Permit

Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management (DEM) delivered more bad news to Weaver’s Cove Energy LLC when it denied the company’s request for a permit and water quality certificate to dredge approximately 230,000 cubic yards of the navigation channel in Mount Hope Bay. Dredging is needed to clear the way for tankers to reach the company’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Fall River, MA.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week issued a final permit to MoBay Storage Hub LLC authorizing construction of its 50 Bcf MoBay gas storage facility under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a final permit to MoBay Storage Hub LLC authorizing construction of its 50 Bcf MoBay gas storage facility under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act.

Industrial natural gas consumers have called on a House appropriations subcommittee to increase the U.S. Forest Service’s budget for permit processing by $18 million in fiscal 2007 to spur oil and gas activity in the Rocky Mountain West region.

After clearing both houses of the legislature, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is reviewing legislation that conceivably would permit natural gas development 30 miles off of the state’s coastline.

The House Resources Committee on Wednesday voted out by a 3-to-2 margin legislation that would permit interested coastal states to opt out of existing moratoriums on oil and natural gas drilling on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and would authorize drilling in the northern coastal region of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

The House Resources Committee on Monday released draft budget reconciliation language that would permit interested coastal states to engage in natural gas-preferential leasing in federal waters off their shorelines and would authorize oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

A record number of applicants want to drill for natural gas and crude oil in the United States, with the combined permit total 4.7% higher than the same period in 2004, according to a survey by the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC). Of 24 states surveyed, 19 had higher well permits during the period, and most were for natural gas wells.

California’s Independent Energy Producers (IEP) have filed legal action with a state court seeking to block an initiative, which would effectively reregulate California’s electricity industry, from being considered by voters during a Nov. 8 special election.