Passed

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) leveled strong criticism at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) after the state regulators this week provisionally passed a set of stringent regulations to protect drinking water and manage odors at natural gas drilling sites.

The House last Wednesday passed legislation (HR 415) that calls for the Taunton River in southeast Massachusetts to be designated as a Wild and Scenic Rivers system, putting another roadblock in the path of the embattled Weaver’s Cove Energy liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

The House Wednesday passed legislation (HR 415) that calls for the Taunton River in southeast Massachusetts to be designated as a Wild and Scenic Rivers system, putting another roadblock in the path of the embattled Weaver’s Cove Energy liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

The House Natural Resources Committee passed legislation (HR 415) Wednesday that includes the Taunton River in southeast Massachusetts in the National Park Service’s Wild and Scenic Rivers system, throwing another roadblock in the path of the Weaver’s Cove Energy liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

San Diego, CA-based Sempra Energy, which passed a milestone on the West Coast and hit some hurdles near the Gulf last week, continues to bet that new natural gas pipelines, storage and LNG terminals will be needed for years to come.

The House last Thursday passed for a second time the $300 billion farm legislation that closes the “Enron Loophole,” which has allowed portions of large electronic trading platforms to circumvent the full oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for years.

The House of Representatives Wednesday passed by an overwhelming margin a conference report on the nearly $300 billion farm bill that contains a provision to close the so-called “Enron Loophole,” which for years has exempted large electronic trading platforms from the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Under a controversial state law passed three years ago (SB 408), the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) made its first across-the-board rate adjustments late last Friday for the state’s four major private-sector utilities. This theoretically matches the tax bills paid by the utilities with the amounts they collect in retail utility rates to pay for them.

Portland, OR-based Northwest Natural Gas Co., the largest natural gas-only distributor in the region, said it passed a significant milestone Tuesday in its effort to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint by encouraging its 600,000 customers to move to electronic, or paperless, billing systems. More than 10% now have chosen that path.