ACC Member Companies

Coal Plant Retirement in Light of New EPA Regulations

By Jeff Archibald, ICF International

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently developing a range of new regulations under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These new federal regulations, as they are made final over the next year, are likely to result in substantial capital investments for many coal-fueled generators, and retirement for others. ICF projects that these potential investments could lead to the retirement of 10 to 20 percent of total coal-fueled capacity in the U.S. However, significant uncertainty remains around the timing [...]

Hollywood is coming to town

By Robin Millican, Institute for Energy Research

In his documentary The Last Mountain, featuring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., director Bill Haney weaves quite a tale of intrigue in the quest to rebrand surface mining as “mountain-top removal,” an emotionally-charged term that carries infinitely more public relations punch. Allegations of complicity between former West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, the Bush Administration, and coal executives to force surface mining upon the unwilling residents of Appalachia feature heavily, with Mr. Kennedy characterizing mining activities as loosely regulated at best … and criminal at worst.

However, Haney takes aim at more than just political [...]

The COAL Hard Facts: ‘Old King Coal’ is Still King Can America get its fiscal house in order or could it fall into bankruptcy?

By Wayne T. Rutherford, Pike County (Kentucky) Judge/Executive

Editor’s note: In previous editions of American Coal magazine, we have sought your input as a means of promoting ACC publications as a community of readers. We value your input and comment and would love to hear from you as well. So with this issue, we’re introducing a Comment section that will feature articles submitted by our readers on issues that impact their daily lives. We felt it was important to print this [...]