Noting

Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. will sell its 40 MW natural gas-fired “CT II” generation unit at its mostly coal-fired Gillette Energy Complex in Wyoming to the City of Gillette for $22 million.

The continuing shale gas boom is having a “massive impact” on the U.S. energy market, particularly a revival for various smart grid developments, according to a report released by IMS Research, a unit of the global research/consulting firm IHS.

Noting that it wants to give the public an adequate opportunity to review and comment, the Interior Department’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said Wednesday that it is extending the public comment period on two proposed rules: to list as endangered the gunnison sage grouse, which is found south of the Colorado River in Colorado and Utah, and to designate 1.7 million acres of critical habitat for the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

While noting that they share FERC’s goal of protecting the nation’s energy infrastructure from physical and cyber security threats, top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned the agency about the statutory authority that it relied upon to create the new Office of Energy Infrastructure Security (OEIS) to shield facilities from these risks.

A recent analysis of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) data from fracfocus.org and oil and gas well records from eight states, which concluded that nearly half of the wells fracked during the last nine months of 2011 were not disclosed on the website, doesn’t tell the whole story, according to industry sources. The industry supports the disclosure website and continues to flood it with well data, they said.

Noting it is one of the only proposed exporters not tied to domestic U.S. natural gas supplies, Oregon LNG has filed with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a permit to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to non free trade nations, saying that the proposed project at the mouth of the Columbia River will have very little, if any, impact on U.S. gas prices or the national supply-demand balance.

Noting the continuing downward spiral of forward natural gas prices during the past four years, Fitch Ratings said it expects continued weakness in gas prices to spell potential trouble for many U.S. independent electricity generators. Fitch on Thursday released a report on U.S. power markets and generators.

Noting the deals will help move closer to creating a national highway fueling network for natural gas vehicles (NGV), Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said that it has inked fuel supply deals with five trucking fleets that transport products for some of the nation’s largest and most well-known brands. The five will use compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied by Clean Energy from existing and new fueling stations for CNG and from Clean Energy stations serving LNG. Clean Energy said the trucking fleets are geographically diverse, but share a common goal of reducing their fuel costs and operating more cleanly. The companies are: Saddle Creek Logistics Services, Lakeland, FL; Premier Transportation, Atlanta, GA; Hoopes Turf Farm, Transportation Division, Ulysses, PA; Lily Transportation , Needham, MA; and Lancaster Foods, Jessup, MD.

California lawmakers on Thursday rejected an industry-opposed bill (SB 1054) on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), but a second fracking measure (AB 591) is still alive.