (“RFI”) to obtain information on utility-scale, dispatchable, and operationally flexible storage resources through a solicitation of interest from technology providers, owners, and developers of energy storage resources.  PG&E said that it plans to issue the…

On Thursday, October 4, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) unanimously voted to table action on Statoil North America’s proposal to moor four floating wind turbines off the coast of Maine. Statoil North America, a division of Norway’s Statoil ASA, proposed the 12-megawatt pilot project in response to the PUC’s September 2010 request for proposals…

Following up on our posts on the subject, I had the chance to speak with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN regarding President Obama’s blocking of a Chinese-owned wind energy project out of concerns for national security. In the brief interview, I explained what exactly happened and whether or not the companies involved have any kind of legal recourse. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bp0_kI6w4DI%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

When negotiating contracts with a client, sometimes their eyes roll when we come to the section on insurance, particularly that awkward phrase, “waiver of subrogation.” What is subrogation and what does it mean to waive it? Simply put, subrogation is the right of a party, typically an insurance company, to pay a loss then sue the party…

President Obama issued an order on Friday blocking the construction and ownership of a wind project by Ralls Corporation (“Ralls”), due to national security concerns including “credible evidence” that Ralls or its affiliates, including the Sany Group (“Sany”), “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”  Ralls was in…

The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has issued an invitation for pre-qualification for selection of developers for a 560 megawatt geothermal project pipeline.  The government of Kenya has granted KenGen a license to develop geothermal power plants in the Olkaria geothermal field located in the Rift Valley in Kenya.  KenGen is embarking on a program to…