Stalemate

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) negotiated between state and federal regulators could end the stalemate over the contentious issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing (fracking), a Texas official told a House panel last Wednesday.

A proposed 16-inch diameter, 450-mile oil pipeline from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale to a hub near Clearbrook, MN, is at risk for delay or termination due to a stalemate with Enbridge Energy Partners LP, which is refusing to allow an interconnection with its pipeline in Minnesota, according to High Prairie Pipeline, which has filed a complaint at FERC.

El Paso Natural Gas and the Navajo Nation signed an interim agreement Friday that ends a months-long stalemate over the fair dollar value of the gas pipeline’s access to tribal lands in western states.

While making public early rejections and a stalemate surrounding confidential agreements, Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. Friday continued to appeal to NorthWestern Corp.’s board in an effort to kick-start merger talks between the two utility holding companies in South Dakota. In its latest formal letter to the NorthWestern board, Black Hills said it can’t be unreasonably constrained from pursuing what it views as a perfect strategic marriage of companies.

With an apparent stalemate in settlement negotiations, the California Attorney General Bill Lockyer will file a lawsuit against Sempra Energy’s trading unit alleging “Enron-like” wholesale energy market manipulation tactics during the western energy crisis four years.

Calling it the most comprehensive energy bill to be put before Congress in decades, House and Senate negotiators on Tuesday ended a four-year stalemate by wrapping up work on the sweeping measure that promotes expanded production of oil, natural gas, electricity and renewable fuels, as well as the construction of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, pipelines and gas storage facilities.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), chairman of the energy bill conference committee, and Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH) on Friday announced a plan aimed at resolving the stalemate over the proposed liability protections for producers of the fuel additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). The proposal drew immediate objections from House and Senate Democrats.

If President George W. Bush wins a second term, it’s “more likely” the standoff in the Senate over the comprehensive energy bill will be resolved “sooner rather than later,” according to a key gas industry lobbyist. But the White House occupant “is not the pivotal issue” when it comes to passing energy legislation, countered Charles Swab analyst Christine Tezak. The “incredibly thinly divided Senate” is the key factor.

If President George W. Bush wins a second term, it’s “more likely” the standoff in the Senate over the comprehensive energy bill will be resolved “sooner rather than later,” according to a key gas industry lobbyist. But the White House occupant “is not the pivotal issue” when it comes to passing energy legislation, countered Charles Swab analyst Christine Tezak. The “incredibly thinly divided Senate” is the key factor.