Recommended

A California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) judge recommended Friday that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) be allowed to increase maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) at its Topock receipt transmission pipeline along the Arizona-California border. The CPUC will take up the recommendation when it meets Oct. 6.

Marcellus Shale development is not bringing much money into local governments, but also not taking much money out of local governments, according to a recent study of two prolific Pennsylvania counties.

A study of the biggest risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking), as well as recommended policies to reduce those risks, has been launched by an arm of the nonpartisan Resources for the Future (RFF).

Staff of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC) has recommended the permanent shut-in of saltwater disposal wells in an area north of Conway, AR, in the Fayetteville Shale where a recent earthquake swarm is thought to have resulted from waste injection activities.

Staff of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC) has recommended the permanent shut-in of saltwater disposal wells in an area north of Conway, AR, in the Fayetteville Shale where a recent earthquake swarm is thought to have resulted from waste injection activities.

A hybrid natural gas and solar power generation project has been recommended for approval by the California Energy Commission. The proposed decision by a two-commissioner review committee found no significant environmental impacts from the City of Palmdale’s proposal to transform a 377-acre industrial site in the northern end of Los Angeles County for a 570 MW gas-fired combined cycle plant with adjacent solar thermal collectors providing 10% of the facility’s peak power output. Assuming the full CEC approves the three-year-old proposal, the city then needs to find a developer and a long-term contract for the plant’s output before construction can start. It is slated to begin commercial operations in summer 2013.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) siting committee provisionally recommended approval of plans by a unit of NRG Energy Inc.to build a 558 MW combined-cycle gas-fired power plant on 23 acres of NRG’s existing 100-acre Encina generation plant site in Carlsbad, CA. The committee is seeking input on determining if the current repowering plans provide “extraordinary public benefit” under the criteria established by the South Carlsbad Coastal Redevelopment Project Area Plan. That enhanced benefit might come from NRG’s plans for removal of the existing 900 MW gas-fired plant. If licensed by the CEC, construction of the plant is expected to take about 25 months. NRG has said construction could begin by the end of the third quarter. Existing gas-fired Units 1, 2 and 3 at the larger site would be retired.

Wyoming officials last week recommended protecting more state land for sage grouse habitat, a bird that they said is vital to maintaining a “vibrant” economy for the state.

Wyoming officials on Tuesday recommended adding more state land as protected habitat for sage grouse, which the team’s chairman said was paramount to maintaining a vibrant economy for the state.