Restrictions

Rockies Express (REX) said it has been informed of potential operating restrictions on Tennessee, which could impact nominated quantities at their TENN/REX GUERNSEY interconnect. However, there is “no impact at this time due to the current level of nominations on Tennessee’s system,” REX said.

In the wake of a Wyoming court’s recent decision rejecting the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) restrictions on categorical exclusions (CX), an agency official told Congress Friday that it plans to undertake a formal rulemaking of the waiver of environmental reviews for certain onshore oil and natural gas drilling projects. House lawmakers also said they planned to petition the Department of Justice (DOJ) to appeal the court ruling (see Daily GPI, Aug. 16).

In the wake of a Wyoming court’s recent decision rejecting the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) restrictions on categorical exclusions (CX), an agency official told Congress Friday that it plans to undertake a formal rulemaking of the waiver of environmental reviews for certain onshore oil and natural gas drilling projects. House lawmakers also said they planned to petition the Department of Justice (DOJ) to appeal the court ruling.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) said it had reviewed air quality test results in the Barnett Shale that found trace amounts of a chemical compound once used widely as a pesticide, but said there is no danger to the public health and the chemical is unlikely to have come from oil and gas activities.

An administrative law judge (ALJ) at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has released a proposed decision outlining the procedures for eliminating current restrictions on the operating pressures of major natural gas transmission pipelines operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) in the wake of last year’s San Bruno pipe rupture and explosion. The ALJ also denied a recommendation by PG&E for raising future pipe pressures.

With gas quality issues resolved at South Marsh Island 184, ANR said it had lifted all associated capacity restrictions.

Canada’s environment minister indicated that the federal government in Ottawa was keeping a close eye on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and was prepared to intervene if it thought either the provincial or territorial governments weren’t doing enough to safely regulate the procedure.

Where is rising gas supply supposed to go? New and ongoing restrictions on storage injections, moderate springtime weather being prevalent and a five-day string of futures losses pressured the cash market into losses at nearly all points Friday. The usual weekend decline of industrial load was an additional, albeit minor, bearish factor.

Texas Eastern lifted Tuesday restrictions barring the creation of due-pipe imbalances and payback of due-shipper imbalances for all points in its M-3 market-area zone.