Cpuc

A bill in the California legislature (AB 2773) that would open up the wider use of renewable natural gas (RNG) in alternative fuel vehicles moved out of its first committee in the lower house Assembly earlier this month.

A bill in the California legislature (AB 2773) that would open up the wider use of renewable natural gas (RNG) in alternative fuel vehicles moved out of its first committee in the lower house Assembly earlier this month.

California’s largest underground natural gas storage field could eventually be closed permanently and when it might reopen is uncertain, at best, meaning state officials and the state’s energy utilities could be wrestling with the aftermath of a four-month leak stopped in mid-February for some time, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) President Michael Picker said Thursday.

California’s largest underground natural gas storage field could eventually be closed permanently and when it might reopen is uncertain, at best, meaning state officials and the state’s energy utilities could be wrestling with the aftermath of a four-month leak stopped in mid-February for some time, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) President Michael Picker said Thursday.

As a requirement of a state law enacted two years ago (AB 1371), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) staff has published a set of best practices (BP) for natural gas utilities for finding and fixing leaks.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Tuesday fined Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) $200,000 for allegedly failing to properly train contractors who are conducting pipeline inspection programs.

Some 229 leaks were found in California’s 12 underground natural gas storage fields in a recent survey, but all but a handful were minor and nearly all of them were repaired by the time the survey results were released recently. Non-utility run Lodi Storage in Northern California was the only one found to be leak free.

Under siege from critical state lawmakers who are seeking a constitutional amendment aimed at its complete makeover, the five-member governor-appointed California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday voted unanimously to sponsor six regulatory reform bills in the state legislature this year.

While leadership has shifted to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in overseeing an independent investigation of the root causes in the four-month-old natural gas storage well leak in Southern California, the future of the 86 Bcf, 3,600-acre underground storage field is shrouded in doubt and dissention.