Slated

NorthernStar Energy LLC’s Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, slated for development along the Columbia River in Oregon, won a favorable recommendation Thursday from the Clatsop County Planning Commission. The unit voted to recommend that the county’s Board of Commissioners issue land-use approvals, authorizing the proposed $600 million, 1.3 Bcf/d terminal be built.

NorthernStar Energy LLC’s Bradwood Landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, slated for development along the Columbia River in Oregon, won a favorable recommendation Aug. 30 from the Clatsop County Planning Commission. Reversing its previous draft recommendation, the unit voted to recommend that the county’s elected Board of Commissioners issue land-use approvals, authorizing the proposed $600 million, 1.3 Bcf/d terminal be built.

A congestion study slated to be completed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) before the end of the summer will identify a “watch list” of perhaps 25 to 30 electric transmission “problem areas” and a smaller subset list of those areas “where transmission needs are so large and acute that it is in the national interest to seek near-term solutions,” said Kevin Kolevar, director of the DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, last week.

Agrium U.S. Inc. is teaming up with Alaskan officials to evaluate the potential use of coal gasification as a feedstock for its Nikiski fertilizer plant in Kenai, AK, which is slated to close in 2006 when natural gas supplies run out. If a feasibility study proves coal gasification would work, Agrium said the gasification facility could be in operation as early as 2011.

With the adoption of the 2005 update of California’s Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) slated for next month, the presiding member of the five-member California Energy Commission (CEC), charged with publishing the guidebook for the governor and legislature earlier this month, expressed his frustration with the state’s effort to reshape a coherent, effective energy strategy.

Colorado Interstate Gas (CIG) has begun construction of its Raton Basin expansion project, which is slated to be in service by October. The $61 million expansion will add 104,600 Dth/d of transmission capacity to the section of CIG’s existing pipeline system from south central Colorado to the panhandle of Oklahoma.

California is looking at increased interstate natural gas pipeline capacity as well as the much-talked about liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports now slated for the West Coast as a means of satisfying an unabated 6 Bcf/d thirst for gas supplies, a state energy official said at the Law Seminars International conference in San Francisco on “New Directions for California Energy Markets.”

California is looking at increased interstate natural gas pipeline capacity as well as the much-talked about liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports now slated for the West Coast as a means of satisfying an unabated 6 Bcf/d thirst for gas supplies, a state energy official said Friday as part of a panel presentation at the Law Seminars International conference, “New Directions for California Energy Markets” in San Francisco.

With its current top executive slated to retire in a little more than 18 months, San Diego-based Sempra Energy announced plans last week for successors to Steve Baum, who holds the three-part job of chairman-CEO-president. The titles will be split among two current senior executives, both of whom also will join the Sempra board of directors.