The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency requested Energy Transfer Partners LP pause horizontal drilling on part of its 713-mile, $4.2 billion natural gas pipeline spanning the Midwest, after 200 gallons of drilling slurry spilled into the Mohican River in Ashland County. The suspension comes as the project, which incurred its nineteenth notice of environmental violations in Ohio this year, is slated to be in full service by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Williams subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company LLC was granted permission from FERC to start up parts of its 250,000-dekatherms per day Virginia Southside II natural gas expansion project that spans New Jersey and Virginia, according to a Nov. 27 order.

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management will offer 170 parcels totaling over 170,509 acres in Wyoming’s High Plains District and Wind River / Bighorn Basin District at its March 2018 quarterly oil and gas lease sale, according to a Nov. 30 press release. The sale comes as the administration seeks to open up more federal land to oil and gas drilling.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a one-year extension of the California Independent System Operator’s market rule changes to address natural gas system constraints stemming from limited operations at the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility following a major gas leak in October 2015, according to the commission’s Nov. 28 order. The extension allows the use of more timely and accurate gas commodity prices based on the Intercontinental Exchange and “after-the-fact” cost recovery for expenses tied to price volatility. The commission rejected permanent measures including provisions to release two-day ahead advisory schedules.

The Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council voted unanimously Nov. 28 to recommend that the Washington Governor Jay Inslee deny the proposed Tesoro Savage Vancouver Energy Distribution Terminal, a 360,000-barrel-per day crude oil rail terminal that would serve U.S. West Coast refineries by subsidiaries of Andeavor Corp. (formerly Tesoro Corp.) and Savage Companies. The project’s final environmental report issued on Nov. 21 found unavoidable impacts related to increased rail traffic and potential geological hazards and has drawn fierce opposition from environmentalists and local residents over environmental risks.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved construction of Millennium Pipeline Company LLC’s Eastern System Upgrade project in New York, designed to add 223,000 dekatherms a day of pipeline capacity, according to a Nov. 28 order.

The state of North Carolina asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Nov. 21 to review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a permit for Alcoa Inc. to operate the 211-megawatt Yadkin Hydroelectric Project for nearly 39 years. The state had requested that the issuance of the license renewal be suspended, arguing that FERC’s order should have recommended a federal takeover as Alcoa Power was unfit to act as a public trustee, and that the license issuance was premature as it was granted amid litigation.

Wynn Las Vegas LLC is seeking approval from the Nevada Commission to purchase 20 megawatts of new solar and geothermal power from Enel Green Power SpA subsidiary EGP Nevada Power LLC, according to a Nov. 22 filing with the agency.

Ameren Corp’s subsidiary Ameren Missouri filed plans Nov. 28 with the Missouri Public Service Commission for its Renewable Choice Program, which will allow large companies and municipalities to purchase wind power for up to 100 percent of their energy needs. The program, slated to start Jan. 25, comes as Ameren looks to add at least 700 megawatts of wind generation by 2020 and 100 megawatts of solar generation in the next 10 years.

EDP Renewables announced the completion of its sale of a stake in the Hog Creek Wind farm in Hardin County to BNY Partnership Funding LLC through a tax equity deal. The project, which will sell its output to Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative under a 20-year purchase agreement, is slated to start in December.

Boyce Hydro Power LLC’s Edenville Hydroelectric Project, located in Gladwin and Midland counties, failed to increase the spillway capacity and performed unauthorized repairs and is subject to further investigations by the agency’s Office of Enforcement, according to an order published Nov. 20.

U.S. House lawmaker Tim Walberg, a Republican representing Michigan, introduced the PURPA Modernization Act of 2017 (H.R.4476) on Nov. 29, with the legislation aimed at lowering requirements under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 for utilities to purchase power from renewable generators.

Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp and Berkshire Hathaway Inc., won approval from the Utah Public Service Commission to temporarily push back deadlines for processing net metering interconnection applications received in the first half of November. The utility received a larger influx of applications after the commission’s recent approval of a new net metering cap. The commission agreed that system reliability could be put at risk if applications are deemed approved without review due to the company’s inability to conduct necessary assessments under the rule-mandated timeframes.

Futures trading volume in the nine-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative market climbed to 46.7 million, more than double the previous quarter and 75 percent higher than the same period last year, according to a Nov. 27 market report. This came amid an announcement in August that the market would impose an additional 30 percent cut to the region’s emissions limit by 2030 relative to 2020 levels. Average futures prices for carbon allowances jumped to $4.12, nearly 49 percent from the previous quarter.

Judges with the California Public Utilities Commission approved on Nov. 22 a $42-million program proposed by San Diego Gas & Electric Co., Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co. to provide dealership incentives to spur electric vehicle sales, residential rebates to offset the cost of installing EV chargers, and infrastructure upgrades to expand the use of electric buses, among other initiatives. The proposed decision, which may be voted on by the commission on Jan. 11, 2018, at the earliest, is a part of a broader effort by the state to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

The Kansas Corporation Commission opened an investigation Nov. 28 to examine its jurisdiction over municipal energy agencies including Kansas Power Pool. The order comes after the Kansas Power Pool argued that the commission lacks authority to weigh in its dispute with Southern Pioneer Electric Company, a subsidiary of Pioneer Electric Cooperative Inc., over transmission planning.

Delaware Governor John Carney and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Nov. 28 urging an expedited review of PJM Interconnection LLC’s $278 million Artificial Island transmission project that they say has ratepayers on Delmarva Peninsula funding more than 90 percent of the project, according to a Nov.28 press release. Under an alternate plan, Delmarva ratepayers would fund as much as 10 percent of the project costs.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 29 signed into law a bill (A 6571) directing the New York Public Service Commission to establish storage procurement targets through 2030, and programs to help the state reach that goal, by the end of the year.

The California Energy Commission and other state regulators found that the region “faces new challenges and greater uncertainty than a year ago” in meeting customer demand during the winter with the outage of three natural gas pipelines run by Southern California Gas Company and the reduced operation of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, which had one of the nation’s worst gas leaks in 2015, according to an annual assessment released Nov. 28. Proposed mitigation measures include an emergency moratorium on new gas service connections, more frequent shifts to facilities outside the Southern California Gas Company’s system to preserve storage inventories and expanded deployment of smart thermostats and demand response.

The New York Independent System Operator Inc., the manager of the state’s electric grid, announced Nov. 30 that it has sufficient power generating capacity to meet peak winter demand, with 44,557 megawatts of supplies available. The grid operator anticipates a peak demand of 24,365 megawatts this winter compared to last winter’s peak of 24,164 megawatts.

PJM Interconnection LLC, manager of the nation’s largest power grid spanning from the mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, announced that it’s prepared to meet higher electricity demand from what’s forecast to be the coldest winter in three years. PJM said it has 184,926 megawatts of power generating capacity available, which is more than enough to meet the all-time winter peak demand of 143,295 megawatts set on February 2015.

The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing to revise the U.S. Appliance and Equipment Energy Conservation Standards program by allowing manufacturers to use averaging, credit trading, or feebates to meet the rules, according to a Nov. 28 notice. The rule changes are intended to reduce compliance costs, expand consumer choice and boost energy savings, and come after the Obama administration’s historic roll out of new efficiency rules.

House lawmakers, led by Peter McCoy, a Republican, introduced legislation (H. 4378) that would order the creation of a Utility Oversight Committee tasked with evaluating the state commission’s performance, vetting candidates tapped for the South Carolina Public Service Authority Board of Directors and conduct annual reviews of agency staff.

The Michigan Public Service Commission cleared Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLP’s subsidiary Project Mist Holdco to purchase Detroit Thermal LLC, a steam generator which serves about 85 commercial and industrial customers in downtown Detroit. The acquisition comes as Basalt looks to buy Detroit Thermal’s parent Detroit Renewable Energy LLC, and comes on top of its ownership of Upper Peninsula Power Co.