The General Assembly is still hanging around, while the U.S. Supreme Court issues another ruling on EPA authority, plus other news, this week in CIB:

Legislative Watch: Key Issues Still Hanging

With no resolution to their impasse over the budget, the N.C. House and Senate last Thursday went home for the weekend, presumably to mull over the big gaps between their plans (especially on hot button issues like Medicaid and education spending). They will be back in session this evening (Monday, June 30), by which point we may or may not hear resolution on the budget and other key issues left hanging.

At latest report, the bets were not running in favor of swift action.

Among those hanging bills are the re-named “Coal Ash Management Plan of 2014” (SB 729), formerly titled the governor’s plan, and on which the Senate took ownership last week with a 45-0 unanimous vote of approval. Conservation advocates continue to push for strengthening amendments to the bill, including a mandate and prompt timetable for actually cleaning up the existing coal ash pits (as opposed to “capping in place” that would continue to allow groundwater pollution and danger to nearby surface waters.

Also remaining in limbo are the latest battling versions of “regulatory reform” (SB 734 and SB 38), on which the Senate took no action last week in response to the major House changes from the week before.

Judicial Watch: Supreme Court Mostly Backs EPA Authority

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week got what it needed to protect most of its ordered reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from stationary pollution sources. In a split ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said that EPA has the authority to impose greenhouse gas controls on sources like power plants which it already permits to control other pollutants like nitrogen oxides.

The Court chipped a bit off the EPA’s rule by saying that the agency couldn’t require a permit just on the basis of greenhouse emissions if a source wasn’t regulated anyway on other grounds. The opinion was written by the Court’s senior conservative jurist, Antonin Scalia, and joined by the four other rightward-oriented members. However, the narrow grounds of the limit imposed seemed to make it clear to many observers that a broader restriction on the EPA’s authority would have failed to command a majority of votes on the Court.

EPA spokesperson Liz Purchia said, “The Supreme Court’s decision is a win for our efforts to reduce carbon pollution because it allows EPA, states and other permitting authorities to continue to require carbon pollution limits in permits for the largest pollution sources.” More here.

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) staff person David Doniger agreed: “The Court has upheld the requirement that big new industrial facilities must use the best available control technology to curb all air pollutants, including the carbon pollution that drives climate change.” More here.

Administrative Watch: Utility Price Point Will Affect Solar Installations

The N.C. Utilities Commission will open hearings next week (July 7) on Duke Energy’s request to lower the price it pays private generators for solar-powered electricity. Duke claims that its current purchase rates, which have helped to fuel an ongoing boom in the development of solar farms in North Carolina, are too high and should be reduced.

Renewable energy advocates answer that the rates are instead where they need to be to continue promoting the growth of clean solar electricity in our state. They argue instead that Duke’s move is part of an effort to kill the solar expansion that is poised to cut into utility company profits dependent on their traditional centralized generation model. More here.

There will be more to come on this issue as the Utilities Commission proceedings get underway.

Education & Resources: Attacks on Renewable Energy Policies

The Energy & Policy Institute, a research and analysis group supportive of renewable energy development, has recently released a report on the current activities of the various interests defending continued reliance on fossil fuels: “Attacks on Renewable Energy Policy by Fossil Fuel Interests 2013-2014.” The report can be reviewed or downloaded here.

One of the report’s highlighted states is North Carolina, for which it references the attempt underway by Duke Energy to undermine the existing net-metering policy and prices that are encouraging the installations of more rooftop solar capacity. More here.

As the report points out, net metering policies and pricing that encourage the development of more solar have become a particular target of the notoriously anti-environmental American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Reviewing the Energy & Policy Institute’s report on this topic is one good way of increasing one’s information level on the status of and players involved in this key issue debate.

That’s our report for this week.