Initiative

Elected northern Canadian leaders have thrown cold water on the latest initiative in a decades-old industry quest for a clear regulatory path toward opening the Northwest Territories (NWT) to natural gas development at a businesslike pace.

The Department of Energy (DOE) may have shelved the FutureGen project last year, but the clean coal initiative is not dead, and it may, in fact, be on the verge of a rebirth, according to FutureGen Alliance spokesman Lawrence Pacheco.

A Colorado ballot initiative that would remove a severance tax break for the energy industry would not, as critics have charged, increase residential natural gas prices nor would it push producers out of the state, according to a study by a Denver-based nonprofit group.

A Colorado ballot initiative that would remove a severance tax break for the energy industry would not, as critics have charged, increase residential natural gas prices nor would it push producers out of the state, according to a study by a Denver-based nonprofit group.

As part of Morgan Stanley’s environmental initiative, the firm said last week it will acquire a minority equity stake in NGEN Partners LLC, a venture capital firm with energy sector expertise that invests in companies focused on clean technologies.

In a sign that companies are taking the initiative to shape expected legislation, ConocoPhillips last week became the first U.S.-based oil major to voice its support for a federal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cap.

In a sign that companies are taking the initiative to shape expected legislation, ConocoPhillips is the first U.S.-based oil major to voice its support for a federal greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cap.

Unveiling “a major initiative” to ensure the continued reliability of its bulk power transmission system, Energy East Corp. subsidiary Central Maine Power Co. (CMP) said last week that it has launched its Maine Power Reliability Program (MPRP). The transmission system includes 475 miles of 345-kV lines plus substations and control facilities that link New Brunswick, Canada to New Hampshire and southern New England.

The Alaska gas reserves tax ballot initiative, crafted last summer by Anchorage Democratic Reps. Eric Croft and Harry Crawford, was certified this week and will head to voters Nov. 7 regardless of what the legislature does with a bill that would impose a similar tax on state leaseholders.