Upset

There are risks facing the natural gas industry that could upset the current “gold rush” mentality, said speakers Tuesday at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) summer meeting in Los Angeles. Reserves estimates are but one concern.

Absentee ballots are yet to be counted, but initial election results show a surprise upset of incumbent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski by Joe Miller, a little-known conservative Tea Party candidate in the Alaska Republican primary Aug. 24. As ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Murkowski has been a leader on the Republican side of the Senate on energy issues.

Absentee ballots are yet to be counted, but it appears that a little-known Tea Party candidate in a surprise upset has seized the Alaska Republican U.S. Senate nomination from incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in last Tuesday’s primary. As ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Murkowski had been in line to be chairman of that powerful committee if the Republicans takeover the Senate in the next election.

The fate of cap-and-trade legislation became even more precarious with the upset in Massachusetts last Tuesday as Republican Scott Brown captured the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

In a major upset last Wednesday, a federal judge in San Francisco reinstated Clinton-era protections for nearly 60 million acres of national forest lands. The ruling voided the Bush administration’s petition process for potentially opening vast areas of remote national forest lands to road building, a necessary prerequisite for energy development and other commercial activities.

If Senate Republicans vote to abolish filibusters for judicial nominations, it will “upset any chance for an energy bill soon” to emerge from the chamber, said a noted Washington, DC journalist and author last Wednesday.

If Senate Republicans vote next week to abolish filibusters for judicial nominations, it will “upset any chance for an energy bill soon” to emerge from the chamber, said a noted Washington, DC journalist and author Wednesday.

In a major upset for FERC, a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, last Tuesday set aside an order in which the Commission reasserted jurisdiction over the portion of the North Padre Island (NPI) unregulated gathering facilities that Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line had spun down to its gathering affiliate, Williams Field Services Co. (WFS).

In a major upset for FERC, a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, Tuesday set aside an order in which the Commission reasserted jurisdiction over the portion of the North Padre Island (NPI) unregulated gathering facilities that Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line had spun down to its gathering affiliate, Williams Field Services Co. (WFS).