The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is due to receive comments on proposed regulations that apply to wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants, particularly coal-fired power plants. Among other things, the proposed rule would eliminate the separate, less stringent best available technology requirements for two subcategories: high flow facilities and low utilization electric generating units. The proposal would create separate requirements for a new subcategory of facilities that have already complied with either the 2015 or 2020 rule’s requirements where such facilities would retire by 2032 and additional requirements for affected facilities to demonstrate permanent cessation of coal combustion or that permanent retirement will occur. READ MORE

The Bureau of Land Management will hold a meeting to provide details about its proposed Public Lands Rule, which was announced in March, to provide tools for the agency to protect public lands in the face of increasing drought, wildfire and climate impacts, promote habitat conservation and restoration, and plan for thoughtful development. The proposal aims to better use science and data in decision-making, building on the historic investments in public lands and waters, restoration and resilience, and clean energy deployment provided by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Additional meetings will be held on June 1 and 5, and comments on the proposed rule are due by June 20.

The U.S. Energy Department is due to receive applications for the second award cycle of the $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit program, established under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to preserve the existing nuclear power fleet. The second round of funding is available to reactors that are at risk of closure by the end of the four-year award period, including plants that stopped operations after Nov. 15, 2021. The first award cycle limited eligibility to power reactors that had announced intentions to close within the four-year award period. READ MORE

The U.S. Energy Department is expected to receive replies to reviewer comments on applications for the planning, construction, and operation of commercial-scale clean hydrogen hubs, or H2Hubs. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized $8 billion from 2022 through 2026 to establish a program that supports the development of regional clean hydrogen hubs. The law calls for the development of a roadmap and strategy to facilitate wide scale hydrogen use, as well as a clean hydrogen production standard. Hydrogen can be produced from clean energy sources including wind, solar, and nuclear energy. READ MORE

The U.S. Energy Department is due to receive proposals for multidisciplinary expert teams to address hard-to-solve technical challenges of decarbonizing the existing U.S. residential housing stock as part of the agency’s Building America program. Teams will engage with communities to conduct research and demonstration projects in real-world homes, with the aim of accelerating local deployment of highly energy efficient home upgrades. The initiative, with funding from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has been operational for more than 25 years, leveraging cutting-edge building science research to develop the solutions and best practices needed to advance energy efficiency. The program is currently focused on scalable retrofit solutions needed to meet the U.S. goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is due to receive self-nominations from small businesses, small governments, or small not-for-profit organizations to take part as small entity representatives on an advocacy review panel to develop a rule to address methane emissions from petroleum and natural gas systems. The panel will examine a rule that proposes to impose and collect a charge for methane emissions from facilities that report to the greenhouse gas reporting program under the petroleum and natural gas systems category and that exceed emission thresholds specified in the Clean Air Act.