Comments

The Agriculture Department’s Forest Service is seeking comments on how the Mt. Hood National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan should be amended to accommodate the Palomar Gas Transmission LLC pipeline proposed for the Pacific Northwest.

Idaho regulators said Tuesday they will accept comments from stakeholders and the general public through Sept. 25 on Intermountain Gas Co.’s request for a $54.3 million purchased gas adjustment (PGA) rate increase. It is part of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) annual adjustment in rates, effective Oct. 1, to reflect current gas commodity costs for the utility.

Idaho regulators will seek comments from stakeholders and the general public over the first three weeks of September on Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities’ Aug. 18 request for an $11.6 million, or 14.2%, natural gas rate increase for its 72,000 Idaho customers to recover high wholesale costs of gas. It asked for the rate hike to be effective Oct. 1.

Just how prescient were the recent comments of Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon and T. Boone Pickens about increasing the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel? General Motors Corp. (GM) now is calling natural gas an “enticing alternative” to petroleum, and Honda Motor Co. has begun touting “Phill,” a home refueling appliance available to owners of natural gas vehicles (NGV).

Just how prescient were the recent comments of Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon and T. Boone Pickens about increasing the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel? General Motors Corp. (GM) now is calling natural gas an “enticing alternative” to petroleum, and Honda Motor Co. has begun touting “Phill,” a home refueling appliance available to owners of natural gas vehicles (NGV).

Responding to shippers’ interest and comments, Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. (Transco) is combining its Rockies Connector and Northeast Connector projects into the Northeast Supply Project, which would provide year-round firm transportation service from Clarington, OH — the terminus of the proposed eastern portion of the Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX-East) — to various delivery points in Transco’s Zone 6, it said last week.

Responding to shippers’ interest and comments, Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. (Transco) is combining its Rockies Connector and Northeast Connector projects into the Northeast Supply Project, which would provide year-round firm transportation service from Clarington, OH — the terminus of the proposed eastern portion of the Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX-East) — to various delivery points in Transco’s Zone 6, it said Tuesday.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is seeking public comments through March 14 on Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities’ 20-year natural gas plan for the 70,000 customers it serves in northern Idaho.

In comments that were welcomed by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, IntercontinentalExchange Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher Monday signaled his support for legislative action that would eliminate excessive speculation in natural gas trading markets and establish limits on the positions that traders could hold on the electronic exchange.