Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
On June 18, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6–3 decision in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, 605 U.S. ___ (2025), authored by Justice Kavanaugh with Justices Gorsuch, Thomas, and Alito dissenting. The case concerned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) approval of a 40-year license for Interim Storage Partners (ISP) to store spent nuclear … Continued
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced June 25 that she is directing New York Power Authority to add at least one gigawatt of new nuclear power generation by building a zero-emission nuclear power plant somewhere in upstate New York. This announcement, four years after the 2021 closure of the Indian Point nuclear plant due to … Continued
Artificial Intelligence is Big Tech’s newest toy. However, AI also requires massive amounts of energy to operate, which puts the industry’s climate commitments at risk. The sprawling data centers that Microsoft and other digital giants need are beginning to strain the nation’s existing power supplies. Meta Platforms recently reported last year’s emissions were roughly 70-percent … Continued
In late March, a group of fifteen bipartisan senators reintroduced the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA) bill to the Senate. This legislation was originally introduced in September of 2018, but was not voted on before the Congressional session ended at the end of the year. It is being lauded as an important means for battling … Continued
Pennsylvania legislators have proposed a new law that would preserve the existence of nuclear power by funding operations via large-scale government subsidies. Lawmakers recently proposed “Keep Powering Pennsylvania” House Bill (HB) 11, which, if passed, would re-classify nuclear power as a qualifying energy resource under Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS) and effectively subsidize the entire industry within the state. As part of Pennsylvania’s larger … Continued
The State of Illinois recently passed the Future Energy Jobs Act and created a “zero emission credit” program to subsidize nuclear power generation and corresponding sales of nuclear power in the energy market. The statute grants zero emission credits to certain qualifying energy-generating facilities, specifically, several nuclear power plants owned by Exelon in Illinois. Utilities … Continued
On Tuesday, July 25, 2017, U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed a challenge to New York’s plan to subsidize the state’s nuclear power plants. According to the Judge’s decision, the plan does not intrude upon federal jurisdiction over wholesale electricity markets and passes constitutional muster because it is rationally related to a legitimate state … Continued