Falls

Sioux Falls, SD-based NorthWestern Energy Corp. on Tuesday said it has purchased operating and nonoperating natural gas production interests in Montana’s Bear Paw Basin from privately held, Houston-based NFR Energy LLC.

A Siena College Research Institute poll released Tuesday shows New Yorkers are still almost evenly split on the issue of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but it contains some surprising numbers concerning where the practice is generating support and opposition.

The Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), which was created to referee contested cases, will hold a hearing July 12 in Gainesville, TX, on EOG Resources Inc.’s application for an air permit to build a plant to process sand to be used primarily to hydraulically fracture (frack) oil and natural gas wells.

A new natural gas-fueled power plant to be built near Marble Falls, TX, for the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) will be the first combined-cycle plant in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region to meet the latest greenhouse gas regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to GE, turbine provider to the project.

TransCanada Corp. is setting up its battered Mainline for more falls by proposing to freeze tolls at current high levels through 2012, say shippers on the eastern consumer end of the natural gas conduit from Alberta to Ontario, Quebec and the United States.

TransCanada Corp. is setting up its battered Mainline for more falls by proposing to freeze tolls at current high levels through 2012, say shippers on the eastern consumer end of the natural gas conduit from Alberta to Ontario, Quebec and the United States.

Producers in northeastern Pennsylvania will get a respite from the region’s pipeline capacity pinch — but not for long — according to Bentek Energy LLC.

Emergency responders were wrapping up their work Thursday afternoon at the site of a reported explosion at a drilling rig in the Eagle Ford Shale in Falls City in Karnes County, TX. According to press reports, two people had been hospitalized. The explosion reportedly occurred just before noon. The Karnes County sheriff was not available for comment, but a deputy said at 2:30 CDT that crews were preparing to leave the scene. The rig was reported to be targeting oil; the name of its owner/operator was not available at press time. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Jason Reyes told the San Antonio Express-News that a truck driver who was transferring oil was injured when a truck was set on fire and ignited the explosion. The driver received second- and third-degree burns, he said. In a separate incident Monday night an explosion and fire occurred at a Continental Resources natural gas well in Oklahoma; there were no injuries (see Daily GPI, Sept. 21).

A federal program released last Tuesday that is intended to cut emissions and increase efficiency of medium- and heavy-duty trucks falls short when it comes to making the most of the country’s natural gas resources, natural gas vehicle (NGV) proponent NGVAmerica said. Separately, one of the nation’s leading providers of natural gas transportation fueling declared a national $150 million effort supported by Chesapeake Energy Corp. is on track to have a corridor of 150 natural gas fueling stations in place in the next few years.