Department of Energy December 4, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is publishing this interim final rule to implement provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that require DOE to establish revised energy efficiency performance standards for the construction of all new Federal buildings, including both commercial and multi-family high-rise residential buildings and low-rise residential buildings.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of the document, Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Western Greenbrier Co-Production Demonstration Project, (DOE/EIS-0361), for public comment. The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzes the potential environmental consequences of providing Federal funding for the design, construction, and demonstration of a 98 megawatt (MWe) net power plant and ash byproduct manufacturing facility to be located in the municipality of Rainelle, Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The facility would be constructed and demonstrated through a cooperative agreement between DOE and Western Greenbrier Co-Generation, LLC (WGC) under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI). WGC proposes to design, construct, and demonstrate an atmospheric pressure circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) power plant that would generate electricity and steam by burning approximately 3,000 to 4,000 tons per day of coal refuse from several local sites as the primary fuel. The proposed power plant would be the first commercial application within the United States of a CFB combustor featuring a compact inverted cyclone design. The Department prepared this draft EIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations that implement the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the DOE procedures implementing NEPA (10 CFR part 1021). DOE's proposed action is to provide cost-shared financial assistance to WGC through a cooperative agreement under the CCPI for design, construction, and operation of the Western Greenbrier Co- Production Demonstration Project. WGC proposes to design, construct, and operate a 98 MWe (net) power plant that would generate electricity and steam by burning fuel derived from the beneficiation of approximately 3,000 to 4,000 tons per day of coal refuse. The proposed power plant would be the first commercial application within the United States of an atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed combustor featuring a compact inverted cyclone design. The design would require less steel and facilitate erection in remote areas by reducing the boiler system footprint and height. These innovations could reduce steel costs by approximately 40 percent and shorten construction time by approximately 10 percent.