Agricultural

It’s no more than an early indicator now, but soon California’s oil/gas-rich and agricultural-based central valley may become a harbinger for America’s transition to the post-carbon age. A host of small alternative energy businesses are springing up in the oil and farm heartland of the state, along with a proposed cutting-edge carbon capture and storage (CCS) project that recently won a $308 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant from the stimulus package.

It’s no more than an early indicator now, but soon California’s oil/gas-rich and agricultural-based central valley may become a harbinger for America’s transition to the post-carbon age. A host of small alternative energy businesses are springing up in the oil and farm heartland of the state, along with a proposed cutting-edge carbon capture and storage (CCS) project that recently won a $308 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant from the stimulus package.

Electronic energy and agricultural trading platform IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) was off-line last Thursday — as was its website — for approximately three hours following an “emergency power outage,” according to the Atlanta-based commodity exchange.

Electronic energy and agricultural trading platform IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) was off-line Thursday — as was its website — for approximately three hours following an “emergency power outage,” according to the Atlanta-based commodity exchange.

A proposed program by the Minerals Management Services (MMS) for five-year leasing (2007-2012) on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is “much too conservative,” said seven energy-related associations in joint comments filed with the agency.

Starting at the extreme southern end of its service territory in the agricultural and energy hub of Bakersfield, CA, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Thursday kicked off the start of its five-year, $1.7 billion change-out of 10.3 million electric and natural gas meters to an interactive, smart metering system — the largest U.S. utility meter replacement ever.

Starting at the extreme southern end of its service territory in the agricultural and energy hub of Bakersfield, CA, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Thursday kicked off the start of its five-year, $1.7 billion change-out of 10.3 million electric and natural gas meters to an interactive, smart metering system — the largest U.S. utility meter replacement ever.

FERC on Thursday gave El Paso Natural Gas the green light to acquire a 37-mile lateral from the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District for an estimated $32 million.

With the House Agricultural Committee set to address reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) before the August recess, a group of industrial energy consumers has called on the panel to include in the process a proposal reinstating the strong market oversight authority that the CFTC had prior to the enactment of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA).