Critics

Responding to a mass of concerns by opponents and critics, FERC last Thursday attached 109 safety conditions and mitigation measures to its order approving the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and associated sendout pipeline to serve rising natural gas demand in the Pacific Northwest. However, FERC Commissioners said a number of hurdles still would have to be overcome, raising doubts about whether the facilities will ever be built.

Responding to a mass of concerns by opponents and critics, FERC Thursday attached 109 safety conditions and mitigation measures to its order approving the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and associated sendout pipeline to serve rising natural gas demand in the Pacific Northwest. However, even FERC Commissioners raised doubts about whether the facilities will ever be built.

Maryland Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, both outspoken critics of AES Corp.’s Sparrows Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proposed for Baltimore County, MD, last Tuesday said they supported legislation to repeal a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that gives FERC exclusive authority over the siting of onshore LNG terminals.

Maryland Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, both outspoken critics of AES Corp.’s Sparrows Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proposed for Baltimore County, MD, said Tuesday they support legislation to repeal a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that gives FERC exclusive authority over the siting of onshore LNG terminals.

Calling state critics misinformed, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, late last week replied in a letter to a group of state attorneys general led by California’s Edmund G. Brown Jr., contending that they misunderstand the language and intent of draft legislation regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A federal appeals court in Boston, MA, last Tuesday denied a mandamus petition filed by critics of the controversial Weaver’s Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that sought to compel the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish minimum safety standards governing the siting of new LNG terminals, as required by the Pipeline Safety Act of 1979.

A federal appeals court in Boston, MA, Tuesday denied a mandamus petition filed by critics of the controversial Weaver’s Cove liquefied natural gas (LNG) project that sought to compel the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish minimum safety standards governing the siting of new LNG terminals, as required by the Pipeline Safety Act of 1979.

Responding to critics of energy market volatility, James Newsome, president of the New York Mercantile Exchange, told a Senate committee attempts to decrease energy prices or volatility by installing narrow price limits on trading would be unsuccessful, and in fact, could work in the opposite direction.

Lee R. Raymond, who served as a lightning rod for environmental critics while steadily guiding ExxonMobil Corp. to become the world’s richest public company, on Thursday said he will retire at the end of this year.