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A TransCanada Corp. official said this week that despite opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the company is moving forward with plans to refile its application to carry supplies from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

While the debate over drilling on state land in Pennsylvania is focused on parks and forests, another state landowner is looking to collect revenue by selling public resources to the natural gas industry: the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC).

No one likes a dry hole, whether it was drilled for oil, gas or water. Some residents of Parker County, TX, say their water wells are running dry because of all the water that’s being pumped from their aquifer to produce natural gas from the Barnett Shale. However, the region also has experienced a great deal of urban development, and that, too, drains the aquifer as more residents and businesses tap the water supply. And there’s also been a drought.

No one likes a dry hole, whether it was drilled for oil, gas or water. Some residents of Parker County, TX, say their water wells are running dry because of all the water that’s being pumped from their aquifer to produce natural gas from the Barnett Shale. However, the region also has experienced a great deal of urban development, and that, too, drains the aquifer as more residents and businesses tap the water supply. And there’s also been a drought.

Portland Natural Gas Transmission (PNGTS) found little that it likes in the proposed expansion of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (M&NP) system, particularly the capacity that will be added to a 101-mile pipeline from Westbook, ME, to Dracut, MA, that the two companies jointly own. PNGTS said M&NP intends to overbuild the expansion of the joint facilities to shift costs that would be more properly assessed to M&NP affiliate Algonquin Gas Transmission, which will receive deliveries from the expansion project (see Daily GPI, May 17).

Saying it boosts liquidity, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services gave a thumbs up to San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp.’s decision last Thursday to create another Canadian natural gas trust surrounding a chunk of its oil/natural gas holdings in Western Canada. S&P said that Calpine expected to receive about $125 million in net proceeds from selling units in the trust, for which it will retain 25% ownership and a right to buy all of the gas at market prices.

Although it won’t boost its still-sagging credit rating, Nevada Power Co.’s financial push last week drew a positive response for Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) last Wednesday when it labeled as a “positive development” the utility’s new short-term credit facility with Merrill Lynch. It provides additional liquidity this summer for Nevada Power, one of two private-sector electric utilities under Reno, NV-based Sierra Pacific Resources.

El Paso Natural Gas said it plans to test the market again for a proposed 700 MMcf/d bi-directional lateral between Ehrenberg, AZ, Daggett, CA, and Emidio, CA. An open season for the lateral, which will use portions of the All American Pipeline El Paso purchased last year, will close on Feb. 28. El Paso expects the lateral facilities could be in service by the fourth quarter of 2003.

President Bush “obviously likes and trusts Pat Wood,” said former FERC Chairman James J. Hoecker last week, when asked why he thought the president decided to get rid of current Chairman Curt Hebert Jr., a Republican, after just seven months on the job and replace him with Wood to lead the Commission.