As part of Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s national pipeline safety initiative, the department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has announced that it will begin taking comments from the public on whether it should expand the use of excess flow valves beyond single-family homes and into larger residential and commercial areas. An excess flow valve is a device designed to limit the impact of a potential leak or explosion by restricting the flow of natural gas if a line is broken or damaged. The comment period ends 60 days after publication of the notice in the Federal Register. The notice can be viewed at https://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-30330_PI.pdf.

Washington state regulators have approved a 7-7.5% natural gas rate decrease effective Thursday for Cascade Natural Gas Corp. The MDU Resources Group‘s Washington state-based utility will lower rates for residential customers 7% and for commercial customers 7.5%, following approval last Wednesday from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), which noted that the rate change was tied to continued decreases in wholesale gas prices. In Washington the WUTC requires private-sector gas utilities to adjust their rates every 15 months to reflect changes in the wholesale prices. Cascade retail residential customers will see an average savings of more than $4/month and business customers nearly $21/month, the WUTC said. Kennewick, WA-based Cascade purchases gas supplies from Wyoming, Alberta and British Columbia for about 195,000 customers in Washington.

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