More data
NewsletterAlerts
Alerts

Environment news, from the source.

More data

Latest environment news

Energy

Spain rejects permits for 80 MWp Aliaga Solar II solar plant in Málaga

Spain's Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines on Sept. 25, 2026, rejected VE Sonnedix SPV Gamma, SLU's application for prior authorization, construction authorization and a declaration of public utility for the 80 MWp Aliaga Solar II solar plant and its grid connection. The plant was planned for the municipality of Almogía in the province of Málaga, according to the resolution. The company filed its application on Nov. 30, 2020. The resolution also orders the case file closed. The resolution says the Directorate General for Environmental Quality and Assessment ended the plant's environmental impact assessment on Jan. 24, 2023. That office said it lacked sufficient information to issue an environmental impact statement and closed the file. According to the resolution, a favorable environmental impact statement is an unavoidable requirement for granting prior authorization to the project. The resolution also says that on June 15, 2023, the ministry received a letter from Red Eléctrica de España, which owns the Los Montes 220 kV substation. In the letter, Red Eléctrica de España declared that the project's grid access and connection permits had expired. The company argued that the Jan. 24, 2023 termination of the environmental assessment was not in accordance with the law, according to the resolution. The company pointed to an administrative appeal it filed on March 1, 2023. The Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines said in the resolution that it took into account additional arguments the company filed on Feb. 15, 2024. The resolution does not end the administrative process. The company may file an appeal with the Secretary of State for Energy within one month from the day after the resolution is published in the Official State Gazette. If no appeal is filed in that period, the resolution becomes final.

  1. Energy ·

    FERC accepts SPP tariff creating Montana, Rocky Mountain transmission cost subregions

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Nov. 6 accepted Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) tariff revisions that establish two new subregions in its Western Interconnection footprint, effective Nov. 9, 2026, and bring that region into its Consolidated Planning Process. The new Montana Subregion and Rocky Mountain Subregion in the SPP West Region will be used to allocate a portion of the costs of future Base Plan Upgrades between 100 kV and 300 kV, known as Byway facilities, according to the order in Docket No. ER26-3740-000. FERC found that SPP's technical analyses show the zones grouped in each subregion are significantly integrated and that their transmission customers use and benefit from Byway facilities. The order says the Rocky Mountain Subregion includes zones for Colorado Springs Utilities, Platte River Power Authority, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the Colorado River Storage Project and the Loveland Area Projects transmission pricing zone in the Western Interconnection. Under the revisions, subregional charges for the Montana and North subregions will be calculated jointly. SPP said the SPP Regional State Committee determined the two subregions should pay a combined rate due to concerns that the Montana Subregion's relatively small load could result in disproportionate rate impacts. The order also accepts separate GRID-C rates, a per-megawatt charge reflecting interconnection customers' share of network upgrade costs, for the East and West regions in the first planning cycle. The initial interconnection cluster window for both regions will close 60 days after SPP posts the first GRID-C rates for the East Region. SPP said West Region interconnection customers will have to provide a financial security deposit of $8,000/MW of requested interconnection service before that window closes. SPP filed the proposal on Sept. 9, 2026. FERC accepted SPP's subregion cost allocation for its eastern footprint on Dec. 30, 2025, and accepted the Consolidated Planning Process on March 13, 2026.

  2. Energy ·

    FERC approves $10 million Rover Pipeline penalty over Ohio drilling mud

    The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Nov. 6 approved a settlement in which Rover Pipeline, LLC and Energy Transfer, LP agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty to resolve allegations over pipeline drilling under Ohio's Tuscarawas River. FERC's enforcement staff determined that Rover violated the Natural Gas Act, FERC regulations and the project's certificate order, according to the order in Docket No. IN17-4-000. The staff said the alleged violations included actions by contractors working on Rover's behalf. The staff said those violations were intentionally including diesel fuel and other toxic substances and unapproved additives in drilling mud, failing to adequately monitor the right-of-way at the site, and improperly disposing of drilling mud contaminated with diesel fuel and hydraulic oil. Rover stipulates to the facts in the agreement but neither admits nor denies the violations. Members of the drilling crew of subcontractor Pretec Directional Drilling, LLC testified that they added diesel fuel and other unapproved additives to the drilling mud to speed up drilling progress, according to the agreement. The agreement says that on April 13, 2017, an inspector found a release in a flooded portion of a wetland near the river. Testing found petroleum hydrocarbons consistent with diesel fuel in the drilling mud. Under the agreement, Rover must pay the penalty to the U.S. Treasury within 20 days of the agreement's effective date. The agreement also says Rover waives rehearing and judicial review of FERC's approval. The order terminates the docket. FERC issued an Order to Show Cause on Dec. 16, 2021. Rover answered on March 21, 2022.

  3. Climate ·

    US EPA finalizes removal of non-vinyl chloride wastewater pollutant limit for new major PVC plants

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule removing a process wastewater limit on organic hazardous air pollutants other than vinyl chloride for new major polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and copolymer production sources, along with its testing, monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Under the rule, the EPA's existing vinyl chloride wastewater limit for new major sources, 0.28 parts per million by weight, acts as a surrogate for those other pollutants. The agency said steam stripping, the control technology, "indiscriminately" controls all organic hazardous air pollutants, though not all of them equally as well as vinyl chloride. The EPA said the action will have no immediate cost or emissions impacts because it does not affect existing sources, and the agency is unaware of any new sources currently subject to the rule. It identified one potential new major source that has not yet begun construction. If a new major source facility starts operating, the EPA estimates the rule will save it about $2,900 in capital and startup costs and $30,000 in annual costs, in 2025 dollars. The rule does not finalize other parts of a November 2020 proposal, including removing the 110 ppmw limit for existing major sources and revising the vinyl chloride limits. The EPA said it intends to address those issues in a separate action. Commenters both supported and opposed the 2020 proposal. One commenter argued that using vinyl chloride as a surrogate was unlawful. The EPA disagreed, according to the rule. The rule, in Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0037 and RIN 2060-AR73, takes effect on its date of publication in the Federal Register, which the document lists as Nov. 9, 2026. The EPA set the current standards in April 2012. Olin Corporation contacted the agency in January 2026 to express concern about the limit.

Energy

Climate

Water

Land & Wildlife

Older stories →