Pipelines

Trump Administration: Court Can't Suspend Pipeline Decision

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration says a federal court has no authority to second-guess a presidential permit for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. Justice Department attorneys are due in U.S. District Court in Montana on Wednesday to argue for the dismissal of two la..

Nearly $200 Million Awarded for Water Projects in Florida

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection recently awarded nearly $200 million in low-interest loans and grants from its Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) programs for 45 statewide clean water and drinking water projects. Both funding p..

North Carolina Town Dealing with Repeated Sewer Spills

LELAND, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina town is struggling to deal with repeated sewage spills in the last two years. The StarNews of Wilmington reported the latest spill in Leland occurred Sept. 12 when more than 33,000 gallons (124,915 liters) of untreated wastewater bubbled up through a manhole. T..

1 Worker Dead, Another Rescued After Trench Collapse

WYOMING, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a trench collapse in western Michigan has left one worker dead and one rescued. Wyoming Fire Chief Chuck Lark said firefighters were called about 2 p.m. Monday to a residence where the collapse occurred. He tells The Grand Rapids Press that when they arrived, o..

Jury Convicts Activist Who Targeted North Dakota Pipeline

CAVALIER, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota jury has convicted an environmental activist who targeted an oil pipeline a year ago. The Pembina (PEM’-buh-nuh) County jury found Michael Foster of Seattle guilty Friday of conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, criminal mischief and trespass. Foster was acqui..

NC Gives Qualified No to 3-State Natural Gas Pipeline

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina has said “no” to an interstate pipeline to carry natural gas, marking the first decision of any state or federal agency on the project. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality issued a letter of disapproval last m..

Dakota Access Pipeline Review to Last Until Spring

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers says it likely will take until April to finish court-ordered additional environmental study of the Dakota Access pipeline. The agency had anticipated completing the task this year. But attorneys say in court documents filed Friday that it will take ..

Federal Judge Reinstates Obama-Era Rule on Methane Emissions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rebuffing the Trump administration, a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Interior Department to reinstate an Obama-era regulation aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands. The order by a judge in San Francisco came as the Inte..

Pipeline Gets Federal ok to Carry Natural Gas Liquids

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A 70-year-old natural gas pipeline that passes through several Kentucky counties has received federal authorization for a proposed conversion despite some concerns from opponents. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in a recently released decision that converting the..

Sewer Leak into Popular Adirondack Lake Halted by Repairs

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Public works crews have repaired a leak in an old pipe that was sending sewage into the lake in the middle of a popular Adirondack tourist destination. The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports (http://bit.ly/2fTLex1 ) that officials in the village of Lake Placid recently wer..

TransCanada Says It’s Cancelling Energy East Pipeline

TORONTO (AP) — Pipeline company TransCanada said Thursday it’s cancelling a plan to pipe 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Western Canada to the Atlantic coast. TransCanada Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said in a statement that “after careful review of changed circumstances, we w..

Sewer, Water Projects Receive Funding in Virginia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Virginia’s U.S. senators say that more than $2.5 million will be granted to 10 projects for improving infrastructure and economic development in the state’s southwest region. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced the federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission in ..

Report: North America's Pumps and Valves Services Market to Increase Through 2021

Technavio has released a new report, Pumps and Valves Services Market in North America 2017-2021, which shows the pumps and valves services market in North America is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 5% during the forecast period. Key findings include: The growth of the end-user industries a..

Utilities Oppose Expanded Use of 6-GHz Spectrum Band

Expanded use of mid-band spectrum by new wireless broadband services could interfere with critical utility networks used for the reliable operation of the nation’s electricity grid, the Utilities Technology Council told the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday. The FCC is inquiring whether it ..

Ohio Town Awarded $700,000 to Address Wastewater Issues

The Ohio EPA has awarded Lore City with a nearly $700,000 zero interest loan to eliminate unsanitary wastewater conditions from failing on-site systems and bring the city into compliance with regulatory requirements and water quality standards. With the funding, Lore City plans to construct a septi..

Regulators Grant SoCalGas' NatGas Pipeline Infrastructure Program Extension

SoCalGas has received permission from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to extend the Mobilehome Park (MHP) Utility Upgrade Pilot Program through December 31, 2019. In addition to the 10 percent of mobile home park spaces approved for conversion under the initial pilot program that b..

New York City Begins Construction on $19 Million Water Project

The New York City Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Design and Construction (DDC) today announced that work is underway on a $19 million project to upgrade the drinking water supply connection to Randall’s Island and Wards Island. As part of the project, a new sub-aqueous main will ..

Gas Line Explosion Destroys Equipment in California Desert

BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — Southern California authorities say nobody was hurt when a natural gas line caught fire and exploded, destroying heavy construction equipment in the western Mojave Desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The San Bernardino Sun reports (http://bit.ly/2yjriLr ) the blas..

Virginia Water Board to Take up Pipeline Permits in December

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality plans to make its recommendations in December about water quality permits needed for two natural gas pipeline projects to proceed. The department has been evaluating the permits required under the Clean Water Act for the ..

Boise State University Sinkhole Causes Flooding, Traps Fire Truck

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Boise State University officials say a water main break caused massive flooding to stream through a main artery on the campus and trapped a fire engine inside a sinkhole. According to the university, a water main broke Monday evening near the Student Union Building. A fire engin..

Harvey Knocked out Dozens of Texas Water, Sewer Systems

DALLAS (AP) — State and federal environmental agencies report Harvey knocked out five drinking-water systems and seven sewage systems in the 58 Texas counties covered by Gov. Greg Abbott’s disaster declaration. In a joint statement issued Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tex..

American States Water Company Wins 50-Year Contract to Provide Water, Wastewater Services at Fort Riley

American States Water Company’s contracted services subsidiary, American States Utility Services, Inc., has been awarded a 50-year contract by the U.S. government to operate, maintain, and provide construction management services for the water distribution, wastewater collection, and treatment facil..

Drone Companies Team up to Service North Dakota Oil Patch

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — A Norway-based manufacturer and a Scandinavian technology company have been teaming up with a North Dakota drone operation to service the region’s utility and oil and gas customers. Robot Aviation, a manufacturing company based in Poland, and eSmart, a software company founded in..

Nebraska City Uses Sonar Tool to Assess Sewer Lines

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — A city in eastern Nebraska is using a musical instrument of sorts as a sewer line rapid assessment tool to help figure out how much money the city will need to repair and maintain its sewers. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the SL-Rat transmitter is the first tool used to ..

Canada’s Watchdog: Kinder Morgan Complied With Stop Order

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has said that Kinder Morgan had complied with an order from last week to stop work that it was not yet authorized to perform along the planned route of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The Trans Mountain Expansion Project envisages the twinning of the exis..

Brine Spill Heightens Tribe Concern About Pipeline Material

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota American Indian tribe no longer wants fiberglass-based pipelines on its reservation after recent spills. Last month, a pipeline spilled more than 33,000 gallons of brine in a pasture on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The spill occurred on a segment of pip..

Tribal Head who Led Dakota Access Pipeline Fight Voted Out

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Native American official who has been the face and voice of the fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline has been voted out of office. Unofficial results from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s general election Wednesday showed that Dave Archambault received only 37 perce..

Administrative Action Requested on Cadiz Water Infrastructure Project

Blueprint 2025 today announced it has joined the North American Building Trades Unions in a written request to the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Transportation seeking action in support of the Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery & Storage Project (Cadiz Water Project)..

Consumers Energy to Take Closer Look at Copper Gas Lines

JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Consumers Energy has agreed to inspect certain natural gas lines every three years instead of five. The utility is responding to a request from state regulators. The state says leak rates in copper gas lines have climbed in comparison to steel lines that are coated and wrapped..

Disputed East Coast Pipeline Likely to Expand

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The developers of a disputed natural gas pipeline on the U.S. East Coast are considering a major expansion of the project into South Carolina, according to remarks made by an energy company executive and interviews with others in the industry. Opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pi..