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…
The California Public Utilities Commission launched a probe against Southern California Gas Company to determine the fines and penalties to be imposed for the failures and systemic issues that led to the four-month gas leak from the disastrous blowout at the Aliso Canyon storage facility in October 2015, according to a June 27 news release.…
The Public Service Company of New Mexico, a unit of PNM Resources Inc., asked the Public Regulation Commission to approve its plan to retire 497 megawatts of the San Juan Generating Station coal-fired plant in 2022 after the current coal supply and operating agreements expire, according to a July 1 filing. The company evaluated four…
Duke Energy Indiana LLC issued a proposal for its 2018 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) calling for 2,840 megawatts of new natural gas capacity, 700 megawatts of wind and 1,650 megawatts of solar power, while accelerating the retirement of over 4 gigawatts of coal generation capacity over the next 7 to 19 years, according to a June…