Enacted

In response to the newly enacted energy bill, Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to put on hold portions of proposed regulations that would have allowed it to implement fees to recover costs associated with oil, natural gas and geothermal leasing, including the processing of oil and gas applications for permits to drill (APDs) and geothermal permits to drill (GPDs).

The newly enacted energy bill has built-in safeguards to prevent states from using their delegated authority under federal laws as a “procedural weapon” to frustrate the development of interstate natural gas pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, said the head of a major pipeline group Wednesday.

The biggest disappointment of the newly-enacted energy bill is its failure to overturn the moratorium on oil and natural gas drilling in much of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), an American Gas Association (AGA) official said Friday.

About seven lines of text added by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) to the recently enacted Transportation Equity Act erects a major road block in front of the proposed Weaver’s Cove LNG import terminal in Fall River, MA. The new law makes it illegal for the Brightman Street Bridge, connecting Fall River and Somerset, MA, to be demolished to allow LNG cargo traffic up the Taunton River to the terminal.

While the newly enacted energy bill preserves FERC’s exclusive authority to site liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals, Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher contends it also safeguards the rights of states to “effectively veto” LNG projects under federal laws designed to protect the environment and coastlines from energy activities and other construction.

The Alberta government has enacted an amendment to its natural gas royalty regulations in an effort to compensate gas producers who were forced to shut in production from the Wabiskaw-McMurray formation in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area of northeastern Alberta because of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB) bitumen conservation decisions.

The Alberta government has enacted an amendment to its natural gas royalty regulation in an effort to compensate gas producers who were forced to shut in production from the Wabiskaw-McMurray formation in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area of northeastern Alberta because of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB) bitumen conservation decisions.

President Bush signed into law last Tuesday a long-awaited bill that enacts tougher inspection and other safety standards for interstate natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.

President Bush signed into law Tuesday a long-awaited bill that enacts tougher inspection and other safety standards for interstate natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines.