Energy

Judge Orders Protesters Not to Interfere with Dakota Access Pipeline

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge is ordering protesters in North Dakota not to interfere with the construction of a $3.8 billion, four-state oil pipeline. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland granted the developer’s motion for a temporary restraining order Tuesday. Dakota Access filed a l..

Court: Ratepayers Can’t be Asked to Finance Gas Pipelines

BOSTON (AP) — The highest court in Massachusetts is blocking electric utilities from passing on to ratepayers the costs of building new natural gas pipelines. The Supreme Judicial Court in its unanimous decision Wednesday said state regulators made a mistake in approving the tariffs and authorizing..

Court Hearing Set for Friday on Effort to Halt Oil Pipeline in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As work progresses on an oil pipeline crossing Iowa, opponents are holding protest rallies and taking the state utilities regulators to court in hopes of stopping construction. A hearing is scheduled for Friday in Des Moines on a motion to stay construction on several parcel..

Oil Pipeline Construction Halted Amid Talks With Protesters

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) —Developers of a $3.8 billion, four-state oil pipeline halted construction Tuesday while law enforcement and tribal leaders in North Dakota met to discuss a resolution to an ongoing protest. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier says he met with tribal leaders to “negotiate peac..

$3.2B Sabal Trail Pipeline Finalized; Construction to Begin

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Construction of a new $3.2-billion natural gas pipeline that will travel through three Southeastern states could begin within a week after the project received its final approvals on Friday despite years of challenge from environmental groups. The Gainesville Sun reports (h..

Dakota Access Pipeline Owners Sue North Dakota Protesters

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Developers of a $3.8 billion, four-state oil pipeline sued in federal court Monday to stop protesters near an American Indian reservation in North Dakota to stop interfering with the project, alleging the safety of workers and law enforcement are at risk. Dakota Access LLC fil..

Report: Several Failures Before Oklahoma City Gas Explosion

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Natural Gas failed to investigate the cause of at least eight previous failures on a gas main in a northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood before a January explosion damaged 50 houses and injured one man, according to a new state report. The report was released by the Okl..

PG&E Found Guilty of Obstructing Investigators

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal jury found California’s largest utility guilty of violating pipeline safety regulations before a deadly natural gas pipeline explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area and then misleading investigators about how it was identifying high-risk pipelines. After deliberating ..

Iowa Landowners Request Immediate Halt to Dakota Access Pipeline Construction

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa landowners are asking a judge to stop construction on the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline until their constitutional challenges are heard. A dozen landowners asked a state court in documents filed Tuesday in Des Moines to immediately hear the motion and keep the T..

NEB Conditionally Approves Vaughan Mainline Expansion Project

The National Energy Board (NEB) approved an application from TransCanada PipeLines Limited to construct and operate approximately 11.7 km of new natural gas pipeline in the City of Vaughan, Ontario, subject to 19 conditions. The Board’s written reasons will be released on or before September 9, 2016..

Eastern Shore Natural Gas Receives FERC Approval to Construct Facilities in Delaware

Chesapeake Utilities Corp. announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved plans by Eastern Shore Natural Gas (ESNG), Chesapeake Utilities’ interstate natural gas transmission subsidiary, to construct pipeline and compression facilities to preserve the reliability and fle..

FERC Approves Williams Partners’ Dalton Expansion Project

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Tulsa, OK-based Williams Partners’ expansion of Transco’s fully contracted Dalton Expansion Project, designed to provide additional natural gas service to utility companies and the city of Cartersville in northwest Georgia. Construction on the..

Judge Reduces PG&E's Possible Fine After California Pipeline Blast

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a big victory for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a judge on Tuesday cut nearly all of a potential $562 million fine against the giant utility in a criminal case alleging it violated safety regulations before a deadly natural gas pipeline explosion in California and then obstruct..

Pipeline Construction Equipment Damage is Suspected Arson

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Machinery located at three oil pipeline construction sites in central Iowa was found extensively damaged by fire Monday in what the company building the pipeline called a shameful act. There’s little doubt the fires were intentionally set along the Dakota Access pipeline, sa..

Environmentalists Take Aim at TransCanada Pipeline Project

BOSTON (AP) — Environmentalists are again taking aim at the company that proposed the Keystone XL pipeline — this time for another of its projects they fear would send hundreds of supertankers laden with crude oil down the Atlantic coast to refineries in Texas and Louisiana. TransCanada is behind t..

Canada to Ban Rail Cars Involved in Fiery Crash

MONTREAL (AP) – Canada’s transport minister says the rail car model involved in a fiery crash that killed 47 people in Quebec three years ago will no longer be allowed to transport oil in Canada as of Nov. 1. Marc Garneau said Monday that older tankers, called DOT-111 cars, and a version jacketed w..

Dakota Access Pipeline Receives Federal Permit Approvals in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A crude oil pipeline that will cut across Iowa has received the final federal permit approvals needed to proceed with construction. Documents posted by the Iowa Utilities Board Tuesday show the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved 60 river crossings in Iowa, a decision pipe..

Developers Seek Extension for Constitution Pipeline

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Constitution Pipeline Company is asking federal regulators for more time to build a 124-mile natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania’s shale fields to eastern New York. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a permit for the pipeline in December 2014 on condition..

FERC Issues Draft EIS for PennEast Pipeline Project

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the PennEast Pipeline Project proposed by PennEast Pipeline Company, LLC. The EIS has been prepared in compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council ..

Maine Regulators Vote to Expand Natural Gas Capacity

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — The Maine Public Utilities Commission has approved a plan, against the recommendation of its staff and objections from environmentalists, to require utility ratepayers to help pay for expanded natural gas — if other New England states follow suit. The three commissioners appoi..

Enbridge to Pay $61M Penalty for 2010 Michigan Oil Spill

Enbridge Energy Partners will pay a $61 million penalty for the costliest inland oil spill in U.S. history — a pipeline rupture in southwestern Michigan that polluted a nearly 40-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River, federal officials said Wednesday. The settlement between U.S. government agencies a..

Companies Will Study Risks, Changes to Underwater Pipeline

MACKINAW CITY, Mich. (AP) — The state of Michigan has tapped two companies to analyze the financial risk of an oil pipeline rupture in the Straits of Mackinac and evaluate any alternatives to two underwater lines in the waterway, officials said Tuesday. Enbridge Energy, based in Calgary, Alberta, h..

N.J. Court Throws Out Trespassing Lawsuit Against PennEast

On July 7, A New Jersey State Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by HALT, an association of New Jersey landowners that hoped to prevent the PennEast Pipeline from being built. The $1 billion underground pipeline will span the 118-miles between Dallas, in northeast Pennsylvania, and a Tr..

Lawsuit: Utility Misled Company into Building $100M Pipeline

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A company that had planned to buy carbon dioxide from Mississippi Power Co.’s Kemper County power plant has sued, alleging the utility misled it into building a $100 million pipeline. Treetop Midstream Services, an affiliate of an oil company that planned to pump carbon dioxid..

Firm: California Spill Went Undetected Due to Pipeline Work

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — The operator of a pipeline that spewed tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into a Southern California ravine said Friday it didn’t detect the leak because the line was undergoing maintenance. Crimson Pipeline said the remotely monitored line was emptied on Wednesday to ..

Cleanup Begins After Oil Pipeline Spill in California

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled Thursday from a pipeline and flowed down a ravine in Southern California but did not reach the ocean, officials said. As much as 29,400 gallons of oil spilled and flowed a quarter- to half-mile from the spill, fire authorities said. ..

Bakken Pipeline Will Run Under Sacred Tribal Site in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials will allow work on a four-state oil pipeline to go forward after the company submitted a plan to avoid disrupting an American Indian burial ground. Department of Natural Resources spokesman Kevin Baskins tells The Des Moines Register (http://dmreg.co/28KnoyM )..

Cincinnati Opposing Proposed Natural Gas Pipeline

BLUE ASH, Ohio (AP) – Cincinnati is opposing proposals to build a 12-mile natural gas pipeline that would replace an existing line that has been in place since the 1950s. Duke Energy met with residents in a Cincinnati suburb Wednesday to answer questions about the company’s pipeline proposals in Ha..

Pipeline Work Begins in Iowa, Protesters Vow Nonviolent Acts

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Work has begun in Iowa on an oil pipeline despite repeated attempts by landowners and environmental groups to stop it, a spokeswoman for the Texas company building the pipeline said Thursday. The Iowa Utilities Board signed a final order Wednesday allowing construction on th..

Senate to Hold Hearing to Examine Oil and Gas Pipeline Infrastructure

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on June 14 to analyze oil and gas pipeline infrastructure and the economic, safety, environmental, permitting, construction, and maintenance considerations associated with it. The hearing will be webcast live on the committee’s w..