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Apparently environmentalists aren’t the only ones filing lawsuits in the Rocky Mountain West. Four gas producers are suing Montana in an effort to overturn water-quality standards that impose what the producers say are “excessive” requirements on the quality of water exiting coalbed methane (CBM) development areas in the Powder River Basin.

Apparently environmentalists aren’t the only ones filing lawsuits in the Rocky Mountain West. Four gas producers are suing Montana in an effort to overturn water-quality standards that impose what the producers say are “excessive” requirements on the quality of water exiting coalbed methane (CBM) development areas in the Powder River Basin.

El Paso has a full plate of various maintenance projects set for February; see the bulletin board for details. The ones with the biggest service impacts are set for the South Mainline, which will see Low Pressure System capacity reductions as high as 750 MMcf/d Feb. 7-8 and 610 MMcf/d Feb. 3-6 and again on Feb. 9. Also, the pipeline said, the Washington Ranch Storage facility must be withdrawing at a rate of approximately 180 MMcf/d to accommodate equipment testing on Feb. 9. El Paso said it will lose a large degree of operational flexibility during the Washington Ranch test, “making it critical that all parties scheduling gas on our pipeline manage their volumes carefully to balance receipts and deliveries daily.”

Florida Gas Transmission let last week’s Overage Alert Day notices lapse Saturday, then implemented new ones Sunday and Monday. Monday’s tolerance for negative daily imbalances was 15%.

In addition to moving around some of its executives and appointing a few new ones (see related brief), Richmond, VA-based Dominion also has separated two operating functions overseen by its Dominion Energy operating unit. Under the new organizational structure, the former Dominion Energy operating unit is divided into two separate business segments — Dominion Generation and Dominion Energy. Dominion Generation will manage the company’s portfolio of more than 24,000 MW of generation. Dominion Energy will manage the company’s electric transmission, marketing and natural gas pipeline and storage businesses. This change was effective Jan. 1. “We’re seeking to place our top talent and energy in positions where they can maximize their contribution to shareholder value. As a matter of ongoing policy, we also seek to streamline our organizational structure. The personnel and organizational changes announced today advance these goals,” CEO Thos. E. Capps said.

As LNG projects continue to be proposed, industry-watchers wait to see which projects will stick and which ones will fade away. As opposed to the civil unrest in Bolivia which has cut off an international consortium-planned LNG facility there, Hunt Oil Co.’s Peruvian project appears to be sailing smooth seas and could begin operation in late 2007, early 2008, building an export/import link between the west coasts of North and South America.

As LNG projects continue to be proposed, industry-watchers wait to see which projects will stick and which ones will fade away. As opposed to the civil unrest in Bolivia which has cut off an international consortium-planned LNG facility there, Hunt Oil Co.’s Peruvian project appears to be sailing smooth seas and could begin operation in late 2007, early 2008, building an export/import link between the west coasts of North and South America.

Sizeable declines at New England points and small ones on a couple of Rockies pipes were the major exceptions to continued moderate bullishness in the rest of the cash market Thursday. Most points ranged from flat to about a quarter higher. Much like the day before, a majority of gains were in the teens.

The great majority of the cash market elected to take it easyTuesday, yielding a lot of zeros, ones and twos in the averageprice change column. The only significant price drops of a dime ormore occurred at Northeast citygates, where temperatures abovefreezing were starting to reappear at some points. Transco Zone 6and Texas Eastern M-3 remain the only markets with a considerablecushion of more than a dime from January indexes.