Clearing

A Pennsylvania judge has denied a request from a wealthy Pittsburgh suburb, apparently clearing the way for a controversial referendum that would ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to be placed on the Nov. 8 ballot, according to Peters Township Marcellus Shale Awareness (PTMSA), an environmental group that drafted the proposed referendum.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell on Thursday certified Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) the winner of the Nov. 2 election, clearing the way for her to be seated with the 112th Congress, which convenes Wednesday. But Republican Joe Miller hasn’t exactly given up the fight. He said he planned to hold a news conference on New Year’s day to discuss his next legal steps. Miller, an attorney who was backed by former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, is challenging the votes that were counted in Murkowski’s favor despite the misspelling of her name. Write-in candidate Murkowski declared victory in late November with a more than 10,000-vote lead over Miller, of which more than 8,000 ballots were challenged by the Miller camp (see NGI, Nov. 22, 2010).

A federal judge has revised a decision prohibiting producers from conducting seismic studies offshore Alaska in the Chukchi Sea, clearing the way for U.S. affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil ASA to move forward on long-planned tests.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) blamed a February power plant explosion that killed six workers on the practice of clearing natural gas lines called “blow down.” The federal agency said last Wednesday that the use of gas to clear lines is common at gas-fired power plants.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) blamed a February power plant explosion that killed six workers on the practice of clearing natural gas lines called “blow down.” The federal agency said Wednesday that the use of gas to clear lines is common at gas-fired power plants.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who plans to retire from the Senate at the end of the year, Tuesday gave climate change legislation low odds of clearing the chamber in 2010 and said instead he believes the focus will be on the broad energy bill.

Clearing a three-and-a-half-year hurdle that has been blocking the company from expanding its natural gas storage capacity below the surface of Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish, LA, AGL Resources subsidiary Jefferson Island Storage & Hub LLC (JISH) said last week that the Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board has approved by a 8-0 vote an operating agreement between JISH and the state of Louisiana.

Clearing a three-and-a-half-year hurdle that has been blocking the company from expanding its natural gas storage capacity below the surface of Lake Peigneur in Iberia Parish, LA, AGL Resources subsidiary Jefferson Island Storage & Hub LLC (JISH) said Wednesday the Louisiana Mineral and Energy Board approved by a 8-0 vote an operating agreement between JISH and the state of Louisiana.

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday rejected a filing by PG&E Corp., clearing the way for the California attorney general’s lawsuit to proceed in a state Superior Court in San Francisco regarding allegations the holding company for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. illegally confiscated $5 billion from the utility prior to utility’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2001. The High Court refused to consider the PG&E arguments that the state attorney general could only press the case through the U.S. bankruptcy court process.