The Ohio Public Utilities Commission on Aug. 14 proposed revisions to gas pipeline safety rules as part of its regular five-year review. The proposed rule would adopt the 2019 federal safety standards and include a requirement for pipeline operators to develop a plan for abandoning inactive service lines in the state. The revisions will establish…
The ISO New England Inc.’s short-term program to compensate resources for maintaining inventoried energy during winters 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 became effective by operation of law because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lacked a quorum to act on the proposed reforms before the statutory deadline, according to an Aug. 6 notice. A resource is eligible to…
The California Public Utilities Commission on Aug. 1 revised a 1992 energy efficiency policy to allow funding for electrification efforts, paving the way for new programs that use electric technologies powered by emissions-free resources. The decision modifies the “three-prong test” that was originally adopted to avoid encouraging programs that involved substituting one fuel for another,…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Aug 2 upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company’s Atlantic Sunrise Project, finding that the agency acted lawfully under circuit precedent. The court rejected arguments that the agency improperly conducted its environmental assessment, failed to substantiate the…
The U.S. Energy Department authorized Kinder Morgan Inc. to export liquefied natural gas equivalent to up to 1.53 billion cubic feet per day from the proposed Gulf LNG Liquefaction Project, which will be built at the site of an existing import terminal in Mississippi, according to a July 31 press release. The export permit comes…
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on July 26 vacated a permit granted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Dominion Energy to construct the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline in areas inhabited by threatened or endangered species. The court found that the agency “fast-tracked” its decision and appears to have lost sight of…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 23 announced the formation of the Division of LNG Facility Review & Inspection to manage the growing number and complexity of proposals to develop liquefied natural gas export terminals. The new division, which will be a part of the agency’s Office of Energy Projects, will include 20 existing…
The California Independent System Operator Corporation called for an immediate plan to address near-term reliability needs through 2022, according to a July 23 filing in response to the Public Utilities Commission’s rulemaking to refine long-term procurement planning requirements. The grid operator projects a gap of up to 2 gigawatts beginning in the summer of 2021…
Sport prices for natural gas are projected to average $2.37 per million British thermal units from June to August this year, the lowest summer average since 1998, according to a July 18 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A relatively mild weather at the start of the summer led to lower than expected gas-fired…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 16 authorized Gulf LNG Liquefaction Company LLC and Gulf LNG Energy LLC to construct and operate new facilities for the export of liquefied natural gas at the existing import terminal in Mississippi. The order also authorizes modifications to the existing pipeline to service to the export terminal. The…
Carbon emissions from coal are expected to fall by 169 million metric tons in 2019, the largest decline since 2015, due largely to changes in the electricity mix with natural gas becoming the dominant power generation fuel, according to a July 15 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. U.S. energy-related emissions are projected to…
The New York Department of Public Service on July 1 released a unit-by-unit study of replacing or repowering peaking units, which are fossil‐fuel generators that typically operate during high demand periods. The analysis identified at least 275 megawatts, representing about 6 percent of the state’s peaking fleet, as potential candidates for substitution with 6-hour batteries…
