Sandy

By a narrow margin, voters Tuesday elected President Obama to a second term in office, but with Congress still split — a majority Republican House and a majority Democratic Senate — the passage of significant legislation relating to the energy industry or anything else remains problematic.

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) elected Sandy Jones chairman and David King vice chairman. A road construction business founder and owner from the southwestern part of the state, Jones joined the PRC Jan. 1, 2007. Jones said he wants to help small businesses “thrive,” which he claims will create jobs and allow the state to retain more of its young citizens. King is a third generation New Mexican from the family that operates the King Ranch in South Texas. King is a veteran of local, state and federal government positions and has served three previous governors in New Mexico.

National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) have reached a settlement agreement in the Aug. 21, 2004 gas explosion in Sandy Township, PA, that destroyed a home and left two residents dead. The settlement agreement ends an informal investigation into the gas explosion, which resulted from a leak in a gas line, the PUC said. Under terms of the settlement, National Fuel agreed to pay a $50,000 fine, fund an additional $30,000 of safety-related activities for its system and committed to undertake system improvements costing more than $1.8 million. National Fuel agreed to modify its operating procedures and accelerate an ongoing plastic pipe leakage survey of its Pennsylvania system. The company has also retrained and tested its plastic fusion work crew members. The PUC has given interested parties 20 days to comment on the settlement agreement and will issue a final determination on the settlement at an upcoming public meeting. National Fuel serves about 210,000 natural gas customers in 14 Pennsylvania counties.

National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) have reached a settlement agreement in the Aug. 21, 2004 gas explosion in Sandy Township, PA, that destroyed a home and left two residents dead.

Successful natural gas futures trading often depends on correctly determining what “story” the market is telling on a particular day, according to Sandy “Trot” Goldfarb, a 20-plus-year trading veteran. Speaking at NGI’s Natural Gas Futures Prices Workshop at the New York Mercantile Exchange last week, Trot said the plot of recent price movements indicates that there could be more room to the upside in this market.