Diligent

A “stripout” notice will go to all of Texas’ natural gas, oil and pipeline operators in March to inform them to be “diligent” in controlling potential air emission releases, particularly volatile organic compounds like benzene, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said late Tuesday.

A “stripout” notice will go to all of Texas’ natural gas, oil and pipeline operators in March to inform them to be “diligent” in controlling potential air emission releases, particularly volatile organic compounds like benzene, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said late Tuesday.

After nearly eight days on the witness stand trying to convince jurors that he did nothing wrong as president, COO and CEO of Enron Corp., Jeffrey Skilling was able to relax — sort of — by midday Thursday. Tired after a grueling cross-examination that lasted three days, Skilling told reporters outside the Houston courtroom that he had said what he wanted to say.

One of California’s most diligent economic analysis/forecasts published by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. (LAEDC), a nonprofit economic development group with increasing statewide reach, indicated in its latest weekly economic outlook for the region and state that energy this summer could be a worrisome component of the state’s sagging economy. It particularly targeted the potential ill-effects of high natural gas prices, which could be felt more severely in the East than the West, the forecast noted. “The current cool weather will not last forever,” wrote economist George Huang in LAEDC’s forecast for the week of June 9-15. “When the mercury goes up, electricity grid operators get nervous.” He credited last year’s relatively cooler summer in California for preventing blackouts, adding “we may not be so lucky this summer.”