Energy Report News Bites

Air Pollution Standards Challenged in N.C.

by Eliza Laubach

The Federal District Court of Appeals rejected North Carolina’s attempt to bypass air pollution standards concerning fine particle pollution. The state waited too long to contest a standard set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 that limits increases in soot, largely emitted by coal-fired power plants or motor vehicles.

The Southeast’s First Utility-Scale Wind Farm Breaks Ground

by Eliza Laubach

When North Carolina’s first utility-scale wind farm begins operations on the coast by the end of 2016, it will be funded not by Duke Energy, but by Amazon.

The online retailer has two cloud-computing centers, in Virginia and Ohio, that will tap into Duke’s grid for power, but Amazon cannot sell the energy in North Carolina due to restrictions on third-party electricity sales.

Clean Water Act Clarified

by Cody Burchett

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers issued the final Clean Water Rule this past May, reducing the scope of waterways subject to the Clean Water Act and reinforcing exemptions that have legalized toxic water pollution since 2001. The majority of drainage ditches and artificial lakes used for livestock will no longer be regulated. Coal and agricultural industries retain permission to convert streams into waste impoundments. Eight states, including West Virginia and Kentucky, have criticized the new rule as overbearing and filed a federal lawsuit in June.