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FERC Thursday opened Section 5 Natural Gas Act (NGA) investigations into the rates charged by pipelines Wyoming Interstate Co. (WIC) and Viking Gas Transmission to determine if they are over-recovering their costs, resulting in unjust and unreasonable rates for their shippers.

FERC on Friday approved Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line’s (Transco) Northeast Supply Link project to provide additional firm transportation service from the Marcellus shale play to meet growing demand for natural gas in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City.

A trial to determine various parties’ liability for BP plc’s Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which destroyed Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon rig and killed 11 men, has been delayed until Feb. 25 from Jan. 14 in New Orleans. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier cited tourist events — the NFL Super Bowl and the Mardi Gras festival — that would keep New Orleans’ hotels booked. However, Barbier declined to delay a Nov. 8 hearing on a settlement BP reached with the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee, which is composed of private parties (see Daily GPI, March 6). The tentative settlement for $7.8 billion would resolve a “substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims,” BP said.

Finger pointing has begun among the federal, state and industry stakeholders in the ongoing effort to determine whether natural gas drilling in and around Pavillion, WY, has impacted ground water supplies.

A policy analyst for a conservative think tank in Ohio blasted Gov. John Kasich’s plans to levy new severance taxes for natural gas, accused the Obama administration of waging a “war on coal” that hurts the state and urged legislators to repeal renewable energy requirements.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of Act 13, the state’s new omnibus Marcellus Shale law, on Oct. 17 in Pittsburgh.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is reportedly close to making a public endorsement of high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) and will unveil a plan to allow the practice on a limited scale initially, but under strict regulation and only in localities that welcome it.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said Monday it has launched its fourth study in about two years to monitor air quality and determine potential impacts of Marcellus Shale activities, this time in the southwestern part of the state.

Infrastructure, water and housing upgrades remain priorities in western North Dakota to keep up with the continuing robust growth in oil and gas development, according to a report released Tuesday by Gov. Jack Dalrymple.