Environmental

With federal environmental review of the Atlantic Sunrise Project finished, Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. (Transco) is asking FERC to make hay while the sun shines and approve the project by Feb. 16 so other development commitments can be met.

While the head of the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Wednesday hailed the advent of the Trump administration as an opportunity to fulfill America’s full oil/natural gas potential globally, a major environmental organization declared war on the incoming administration’s stated intent to rollback current regulations.

Connecticut’s state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit by the heating oil sector that had attempted to block a state energy initiative expanding natural gas pipeline infrastructure to serve retail customers.

California Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday named two of his close advisors to positions on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Marcellus Shale producer Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. got a Christmas wish granted a few days late by FERC staff, which on Friday released a long-awaited final environmental impact statement for Williams Partners’ Atlantic Sunrise project.

Claiming approved energy projects on federal lands could be put in jeopardy, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman just before the Christmas holiday weekend intervened on the side of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in a lawsuit brought by environmental groups against the federal agency.

The Obama administration has issued a long list of denials in a lawsuit filed last summer by two environmental groups, pushing back against allegations that the Department of Interior (DOI) acted improperly before approving nearly 400 oil and gas leases in three western states.

In a move by the Obama administration to suspend pending litigation from conservation groups, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is halting new oil and natural gas leasing throughout the Los Padres National Forest in the southern half of California.

Oklahoma toppled Texas from the No. 1 spot as the most attractive jurisdiction in the world for oil and natural gas investment, a global survey of energy executives by the Fraser Institute found. Meanwhile, Alberta, long the heart of Canada’s energy industry, has lost its allure.