Forty-four coal ash storage sites near 26 communities have been targeted for inspection after federal officials identified the ponds as potential threats to nearby residents. The storage ponds, which are used to store waste from coal-fired power plants, are in 10 states, according to a list released Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The storage sites are similar to the one that flooded a neighborhood in Tennessee last year. North Carolina has the most sites ...

PARIS (Reuters) - French group Areva <CEPFi.PA> will sign on Thursday an agreement to start exclusive talks with U.S. power group Duke Energy <DUK.N> to build a new generation nuclear reactor in Ohio, said a source close to the situation. "The companies will enter into exclusive talks for the development of an EPR reactor on the Piketon site," in Ohio, the source told Reuters, confirming a newspaper report by La Tribune. The source, who asked not to be named, said that the chief executive ...

Utility company Duke Energy said Tuesday it will ask North Carolina regulators to increase customer rates by an average of 12.6 percent beginning Jan. 1 as it seeks to recover costs for pollution control equipment and new power lines and plants. If approved by regulators, the increase would boost rates for the average residential customer by $11 a month to $93, according to the company. Rates for industrial customers would go up 15 percent and rates ...

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Top executives from companies likely to win from climate change policies demanded on Tuesday that governments turn away from fossil fuels when they sign a new climate pact, expected in December. Seven months before the world meets to try and thrash out a new global treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, executives and investors called for tough targets to slash carbon emissions at a green business conference in Copenhagen. Denmark's Prime Minister welcomed a statement drawn up by top executives from pro-green business, including wider industry comments ...