Jersey

Yet another state will support nuclear power plants with subsidies as New Jersey regulators last week officially approved a zero emissions credit (ZEC) program that both gas-fired generators and environmental groups had fought.

South Jersey Industries (SJI) has exited the retail natural gas business, announcing Monday that it has divested all of the retail gas assets held by affiliates South Jersey Energy and Open Flow Energy to Pennsylvania-based UGI Energy Services LLC in a deal that closed last week.

A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge to the FERC certificate authorizing Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC’s (Transco) Garden State Expansion project, but it remanded part of the case to New Jersey regulators in a sharp display of how the courts are weighing federal and state responsibilities in permitting infrastructure projects as opposition increases.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is reviewing plans to issue a Section 401 Water Quality Certification (WQC) under the federal Clean Water Act for Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co.’s (Transco) Northeast Supply Enhancement Project.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on Wednesday closed its environmental review of the PennEast Pipeline, denying a request for more time to address deficiencies in the project’s application for a freshwater wetlands permit and a federal water quality certification.

FERC has delayed by two months the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC, according to a revised notice Tuesday [CP15-558].

The proposed PennEast Pipeline, which would tap Marcellus Shale gas for the benefit of end-users in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, would be a bad deal for consumers in the Garden State, and the pipeline isn’t actually needed, the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel told FERC.

When it goes online, Invenergy LLC’s Lackawanna Energy Center in Pennsylvania will burn clean natural gas — and have a clean hedge on its fuel supply.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.(PG&E) may begin to implement a precedent-setting plan after California’s State Lands Commission approved a lease extension for the utility’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. The extension would allow the plant to run through the now-targeted shutdown in 2025. PG&E has to file a proposal with the California Public Utilities Commission and convene a conference of interested parties related to settlement reached earlier in June (see Daily GPI,June 21). The State Lands extension was one of five contingencies listed in the settlement agreement.