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An attorney representing a Pennsylvania township that is challenging Act 13, the omnibus Marcellus Shale law, said the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) has no authority to review local drilling ordinances, and accused the agency of acting with “malicious intent” by doing so.

FERC Friday gave Dominion Transmission Inc. (DTI) the go-ahead to place into service its Appalachian Gateway pipeline, which will loosen a bottleneck to allow for the transportation of shale and conventional natural gas production from West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to growing markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The facilities were to begin service on Saturday (Sept. 1), said DTI spokesman Dan Donovan.

Erie, CO, officials voted 6-1 Monday night to end a six-month moratorium on new oil and natural gas drilling after securing agreements with producers that place stricter regulations on their operations.

FERC has given Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) the go-ahead to place into service the remaining facilities that are part of the first phase of its 225,000 Dth/d expansion of its system to serve growing natural gas markets in the Southeast region.

Sempra Energy subsidiary Sempra U.S. Gas & Power LLC has received authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to place a second underground natural gas storage cavern into service at its Mississippi Hub Storage facility located in Simpson County, MS.

FERC has approved a request to place into service a fourth storage cavern at the Southern Pines Energy Center in eastern Mississippi. The project originally was proposed by Houston-based SG Resources Mississippi LLC, but it was acquired by PAA Natural Gas Storage LP (PNG) for $750 million in early 2011 (see Daily GPI, Dec. 30, 2010).

FERC Tuesday gave the go-ahead for UGI LNG Inc., a subsidiary of Pennsylvania midstream operator UGI Energy Services Inc., to place into service the expansion of its Temple liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Berks County, PA.

North America’s burgeoning unconventional oil supplies have created “considerable investment needs” because pipelines are in the “wrong place carrying crude in the wrong direction and/or transporting the wrong products,” according to a review by Ernst & Young LLP.

FERC has approved Northwest Pipeline GP’s request to place into service two new pipelines that were relocated away from the Chevron Mining operations in Wyoming, which the pipeline company claims were responsible for causing cracks in its existing system.