Argued

Opponents of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed northern portion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada running through parts of Nebraska argued last Thursday in state district court in Lancaster County that Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman lacked the authority to approve a proposed route for the project. In January, he approved a new alternative route (see Shale Daily, Jan. 23). Opponents of the project want Heineman’s decision voided by a district court judge because they allege a state pipeline siting act passed last year by Nebraska’s legislature is unconstitutional. The legislation gave the governor the ultimate decision on the route. At the end of last year Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy rejected the state’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.

City council members in Lafayette, CO, agreed Tuesday to consider a temporary ban on oil and natural gas drilling while they revise regulations that have not been updated since 1994.

Attorneys for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and an EQT Corp. subsidiary plan to appeal a Doddridge County judge’s ruling allowing a surface owner to have a gas well permit issued by the DEP revoked.

FERC last Thursday upheld a prior order that approved, over the strong objections of Washington Gas Light (WGL), Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s (Transco) proposal to construct two bidirectional interconnections to receive regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the proposed Elba Express pipeline system.

In a case in which no one argued against a rate hike — only how large the rate hike should be — the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) earlier this month approved a $49.3 million annual revenue increase for Las Vegas, NV-based Southwest Gas Corp. The utility had requested $66.9 million, and the ACC staff recommended about $15 million less.

As the implementation deadline for the expanded standards of conduct drew near last Wednesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission responded to a host of requests for waivers and exemptions from all or some of the requirements under the standards of conduct governing the relationships between regulated natural gas/electric transmission providers and their affiliates. And more requests are pending.

El Paso Natural Gas customers scored a key victory when FERC rejected a tariff proposal that would have allowed the pipeline to credit shippers with only partial reservation charges in the event a scheduled maintenance kept it from delivering natural gas.

Several western energy suppliers — Reliant Energy Services Inc., El Paso Merchant Energy LP and Portland General Electric — last week urged FERC to limit the scope of the agency’s planned public release of confidential information relating to the ongoing California market manipulation cases at the agency. But California groups welcomed the Commission’s action, saying it was time for the “rocks to be lifted” and the “mud-slinging” to end.

Contrary to a recent preliminary determination (PD) by FERC, Red Lake Gas Storage LP has argued the California and southwestern gas marketplace has changed dramatically since the energy crisis of 2000-2001, and its proposed 12 Bcf Arizona storage project should be allowed to charge market-based rates.