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As part of its ongoing $100 million annual clean transportation program, California energy officials approved another $5.58 million in grants Wednesday to multiple projects, and separately a regional air pollution control board added $3.8 million for hydraulic hybrid gas-powered and other heavy duty fleet vehicles operating in the air quality region.

Colorado on Monday established new mandatory water sampling requirements for oil and natural gas drilling drawing criticism from industry and environmental groups. Sampling of multiple water wells before and after drilling is now required.

Presidents don’t get their own libraries until after they leave office; however, Alaska’s multiple proposed projects for North Slope natural gas pipelines now have a digital library, even though not one of them has been built yet.

The Bakken Shale may be booming, but Oneok Partners LP’s recent open season for the proposed Bakken Crude Express Pipeline was a bust, and the project has been scrapped, the partnership said Tuesday.

Physical gas prices overall on average jumped a whopping 37 cents Monday as traders scrambled to deal with multiple challenges ranging from high power prices, to covering short positions, to below normal temperatures forecast for major eastern and Midwest energy markets. The Northeast was especially strong, with a couple of New England points registering gains north of $4.00. Futures traders were looking at more distant weather events and sold early and sold often. At the close December had fallen 17.1 cents to $3.730 and January was down 16.6 cents to $3.868. January crude oil fell 54 cents to $87.74/bbl.

ExxonMobil Chemical recently made a regulatory filing to add a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker and other facilities at its Baytown, TX, chemicals complex with the intention of taking advantage of cheap ethane being thrown off by liquids-rich shale gas plays.

Current and former officials in the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) warn that companies hoping to build an ethane cracker in the state could have difficulty getting the necessary permits if they choose to build in areas that don’t meet federal air quality standards.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing Wednesday (March 14) to consider multiple nominations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Interior Department. The nominees include Tony Clark, who currently is chairman of the North Dakota Public Service Commission, to be a FERC commissioner; John Norris for a second term at FERC; Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist for Deutsche Bank, to head the EIA; and Marcilynn Burke to be an assistant secretary of the Interior.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing next Wednesday (March 14) to consider multiple nominations to FERC, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Interior Department.