Grass

The grass has long since turned brown in Texas, with many residents now restricted as to when they can water lawns. However, in most cases municipal water curtailments have yet to reach levels that affect water takes by contract users, such as oil and gas producers.

With a state policy promoting energy alternatives, grass roots-based Environment California late last month released a report heralding “A New Energy Future” in which a massive transformation could cut overall energy use nationally by 10%. The document’s vision calls for saving one-third of today’s oil use through a large shift to renewable energy and stepped up energy efficiency programs by 2025.

Letting no grass grow under the feet of its newly-created Carolinas empire, Carolina Power and Light (CP&L) got a jump on competitors by shortening both the length and the lead-time of its proposed interstate Palmetto Pipeline project and turning it into an intrastate. The pricetag on the project drops from $175 million to $100 million and it will run 82 miles (instead of 175 miles) along the right-of-way of now-integrated North Carolina Natural Gas to a new power plant being developed by CP&L. It will require no federal or state certification.