The U.S. Energy Department on July 6 issued a final long-term order authorizing the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas export project and the associated Pacific Connector pipeline in Oregon. The order authorizes the facility to export up to 1.08 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as LNG to nations with which the U.S…....
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation anticipates sufficient resources to meet this summer’s projected peak electricity demand in most areas of the U.S. despite the uncertainty caused by efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a July 7 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The corporation, which oversees regional electric…...
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 6 ordered Energy Transfer Partners LP to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline and empty it of oil until the completion of an environmental review, which is expected to take 13 months. The court found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the…...
The Texas Public Utilities Commission rejected a plan by Southwestern Electric Power Co., a subsidiary of American Electric Power Company Inc., to add 309 megawatts of wind energy to serve Texas customers, according to a July 2 news release. Despite the denial, the company said it can move ahead with its planned acquisition of 1,485…...
The Virginia State Corporation Commission on July 2 approved Dominion Energy Inc.’s renewable energy rate, providing its customers the option to purchase 100 percent renewable-sourced electricity. As designed, the rate would charge a $3.98 premium per month besides the standard rate for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity on average, adding annual…...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on June 30 ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cannot indefinitely delay requests for rehearing of cases under the Natural Gas Act by issuing tolling orders, which extend the 30-day time period for the agency to act on the petitions. The 10-1 ruling concluded that…...
The Michigan Public Service Commission on June 30 rejected Enbridge’s request for a declaratory ruling that it has authority to replace a pipeline segment under the Straits of Mackinac under a 1953 order approving the Line 5 pipeline. The commission found that the Line 5 project differs significantly from the pipeline approved in 1953. Different…...
The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management on June 26 released the final environmental review for a new integrated activity plan for the 23-million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. The preferred alternative would open as much as 18.7 million acres, or about 82 percent of the reserve, to oil and gas development, undoing Obama-era protections…...
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources on June 25 announced the expansion of the Massachusetts Offers Rebates for Electric Vehicles, or MOR-EV, initiative to include commercial and nonprofit fleets. Since 2014, the state has dedicated more than $31 million to incentivize the purchase of over 15,000 electric vehicles. Last December, the department extended the MOR-EV…...
The U.S. Energy Department on June 26 announced a plan to invest $122 million in building coal products innovation centers through a competitive process in multiple coal producing basins. The move aims to sustain the domestic supply chain of carbon ore, rare earths and critical minerals, and produce value-added and innovative coal products to the…...
The California Air Resources Board on June 25 adopted a rule requiring a transition from diesel trucks and vans to electric trucks from 2024. The first-in-the nation standard requires all trucks sold in California to be zero emission by 2045. The rule will advance the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will convene a technical conference in September to consider state adoption of mechanisms to price carbon emissions in regions with commission-jurisdictional wholesale power markets, according to a June 24 notice. State-level activity on emission-trading programs and carbon pricing has been on the rise as more jurisdictions embrace policy goals to…...
