Committee

The House Financial Services Committee has voted out a bill (HR 1838) that would repeal a provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act requiring major banks to conduct their trading of derivatives through affiliates.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) unanimously agreed Thursday to create a statewide registry for all nonpublic utility and hazardous liquids pipelines, to assess operators for the costs, and for its inspectors to begin enforcing federal pipeline safety laws on most classifications of pipeline.

The Pennsylvania Senate unanimously approved legislation Tuesday to give state regulators oversight over gathering lines in the state.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), former chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2012 after serving 32 years in Congress. Frank, 71, and former Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) co-wrote and shepherded the sweeping Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act through Congress last year. President Obama signed the legislation into law in July 2010 (see NGI, July 26, 2010). Earlier this year, he opposed Republicans’ efforts to water down the financial reform law by cutting the budgets of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two agencies tasked with enforcing the stricter law. Frank was instrumental in getting Hess LNG to withdraw its proposal to build the controversial Weaver’s Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Fall River, MA. The company withdrew its application in June in response to the opposition from a number of congressional, state and local officials (see NGI, June 20).

With across-the-board federal budget cuts looming in the wake of the congressional super committee’s meltdown, the current spate of natural gas pipeline safety initiatives is unlikely to be harmed, according to a Washington, DC-based spokesperson for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).

With across-the-board federal budget cuts looming in the wake of the congressional super committee’s meltdown, the current spate of natural gas pipeline safety initiatives is unlikely to be harmed, according to a Washington, DC-based spokesperson for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA).

A bill recently introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly would require the state’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) to develop standards for the construction of oil and gas well pads in the Marcellus and Utica shales, according to Rep. Fred Keller, a Republican from central Pennsylvania.

A California bill (SB 489) to increase access to various clean energy sources, including biogas was passed out of the lower house Assembly’s Appropriations Committee earlier in August on a 12-4 vote with a “do-pass” recommendation. The measure’s author, Sen. Lois Wolk said the bill is designed to remove current barriers in the way of small-scale renewable energy development, and specifically gives farmers and food processors in the agricultural sector the ability to cut their businesses’ energy bills through more combined heat-power systems. SB 489 would enable all eligible renewable energy technologies — including biomass and biogas — to use the state’s net energy metering program that allows customers to offset some of their power usage with on-site generation. This is aimed at greatly expanding the benefits net energy metering to a wider group of energy producer/users.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has given Australia’s BHP Billiton Ltd. and shale patch pioneer Petrohawk Energy Corp. the final necessary regulatory green light for their proposed $12.1 billion merger, concluding that the deal poses no national security issues of concern, the companies said.