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Citing low linepack on upstream pipeline Kern River, Southwest Gas issued a Hold Burn to Scheduled Quantities notice Wednesday. Southwest asked shippers to limit actual takes to no more than their scheduled nominations.

Marcellus Shale production is strong and activity is high, but because it’s a “tough environment to construct in,” Williams plans to reduce its capital spending in the play through the rest of this year, an executive said Tuesday.

Southern LNG Co. LLC has asked FERC to vacate part of an order that authorized the second phase of the expansion of the Elba Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Georgia.

Dominion Cove Point LNG LP (DCP) and its firm import shippers asked FERC to approve by Wednesday an interim partial settlement that calls for Shell NA LNG LLC to deliver a tanker of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Cove Point’s import terminal on the Maryland coast next month to keep the cryogenic portion of the facility cooled.

Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities has asked the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to lower the efficiency rider it maintains on retail customer electric and natural gas utility bills in the northern part of the state. Avista is seeking a reduction in the gas efficiency rider that will reduce overall bills an average of 4.2%. This latest action is separate from two pending applications at the Idaho PUC to raise Avista gas and electric retail rates. The rider charges are used to fund about 30 different gas and electric efficiency programs. The utility estimates that last year the efficiency programs saved about 1.9 million therms of natural gas (85% of the utility’s goal) and 68,911 MWh of electricity (105% of its goal). Revenue collected from the riders can be used only for efficiency programs, Avista said.

Six major producers in the Marcellus Shale say they expect to recycle or inject all of their wastewater by the end of the year, according to information released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday.

In a state that currently has only three natural gas transportation fueling outlets, New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) on Thursday asked state regulators to approve its plans to invest up to $15 million in building an infrastructure for compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle fuels in three counties: Monmouth, Ocean and Morris.

A new bill introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly last week would give whistleblower protections to workers in the oil and gas industry. House Bill 1605, sponsored by state Rep. Dan Frankel, a Democrat from Pittsburgh, would extend the 1986 Whistleblower Law to include employees of drilling companies and oilfield services companies. “This bill provides greater protection for our communities without imposing any new regulation on drillers,” Frankel wrote to members of the state House of Representatives in late April, searching for co-sponsors. “It simply protects individuals who report wrongdoing or waste to their employer or governmental authority, or who participate in an investigation, hearing or court action when asked.”

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) last Tuesday asked California regulators for more time to produce full documentation on welds and flaws uncovered during the past 55 years on 1,805 miles of its natural gas transmission pipeline system. A regulatory commission judge is scheduled to hold a prehearing conference on the utility’s request Monday (June 6).