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FERC rejects proposal to subsidize coal burning and nuclear power plants

gtm research: “Federal regulators have rejected Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to rewrite energy market regulations that would favor the coal industry in the name of grid reliability, delivering a stark rebuke to what has largely been seen as an effort to reward the coal industry at the expense of ratepayers and the environment. On Monday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order (PDF) terminating Docket No. RM18-1-000, the proceeding it set up to review DOE’s notice of proposed rulemaking, or NOPR. The notorious document, first filed in late September, united oil and gas industries with wind, solar and clean power advocates in opposition to its plan to provide cost recovery to power plants with at least 90 days supply of fuel on hand — something that only applies to coal and nuclear plants. DOE claimed this was needed to prevent immediate dangers to grid resiliency caused by the rising number of retiring coal and nuclear power plants. But Monday’s order, filed unexpectedly just two days before FERC’s deadline for making a decision, found that DOE hasn’t marshaled the evidence that the existing market rules are “unjust and unreasonable,” a key bar for making the radical changes it suggests…”

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