Energy

Major Gas Pipeline to be Fully Operational This Month

OPELIKA, Ala. (AP) — A 515-mile underground natural gas pipeline in Alabama, Georgia and Florida is expected to be fully operational by the end of the month. The Sabal Trail pipeline will be partially in use next week, The Opelika-Auburn News (http://bit.ly/2s5snlI ) reported. The pipeline was con..

California to Require Utilities to Plug Gas Leaks Big and Small

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California regulators adopted a stricter rule Thursday that requires utilities to plug leaks in natural gas lines. The rule adopted by California Public Utilities Commission aims to cut 40 percent of the potent greenhouse gases emitted from leaking pipes and gas distribution syst..

Agencies Delay Methane Rules Opposed by Oil, Gas Industry

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is delaying two Obama-era regulations aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production. The Environmental Protection Agency said it is seeking a two-year delay for oil and gas companies to follow a new rule requiring them to monit..

Technology Helps Utility Reduce Methane Emissions from Pipeline

Southern California Gas Co. recently used innovative gas capture technology to empty natural gas from a permanently abandoned pipeline in Santa Clarita, Calif.  The special process enables gas to be saved for later use while eliminating noise and emissions that occur in the traditional venting metho..

PG&E Senior VP and Chief Nuclear Officer to Retire

Edward D. Halpin, Senior Vice President, Generation and Chief Nuclear Officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and a 35-year veteran of the energy industry, has announced his retirement, effective December 31, 2017. “Ed has done an outstanding job leading our nuclear and power generation operat..

Gas Pipeline Project Expected to Cause Traffic Delays in New Mexico

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – A utility company will be realigning a six-mile stretch of natural gas pipeline along New Mexico State Road 68, causing traffic delays in the height of the Rio Grande tourist season. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported (http://bit.ly/2s5GBmo ) Wednesday New Mexico Gas Co. plans ..

Eversource Starts Pipeline Construction Project in Connecticut

Eversource Energy has started construction on a multi-phase project that will improve the reliability of the company’s natural gas distribution lines in Connecticut The company will invest $14 million in 2017 on the first phase of a 17-mile-long project that, once completed, will connect existing g..

Rice Electronics Launches Connected Worker Solution

Rice Electronics has launched the Connected Worker Solution with Intel® IoT technology. Designed to improve the safety and productivity of field workers in industrial environments, the end-to-end IoT solution using Rice Electronics smart devices along with Intel-based IoT gateways provides robust co..

West Virginia's Senators Urge Appalachian Natural Gas Hub

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s U.S. senators have introduced legislation intended to help establish a major natural gas storage and distribution hub in the Appalachian region. Their legislation would designate it a “critical energy infrastructure” project, which they say would make ..

FERC: Company Can't Resume HDD Activities for Gas Pipeline

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal agency has told a company building a high-pressure natural gas pipeline it cannot resume drilling beneath creeks in southeast Ohio and northern West Virginia. The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2qu1x2r ) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thu..

Carbon Emissions Rule in Washington State Under Fire

SEATTLE (AP) — Even as the Trump administration seeks to roll back Obama-era rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants, Washington state is forging ahead with its own rules to cap carbon pollution from big industrial facilities. But the state faces legal challenges as ..

Company to Shut Down Well Linked to Fatal Colorado Gas Explosion

FIRESTONE, Colo. (AP) — The company that owns a gas well linked to a fatal home explosion in Colorado says it will permanently shut down that well and two others in the neighborhood. Anadarko Petroleum announced the shut-down Wednesday in Firestone, where an April 17 explosion killed two people. In..

Texas Oil and Gas Regulator Can Operate for 12 More Years

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed House Bill 1818, which reauthorizes the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator, to operate for another 12 years. A committee of lawmakers, known as the Sunset Commission, is in charge of reviewing the agency. In 2016, the Railroad Commissio..

Few Pipeline Inspection Results After Fatal Colorado Gas Blast

DENVER (AP) — Colorado regulators say few energy companies have reported the results of state-ordered inspections of oil and gas pipelines after a natural gas explosion killed two people. Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director Matt Lepore warned Tuesday the state could order operator..

CEA Poll: Voters Support Pipeline Construction

A majority of voters in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina support the expansion of domestic energy production and infrastructure, including the approval and construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a new poll from Consumer Energy Alliance reveals. Sixty percent of the voters surveyed i..

Consumers Energy to Invest $440 Million to Upgrade Natural Gas System

Focusing on safety and reliability, Consumers Energy will spend nearly $440 million in 2017 to modernize its natural gas system. “At Consumers Energy, the safe, reliable delivery of natural gas is a top priority,” said Charles Crews, vice president of gas operations for Consumers Energy. “We ar..

Report: Growing NatGas Supply Leads to More Pipeline Construction

ScottMadden, Inc. has released its spring Energy Industry Update,  “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” focusing on trends in the natural gas industry, such as infrastructure development and price risk management. According to the report, natural gas prices remain low across..

West Virginia Senators Urge Appalachian Natural Gas Hub

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s U.S. senators are urging federal officials to consider building a major natural gas storage and distribution hub in the Appalachian region. In a letter Thursday to National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, the senators say the White House should examine ..

UC Riverside and SoCalGas Announce Opening of Renewable Natural Gas Research Center

Southern California Gas Co. today announced the opening of a new Center for Renewable Natural Gas at the University of California, Riverside. The center is the first academic establishment in America dedicated to the study and applied research of renewable gas technologies.  It was funded in part by..

PECO Named Philadelphia's Best Midsize Employer

For the second year in a row, PECO has been named Philadelphia’s best midsize employer in a new ranking from Forbes magazine’s “America’s Best Employers 2017” list. The ranking represents PECO’s ongoing efforts to provide a rewarding workplace for more than 2,500 employees from the Greater Philadelp..

Energy Company Unhooks Gas Lines after Fatal Colorado Explosion

DENVER (AP) — The company that owns a gas well linked to a fatal home explosion in Colorado said Tuesday it will permanently disconnect other pipelines in the area like the one blamed in the explosion. Anadarko Petroleum, which owns the well, did not say how many pipelines would be disconnected. Bu..

Seattle Firefighter Sues After Injuries from Pipeline Explosion

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle firefighter is suing Puget Sound Energy and one of its contractors, saying he has lingering injuries after being knocked out by a natural-gas explosion that leveled two buildings last year. The Seattle Times reports (https://goo.gl/IAvBLJ ) that 50-year-old Jeff Markoff fil..

NTSB Joins Investigation into Fatal Gas Pipeline Explosion

FIRESTONE, Colo. (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board has joined the investigation into a fatal Colorado house explosion blamed on unrefined natural gas flowing from a severed pipeline. The Longmont Times-Call reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/2r2W8Rz) the agency got involved because pip..

Dominion Officially Changes its Name

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Richmond, Virginia-based energy giant Dominion Resources Inc. has changed its name to Dominion Energy Inc. The company said in a news release that shareholders voted Wednesday to approve the new name. The proposed change was announced in February. Chairman, president and CEO T..

Senate Upholds Methane Emissions Rule

WASHINGTON (AP) — Environmentalists notched a rare win in the Republican-led Senate on Wednesday as a GOP effort to reverse an Obama-era rule restricting harmful methane emissions unexpectedly failed. The 51-49 vote against the repeal measure was a blow to the fossil-fuel industry and groups linked..

Colorado Needs More People Monitoring Pipeline Safety

DENVER (AP) — State records show Colorado has only three people assigned to check on the safety of pipelines running from about 54,000 active oil and gas wells, a task that came under scrutiny after a leaking pipeline was blamed for a fatal house explosion. The Denver Post reported Sunday (http://d..

Colorado Pipeline Explosion Brings Calls for Safety but no Quick Fix

DENVER (AP) — Colorado regulators have ordered a snap review of oil and gas pipelines after a fatal house explosion near a well, but they haven’t said how they plan to fix a fundamental flaw in the system: They don’t know where all those pipelines are. Matt Lepore, the state’s top oil and gas..

API: Oil and Gas Infrastructure Could Create 1 Million Jobs

API has released a new study that shows private investment in U.S. natural gas and oil infrastructure could create more than 1 million U.S. jobs. API contracted with ICF to analyze the scope of the economic opportunity and the amount of oil and natural gas infrastructure development likely in the U..

Colorado Bill Would Help Utilities Produce and Store More Gas

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado Senate committee on Wednesday passed a bill to save a state energy agency from extinction — but with caveats that would drastically reduce the agency’s renewable energy portfolio and make it easier for some utilities to produce and stockpile natural gas. The latter provisio..

Leaky Gas Pipeline Blamed in Fatal Colorado Blast

FIRESTONE, Colo. (AP) — A red-orange fireball that killed two people and destroyed a Colorado home prompted the governor to order sweeping inspections of natural gas lines and is certain to worsen tensions in state already divided over how to regulate the industry. Fire investigators said Tuesday t..