Awaits

National security concerns have forced El Paso Corp. to withhold information regarding liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries to the recently recommissioned Elba Island, GA, import terminal. After an initial test shipment in October — which was rerouted from Boston following local security concerns there — the Elba Island terminal has not received any more shipments this year and the company cannot disclose when the next shipment will be delivered.

A long-time dream of bringing natural gas to energy-poor North Baja in Mexico’s burgeoning industrial and population centers along the U.S. border faces one last environmental hurdle on the U.S. side that backers are optimistic will be cleared still this month with the release of an environmental impact statement (EIS) from federal regulators. Without that hurdle being cleared, however, an already tight timetable and other environmental concerns related to the timing of the pipeline’s construction schedule might prevent initial supplies from flowing this coming summer.

A long-time dream of bringing natural gas to energy-poor North Baja in Mexico’s burgeoning industrial and population centers along the U.S. border faces one last environmental hurdle on the U.S. side that backers are optimistic will be cleared this month with the release of an environmental impact statement (EIS) from federal regulators. Without that hurdle being cleared, however, an already tight timetable and other environmental concerns related to the timing of the pipeline’s construction schedule might prevent initial supplies from flowing this coming summer.

National security concerns have forced El Paso Corp. to withhold information regarding liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries to the recently recommissioned Elba Island, GA, import terminal. After an initial test shipment in October — which was rerouted from Boston following local security concerns there — the Elba Island terminal has not received any more shipments this year and the company cannot disclose when the next shipment will be delivered.

While other aspects of California’s year-old energy woes have settled into well-defined trench warfare that centers on supply, demand and price issues in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., the state’s two largest investor-owned utilities limp along, pulled by the ebb and flow of politics and the courts with no clear path for restoring their financial independence, although Gov. Gray Davis wants the state to exit its current electricity buying role by the end of next year.

An attempt to score a quick tax-cut coup has been quietly abandoned by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., which beat a retreat from a public airing of its political agenda in a potentially lengthy regulatory case. The company said it would hold off action on the case pending the report of a federal-provincial task force which is considering changes in the overall pipeline regulatory regime.

An attempt to score a quick tax-cut coup has been quietly abandoned by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., which beat a retreat from a public airing of its political agenda in a potentially lengthy regulatory case. The company said it would hold off action on the case pending the report of a federal-provincial task force which is considering changes in the overall pipeline regulatory regime.

Florida Gas Transmission announced that it placed its Phase IV expansion project into service, adding 134 miles of pipeline, 38,000 hp of compression and 200 MMcf/d of new firm transportation capacity to the system. Seven shippers signed 20-year agreements for the capacity.

Florida Gas Transmission announced that it placed its Phase IV expansion project into service, adding 134 miles of pipeline, 38,000 hp of compression and 200 MMcf/d of new firm transportation capacity to the system. Seven shippers signed 20-year agreements for the capacity.