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A request to resume the first offshore drilling in state waters in 40 years was turned down Thursday by the three-member California State Lands Commission on a 2-1 vote at a meeting in Santa Barbara, CA. Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP), which holds the federal lease for the offshore Point Pedernales Field about 50 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, had applied for two state offshore leases to develop the Tranquillon Ridge Oil Field.

The three-member Oregon Land Use Appeals Board Tuesday postponed action on a challenge of the county land use permits awarded to NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc.’s proposed Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal along the Columbia River in Oregon. The board will next take up challenges to Clatsop County’s permits on Jan. 27.

Veteran state regulator and former governor’s communication director Kris Mayes was selected Tuesday by her colleagues as chairman of the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). She is a Republican who has been elected twice to the regulatory panel after originally being appointed by Gov. Janet Napolitano in 2003.

Three newly elected members of the five-member Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) were sworn into office Monday. Sandra Kennedy, Paul Newman and Bob Stump, all of whom have held past elected local and state offices, joined existing Commissioners Kris Mayes and Gary Pierce.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is seeking to block the U.S. Forest Service’s efforts to allow the construction of the 211-mile Palomar Gas Transmission pipeline through areas of Mt. Hood National Forest east of Portland, OR.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is seeking to block the U.S. Forest Service’s efforts to allow the construction of the 211-mile Palomar Gas Transmission pipeline through areas of Mt. Hood National Forest east of Portland, OR.

Spectra Energy Partners LP said Greg Harper has resigned as president, CEO and member of the board of directors of Spectra Energy Partners GP LLC effective Dec. 5. “Greg has decided to pursue another opportunity outside of the company,” said Chairman Fred Fowler. “I am very appreciative of his service to Spectra Energy Partners and wish him all the best in his new endeavor.” A successor for Harper will be named in the near future, the company said.

A former board member of the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) pleaded guilty last Tuesday to two felonies — illegal trading in the natural gas market and tampering with physical evidence.

A former board member of the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) pled guilty Tuesday to two felonies — illegal trading in the natural gas market and tampering with physical evidence.