Composition

The composition of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) is changing with the election of one new member in the recent state primary and the prospect for a second new regulator following the general election in November. Current District 1 Commissioner Jason Marks is term-limited out this year. Bernalillo County Assessor Karen Montoya won a Democratic primary and will face Republican candidate Christopher Ocksrider in November for the seat. In the meantime, Valerie Espinoza, a county clerk in Santa Fe, gained sufficient votes for the District 3 seat to allow her to bypass a runoff and head straight to the PRC, replacing Douglas Howe. Howe was appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez on an interim basis to fill a vacancy created when Jerome Block resigned last year after pleading guilty to felony charges involving embezzlement of public funds.

Eight out of nine major national and regional hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) service providers have agreed to submit “timely and complete information” to help the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conduct its study on hydrofracking and its impact on drinking water quality, the EPA said Tuesday. Halliburton, after failing to comply with the agency’s voluntary requests for information, has been subpoenaed.

FERC last Thursday upheld a prior order that approved, over the strong objections of Washington Gas Light (WGL), Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s (Transco) proposal to construct two bidirectional interconnections to receive regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the proposed Elba Express pipeline system.

While the composition of the three-member Idaho Public Utilities Commission (PUC) remains intact, by state legislative mandate, on Monday the regulators had to name a new president, so they elected a former state lawmaker, Jim Kempton, to a two-year term heading the regulatory body. Kempton replaces Mack Redford, who remains on the regulatory panel. Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter appointed Kempton, from Albion, ID, to the PUC in October 2007 to fill an unexpired term of then-Commissioner Paul Kjellander, who was selected by the governor to head up a newly created state Office of Energy Resources. Before joining the PUC, Kempton was one of two Idaho representatives on the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, to which he had been appointed by former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. In this capacity he acted as the state’s cabinet-level representative for natural resources. Kempton served in the Idaho House of Representatives from 1991 to 2000, where his committee assignments included those on the environment, taxation and transportation among others. Kempton holds two degree in physics and is a former faculty member at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He once served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

The American Gas Association (AGA) has warned in a new study that despite recent record gas prices and strong gas-directed drilling, the changing composition of domestic natural gas supply and the politics that continue to impede exploration and development will limit the ability of the gas industry to meet growing gas demand in the future. AGA believes that if the status quo is preserved, U.S. gas production will remain at about 19 Tcf, no higher, for the next five to15 years.