Violated

Legislation in Colorado that would have imposed higher penalties for oil and natural gas operators that violated state regulations — supported by the governor and the energy industry — went down in defeat Wednesday, the final day of the session.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act when they approved the 700-mile Ruby Pipeline, an appeals court has ruled. The agencies must now develop additional mitigation measures.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act when they approved the 700-mile Ruby Pipeline, an appeals court has ruled. The agencies must now develop additional mitigation measures.

Claims that FERC violated constitutional due process when it approved the New Jersey-New York Expansion Project in May are without merit and should be rejected, said project sponsors Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) and Algonquin Gas Transmission (see NGI, May 28).

Claims that FERC violated constitutional due process when it approved the New Jersey-New York Expansion Project in May are without merit and should be rejected, said project sponsors Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) and Algonquin Gas Transmission (see Daily GPI, May 23).

For the second time this month Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Wednesday admitted in a filing with state regulators that it violated federal and state safety testing standards for a part of its distribution pipeline system in San Mateo, CA, within a few miles of the September, 2010 San Bruno transmission pipeline rupture and explosion. PG&E said it discovered the violation on part of an eight-inch diameter distribution feeder line Jan. 26, and took “immediate corrective action” the following day. The combination utility explained its error in a letter to Michelle Cooke, interim director of the California Public Utility Commission’s (CPUC) Consumer Protection and Safety Division. Under federal Department of Transportation standards and PG&E’s own state-mandated rules, pipe-to-soil measurements for corrosion must be completed every 75 days. The feeder main had last been tested Oct. 5 and should have been retested by the end of 2011. “Due to error and oversight, PG&E did not identify this issue as ‘reportable’ under the CPUC [rules] until after 10 days had elapsed,” the utility told the CPUC.

California regulators Thursday began to consider whether Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) violated state or federal rules regarding pipeline classification in the wake of the San Bruno transmission pipeline rupture and explosion last year. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) opened the case at its regular business meeting in San Francisco.

Several BP plc subsidiaries have agreed to pay the United States $20.5 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties for natural gas produced on federal and American Indian leases, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Friday.

FERC’s Office of Enforcement said last Thursday it made a preliminary determination that units of BP plc violated Commission rules against manipulation of the natural gas market in a case involving trading at the Houston Ship Channel (HSC).