Bans

AES Corp. has appealed a federal judge’s recent decision upholding Baltimore County’s zoning ordinance that bans the construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in certain Chesapeake Bay coastal areas.

AES Corp. has appealed a federal judge’s recent decision upholding Baltimore County’s zoning ordinance that bans the construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in certain Chesapeake Bay coastal areas.

President Bush last Tuesday lifted the presidential bans on drilling in the Bristol Bay area in the North Aleutian Basin of Alaska and in an area known as “181 South” in the Central Gulf of Mexico, removing the last remaining obstacles to offering producers leases in these areas under the Interior Department’s five-year oil and natural gas leasing program for 2007-2012. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne also announced a hike in the royalty rate for most new federal deepwater oil and gas leases to 16.7% from 12.5%.

Congress in two years should begin to phase out the moratoriums that have prevented producers from drilling in promising natural gas-prone areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the National Petroleum Council (NPC) recommended in its much-anticipated study released Thursday.

The Arizona Senate last week unanimously voted to ban development of salt dome gas storage facilities within nine miles of a military airport, which places a significant roadblock in front of El Paso Corp.’s proposed 10 Bcf Copper Eagle Gas Storage project.

The Arizona Senate earlier this week unanimously voted to ban development of salt dome gas storage facilities within nine miles of a military airport, which places a significant roadblock in front of El Paso Corp.’s proposed 10 Bcf Copper Eagle Gas Storage project.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday issued a final rule that expressly prohibits companies holding natural gas blanket marketing certificates or electric market-based rate authority from engaging in actions that “are intended or foreseeably could manipulate” energy prices and markets.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday issued a final rule that expressly prohibits companies holding natural gas blanket marketing certificates or electric market-based rate authority from engaging in actions that “are intended or foreseeably could manipulate” energy prices and markets.

The U.S. Coast Guard earlier this week extended its ban on tanker shipments to include a Distrigas liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker into Boston Harbor, saying that the ship will be denied entry until it has provided an “approved safety and security plan and all response agencies are confident that appropriate safety and security measures are in place.”