Dominion has optioned land in Natrium, WV, to construct a natural gas processing and fractionation facility that would support wet natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale. Engineering design and project planning for the plant, which would be on chemical producer PPG Industries‘ 56-acre site, are under way; financial terms were not disclosed. Gas pipeline and storage subsidiary Dominion Transmission launched plans in 2010 to process gas and separate natural gas liquids (NGL) as part of its Marcellus 404 Project (see NGI, April 26, 2010). The proposed facility would phase in service to process up to 300 MMcf/d. Fractionation capacity for up to 38,000 b/d of NGLs would be available.

Questerre Energy Corp. CEO Michael Binnion has launched a blog on the company website to open a “dialogue on shale gas” and issues relevant to the Calgary-based independent. Questerre’s exploration efforts currently are concentrated in the Utica Shale in the St. Lawrence Lowlands of Quebec, which is estimated to hold substantial amounts of untapped gas. Binnion’s blog, which was launched in December, is to be published in English and in French.

With the retirement of its last diesel buses, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) moved to 100% clean-fuel buses last week, the first major city transit system in the nation to do so. All but a handful of the buses run on compressed natural gas (CNG). Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other local and utility officials participated in ceremonies marking the milestone, 18 years after MTA purchased its first CNG-powered buses. MTA’s fleet now consists of 2,221 CNG buses, one electric bus and six gasoline-electric hybrid buses. Because of the switch from diesel to CNG, the fleet avoids emitting nearly 300,00 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions daily. MTA Board Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said the metropolitan system has “proved from both a technical and economic standpoint” that a large transit agency can operate with alternative clean-burning fuels. Knabe said this has led a number of other transit agencies to follow the Los Angeles system’s lead.

Washington state regulators announced that Spokane-based Avista Utilities has agreed to pay a $200,000 fine for actions that resulted in a December 2008 distribution pipeline explosion and fire that destroyed part of a home in Odessa, WA, and injured two people. Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) must approve the staff-recommended settlement before it can be effective. UTC Pipeline Safety Program investigators concluded that the explosion was caused by a leak from a cracked section of plastic natural gas distribution pipeline that they allege was improperly installed. Avista also agreed to make operating and training changes in its gas system.

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