EPA move on sulfur dioxide affects NG prices
The agency said that the new standard, adopted under the Clean Air Act, would prevent 2,300 to 5,900 premature deaths and 54,000 asthma attacks a year.
Sulfur dioxide is a major element of exhaust from coal-burning power plants and a component of acid rain. It has been linked to many breathing problems, including asthma, emphysema and bronchitis. The new rule calls for concentrations of no more than 75 parts per billion of sulfur dioxide, measured hourly. The current standard is 140 parts per billion, averaged over 24 hours.
Some power plants have been using more natural gas, instead of coal, to run generators because gas burns cleaner, with lower emissions.
Natural gas futures rose 26.6 cents to close at $4.69 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange recently.
Natural gas producers were among the biggest gainers in an otherwise lackluster trading day.
Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources and Range Resources both saw their shares jump more than 6 percent, as did Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy. Union Drilling of Fort Worth, which is active in shale gas development, saw its shares rise more than 4 percent.
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N.B. Power hits pause on large new electricity customers during crypto review
FREDERICTON - N.B. Power says a freeze on servicing new, large-scale industrial customers in the province remains in place over concerns that the cryptocurrency sector's heavy electricity use could be more than the utility can handle.
The Higgs government quietly endorsed the moratorium in a cabinet order in March 2022 and ordered a review of how the sector might affect the reliable electricity supply.
The cabinet order, filed with the Energy and Utilities Board, said N.B. Power had "policy, technical and operational concerns about [its] capacity to service the anticipated additional load demand" from crypto mines.
It said the utility had received "several…
