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Energy People: Tony Clark

We talked with FERC Commissioner Tony Clark, who has said he will not seek a second term.

Commissioner Clark is serving his first term at FERC and formerly served as a member of the North Dakota Public Service Commission. He was interviewed by Pat McMurray, who has a long background in the energy business.
Byline: 

Tony Clark, with Pat McMurray

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Is Nuclear Energy Still Viable?

Cheap natural gas is not just hurting coal. It’s doing the same to nuclear.

As the nation strives for cleaner air and less carbon emissions, nuclear – the most promising carbon-free power source – faces stiff competition from natural gas, which is cheap, abundant, and a lot easier to get permitted and built than a conventional reactor.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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The Reselling of Coal

Its future rests with new technologies – not outdated PR.

If advanced coal generation is to reach fruition, then the coal sector will need a federal partner – one that it cannot afford to continue alienating.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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New York's Natural Gas Path

The state is diverging from the national trend.

New York is taking its own path and outlawing the use of high-volume natural gas fracking. Yet, the state will remain a voracious consumer of natural gas that is fracked elsewhere. What gives?
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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2014 Utility Regulators' Forum

Diversifying Utility Regulation: State regulators voice opinions as mixed as the nation’s geography.

Interviews with public utility commissioners from key states – New York, California, Maryland, and Georgia – on coal carbon, climate, and the revolution in retail. What they’re thinking. What they’re planning.
Byline: 

Ken Silverstein

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From Coal to Gas

Regulatory and environmental challenges for power plant conversions under the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.

Converting a power plant from coal to natural gas triggers a host of environmental challenges and regulatory issues. Operators could be trading one set of regulatory obligations, liabilities, and costs for another, equally problematic, set of liabilities and costs.
Byline: 

Stephen E. Luttrell, Paul R. McIntyre, and Stephen C. Jones

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Fueling America's Economic Engine

New energy economy also relies on some old fossil friends.

It has not been public investments in sustainable fuels and modern tools that have led to the re-awakening of the U.S. economy. Rather, it’s been mostly private investment in shale gas development that has led to new capital formation, infrastructure development and jobs galore.
Byline: 

 Ken Silverstein

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Hedging Your Bet on Cheap Gas

Portfolio theory points to energy efficiency as invaluable in resource planning.

Overlooked in planning, and undervalued by today’s low natural gas prices, energy efficiency offers a valuable hedge against fuel price volatility.
Byline: 

Hossein Haeri, Aaron Jenniges and Paul Youchak

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Working at the Edge of the Grid

How to find value in distributed energy resources.

Distributed resources create a new multi-directional power grid, achieving the sort of scale-driven cost levels and ease of installation that portend of future mass deployment.
Byline: 

Rick Fioravanti and Nicholas Abi-Samra

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