Muni

The Port of Long Beach, CA’s Harbor Commission Tuesday gave initial approval to a subsidiary of Japanese-based Mitsubishi Corp., to pursue developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal on a 27-acre site on part of an abandoned U.S. Naval Base in the harbor, which combined with adjacent Los Angeles Harbor comprises the nation’s busiest port. Long Beach’s municipal utility may be one of the buyers of the gas.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC last Tuesday rejected a petition for review of an order in which FERC ruled Questar Gas Co.’s status as a Commission-exempt Hinshaw pipeline would be endangered if municipal utilities distributed natural gas delivered by Questar to customers across Utah’s southern border.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC on Tuesday rejected a Utah-Arizona municipal group’s petition for review of a FERC order that doused the munis’ chances to distribute natural gas delivered by Questar Gas Co. to customers across Utah’s southern border without endangering Questar’s status as a Hinshaw pipe, which excuses it from FERC jurisdiction.

Southern California’s port city of Long Beach is talking to three finalists in its search for a new natural gas supplier for its municipal utility to provide about 10 Bcf annually over a one- to three-year period.

Southern California’s port city of Long Beach is talking to three finalists in its search for a new natural gas supplier for its municipal utility to provide about 10 Bcf annually over a one- to three-year period.

The City of Corona, CA, earlier this month took a step forward in its plans to form a municipally-owned utility after the city council unanimously passed a resolution in support of creating such an entity. However, a final decision on whether to proceed with the project, including the construction of two new power plants, will not be made until a detailed economic analysis is completed over the next six to eight weeks, according to George Hanson, a power utilities and project manager recently hired by the city.

Moody’s Investors Service warned yesterday that some municipalelectric utilities face a dangerous possibility of having to buymore power than expected on the spot market because of very lowhydroelectric supplies.

Over some concerns raised by its administrative leaders, LosAngeles elected officials Tuesday approved the sale of itsmunicipal utility’s 20% interest in the Nevada coal-fired MohaveGenerating Plant. It is a multi-interest deal that will be wrappedup with Arlington, VA-based AES Corp. by next month.

Bay State Gas avoided a significant bypass by the MassachusettsMunicipal Wholesale Electric Co. (MMWEC) thanks to landowneropposition to a larger pipeline proposal and a lengthy negotiationprocess. After two years of work on an alternative 15-mile bypassof the Bay State system that would have linked with Tennessee GasPipe Line, MMWEC yesterday signed a 20-year agreement covering 13Bcf/year of new gas transportation on Bay State’s system to servepower generation load.