Investigation

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Wednesday launched a statewide investigation of how major utilities have used preventive power shutoffs to curb wildfires, noting that it intends to hold the power companies accountable for their actions during those increasingly controversial events.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is said to be investigating how Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration issued permits to construct the controversial Mariner East (ME) pipeline system, according to news media reports.

Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) Josh Shapiro’s office is said to be conducting an investigation of the environmental impacts caused by unconventional natural gas drilling operations in the southwestern part of the state.

The Mariner East (ME) 1 pipeline remains offline more than a week after service was stopped in response to yet another sinkhole that formed in southeast Pennsylvania, compounding problems for the system as the state oversees additional geophysical tests and the public outcries grow louder.

Kansas regulators on Tuesday laid out an accelerated plan for natural gas utilities to replace aging and obsolete pipeline infrastructure.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has joined Colorado investigators who are examining what caused a fatal home explosion last month that is linked to a severed natural gas flowline in Firestone.

FERC commissioners voted Thursday to initiate Natural Gas Act Section 5 investigations of the rates charged by two Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI) interstate natural gas pipelines — Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (NGPL) [RP17-303] and Wyoming Interstate Co. LLC (WIC) [RP17-302] — to determine if they are just and reasonable.

ExxonMobil Corp. has been ordered to hand over more than 40 years of internal research concerning the impact of fossil fuels on the environment for an investigation being conducted by Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Maura Healey.

A Texas federal judge on Monday canceled a deposition scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 13) by ExxonMobil Corp. of Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Maura Healey regarding a probe into the supermajor’s fossil fuels research.