Regional

Lars Herbst has been named regional director of the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) region. In his new post, Herbst will manage the leasing of OCS lands off of five Gulf Coast states, and will supervise the regulation of operations and protection of the environment on more than 7,000 leases, which involve more than 4,000 platforms. He has been with the MMS since 1983. Herbst is a registered professional engineer in the state of Louisiana and holds a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State University.

Lars Herbst has been named regional director of the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) region. In his new post, Herbst will manage the leasing of OCS lands off of five Gulf Coast states, and will supervise the regulation of operations and protection of the environment on more than 7,000 leases, which involve more than 4,000 platforms. He has been with the MMS since 1983. Herbst is a registered professional engineer in the state of Louisiana and holds a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State University.

An investigation into whether the market monitor of the PJM Interconnection is being permitted to operate independently from the regional transmission organization (RTO) should be conducted by an outside party, which could be designated by FERC, said a major industrial consumer power group last Tuesday.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, has upheld a 2005 order in which FERC granted a complaint brought by Neptune Regional Transmission System LLC, which alleged that three additional system impact studies called for by PJM Interconnection to assess the cost impact of Neptune’s proposed interconnection were unnecessary and unreasonable.

There should be a comfortable natural gas supply and demand balance through 2011 in the Pacific Northwest, according to the latest consensus regional outlook published by the Northwest Gas Association, a trade organization of nine major interstate pipelines and distribution utilities in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

There should be a comfortable natural gas supply and demand balance through 2011 in the Pacific Northwest, according to the latest consensus regional outlook published by the Northwest Gas Association, a trade organization of nine major interstate pipelines and distribution utilities in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

Eyeing regional markets, the backers of Oregon’s only proposed coastal liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal told state regulators Thursday that the Jordan Cove LNG Project seeks broad interconnections with interstate natural gas pipelines traversing the area and gas storage in northern California, Washington and Oregon. The $500 million facility is slated for Coos Bay along the Pacific Coast in south-central Oregon.

Eyeing regional markets, the backers of Oregon’s only proposed coastal liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal told state regulators Thursday that the Jordan Cove LNG Project seeks broad interconnections with interstate natural gas pipelines traversing the area and gas storage in northern California, Washington and Oregon. The $500 million facility is slated for Coos Bay along the Pacific Coast in south-central Oregon.

Finding that reliability standards are not being met during certain conditions and that the long-term reliability of the regional power grid in the Washington, D.C., area is compromised, FERC last Monday evening said that it has directed PJM Interconnection and Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to preserve reliability in the region.