Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy. Check out this week’s highlights below:
There are not enough government inspectors to ensure that increased oil and natural gas drilling operations on federal and state lands across the West are operating correctly, according to an analysis of inspection and enforcement records by a conservation group... — via Western Organization of Resource Councils
A new report published today by WWF assesses the four market-based measures currently being considered [to curb greenhouse gases emitted by international aviation]: offsetting, offsetting with a revenue generating mechanism, a cap-and-trade scheme and a fuel levy with offsetting. — via World Wildlife Fund
Impact of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program: 4 Papers
The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability has released four reports on the impact of the Recovery Act-funded Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) Program. Under the SGIG Program, investor-owned and municipal utilities, transmission operators, and electric co-ops across the U.S. are deploying a range of smart technologies and systems designed to increase the electric grid’s flexibility, reliability, efficiency, affordability, and resilience. — via US DOE, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
Managing Spent Nuclear Fuel Strategy Alternatives and Policy Implications
Increasing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has renewed interest in nuclear power generation. At the same time, the longstanding logjam over how to manage spent nuclear fuel continues to hamper the expansion of nuclear power. If nuclear power is to be a sustainable option for the United States, methods for managing spent fuel that meet stringent safety and environmental standards must be implemented. — via Rand Corporation
The tudy, Expedited Federal Authorization of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines: Are Agencies Complying with EPACT?, found that for interstate gas pipeline projects, the percentage of federal authorizations that were issued more than 90 days beyond FERC’s issuing an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment rose from 7.69% before EPACT became law to 28.05% after its implementation. — via Interstate Natural Gas Association of America
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