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Incisive commentary from RAP experts
RAP experts keep their finger on the pulse of the energy sector and provide timely analysis of topics impacting stakeholders TODAY.
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December 2, 2015
Put the Horse Before the Cart: Align Clean Power Plan Compliance with State Energy Goals
- Ken Colburn ,
- Christopher James
Most states are still sorting through the details of EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) final rule. Given its significant, though generally positive, departure from the proposed rule, and EPA’s initial plan submittal deadline of September 6, 2016,… View Summary +
November 10, 2015
Bring Your Economy into the 21st Century: Tackling CO2 with Cap-and-Invest
As they consider how to comply with EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), many states are reaching a growing consensus that mass-based programs with regional trading—“cap-and-trade”—could drive compliance costs down. A related mass-based approach—one with… View Summary +
November 6, 2015
Smart Rate Design
Rate design is the regulatory term used to describe the pricing structure reflected in customer bills and used by electric utilities in the United States. Rate design is not only the itemized prices set forth in tariffs; it is also… View Summary +
October 1, 2015
Skate Where the Puck Is Going to Be
- John Shenot
Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky once said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” Strangely enough, when I think about what lies ahead for electric… View Summary +
August 3, 2015
Hit the Ground Running on EPA’s Clean Power Plan: 12 Steps for Effective, Least-Cost Compliance
- John Shenot ,
- Ken Colburn
EPA is expected to finalize its Clean Power Plan (also known as its “111(d) rule”) today. Once published in the Federal Register, states may have only one year (or in some cases, two years) to develop initial… View Summary +
June 25, 2015
Reliability Standard: I Do Not Think it Means What you Think it Means
Much like the character Inigo Montoya who, in the movie The Princess Bride questions Vizzini’s relentless repetition of the word “inconceivable,” I find myself wondering whether many of those who insist over and over again that the EPA’s… View Summary +
June 1, 2015
The Clean Power Plan: Just Say, “No Regrets”
- John Shenot ,
- David Farnsworth
Much of the controversy associated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Clean Power Plan has to do with disputes about whether the agency has the authority to set greenhouse gas emissions limits for power plants based only on… View Summary +
May 29, 2015
A Reliability History Lesson
- Christopher James
A new discipline—environmental history—recently came to my attention while helping my Chinese colleagues develop plans to manage air quality. They wanted to know what Los Angeles did in the 1950s and 1960s to clean up its air and what London… View Summary +
May 22, 2015
Complying with the Clean Power Plan While Delivering Affordable, Reliable Power
- Ken Colburn ,
- John Shenot
Yesterday, the National Association of Clean Air Agencies (NACAA) released an important new resource: Implementing EPA’s Clean Power Plan: A Menu of Options (disclosure: RAP provided technical assistance and helped write the Menu). We believe the… View Summary +
April 9, 2015
Tracking Renewable Energy for Compliance with the Clean Power Plan
Since the rule’s proposal in June 2014, Clean Power Plan compliance discussions have been weighing the potential benefits of regional versus single-state approaches, and balancing possible lower program costs and administrative burdens against state concerns over compromising sovereignty. More recently,… View Summary +