Compromised

Louisiana officials last Friday called for the capture or venting of natural gas in the area of the compromised Napoleonville Salt Dome in South Louisiana. The salt dome is in the area of a mysterious sinkhole that developed earlier this summer, threatening some natural gas pipelines in the area.

Southern Natural Gas disputes claims by an affiliate of a Houston-based natural gas marketer that the pipeline acted improperly by deviating from the usual approach for aggregating bids in awarding capacity during an open season that closed in August. Southern, an El Paso Corp. pipeline, was accused of violating its tariff and FERC policy.

Intimating that Southern California’s highly compromised air quality could be made worse by large liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in the future, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court Tuesday against the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which established new gas quality standards for the state’s major gas utilities last fall.

Intimating that Southern California’s highly compromised air quality could be made worse by large liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports in the future, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court Tuesday against the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which established new gas quality standards for the state’s major gas utilities last fall.

Finding that reliability standards are not being met during certain conditions and that the long-term reliability of the regional power grid in the Washington, D.C., area is compromised, FERC last Monday evening said that it has directed PJM Interconnection and Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to preserve reliability in the region.

FERC last week denied a request by major offshore pipelines to bar public disclosure of information that they are required to submit to the Commission under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).