Efforts

California utilities continue to announce efforts to site central station and distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) installations as an alternative to natural gas-fired power, which is the dominant source of electricity in the state.

Republican lawmakers in Alaska have introduced a bill intended to light a fire under efforts by TransCanada Corp. to construct a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to serve Lower 48 markets. While the legislation’s backers are growing impatient, pipeline faithfuls claim that the measure could derail the project and signal that Alaska is closed for business.

Eight senators have called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to reject efforts by Wall Street and the financial industry to water down proposed rules to rein in excessive speculation in the derivative swaps, futures and options markets.

Residents of Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, PA, whose drinking water supplies were contaminated by natural gas, are to receive a share of $4.1 million that Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. agreed to pay under a settlement negotiated with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

In its latest public response to outside efforts to kill its proposed acquisition by private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, Houston-based Dynegy Inc. said Monday the growing prospects for depressed natural gas prices and the accelerated advent of shale gas makes it crucial for Blackstone’s $4.50/share offer to be approved Wednesday by shareholders.

In its efforts to make energy operations in the state more transparent, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Monday launched an online service that details natural gas and oil production and compliance information.

Natural gas is on a road leading to increased markets in electric generation and transportation that are driven by climate change mitigation efforts to reduce our societal carbon footprint, according to Thomas Powers, marketing executive for El Paso Corp.’s western pipelines unit.

Natural gas is at a crossroads leading to increased markets in electric generation and transportation that are driven by climate change mitigation efforts to reduce our societal carbon footprint, according to the marketing executive for El Paso Corp.’s western pipelines unit, Thomas Powers, who delivered a luncheon address at the “LDC Forum: Rockies and the West” Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Louisiana’s efforts to guide natural gas drillers to alternative water sources and to track the sources of water used in drilling operations are helping to protect groundwater resources in the state’s northwestern Haynesville Shale area, according to a report from the Louisiana Ground Water Resources Program (LGWRP).