Stimulus

Market dynamics will override politics and the job creation and economic stimulus effects of the gas industry will prevail in the years ahead regardless of the outcome of this fall’s presidential election, according to panelists at the LDC Gas Forum’s Midcontinent meeting in Chicago Monday.

Market dynamics will override politics and the job producing and economic stimulus effects of the gas industry will prevail in the years ahead regardless of the outcome of this fall’s presidential elections, according to panelists at the LDC Gas Forum’s mid-continent meeting in Chicago Monday.

TransCanada Corp. on Monday notified the U.S. State Department that it intends to file in the “near future” a Presidential Permit application for a cross-border permit for part of the original $7 billion, 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline project running from the U.S.-Canada border in Montana to Steele City, Nebraska. The Calgary-based pipeline company said it eventually would file a supplement to the new application with an alternative route in Nebraska.

President Obama’s proposal to scale back $41 billion in oil and natural gas tax breaks as part of his $447 billion jobs stimulus bill will hit both major producers and independents in their pocketbooks, said a tax attorney with a Washington, DC-based law firm last week.

President Obama’s proposal to scale back $41 billion in oil and natural gas tax breaks as part of his $447 billion jobs stimulus bill will hit both major producers and independents in their pocketbooks, said a tax attorney with a Washington, DC-based law firm (see Daily GPI, Sept. 13).

With some federal stimulus package funds sprinkled in for good measure, two national heavy-duty truck fleet operators, a local government association and a leading natural gas transportation fueling infrastructure company have announced plans to add 426 new compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) heavy-duty vehicles in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest in two separate agreements.

With some federal stimulus package funds sprinkled in for good measure, two national heavy-duty truck fleet operators, a local government association and a leading natural gas transportation fueling infrastructure company have announced plans to add 426 new compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) heavy-duty vehicles in Southern California and the Pacific Northwest in two separate agreements.

The Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has been awarded $816,274 of funding under the federal stimulus package to be applied to employee hiring and training. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding is designated to help the state regulatory commission handle its increased workload caused by various renewable energy, efficiency, smart grid technology, transmission and demand response issues surfacing to address global climate change. Funds will be used to train existing personnel and hire two new staff positions assigned exclusively to the alternative energy sector, said PUC Executive Director Crystal Jackson. “We have seen a substantial increase in activity in these areas, and we expect even more in the coming years,” Jackson said. The state regulatory panel is facing a number of major renewable energy, efficiency and transmission cases in the next two years, and the new positions and training funds will be applied to its 2011-2013 fiscal year budgets.

Eyeing up to $1 billion in federal stimulus package funding, California claimed Tuesday to be the first state to submit its application for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) State Energy Program (SEP) funding. The California Energy Commission (CEC) successfully completed the state’s SEP filing, which promises massive energy savings and more than 2,000 new jobs, according to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.