White

A federal judge in Colorado has upheld the decisions of two federal agencies approving a natural gas project in the White River National Forest in the northwestern part of the state.

The Wallow wildfire in eastern Arizona’s White Mountains on Wednesday was threatening energy facilities operated by UniSource Energy Corp.’s Tucson Electric Power (TEP) utility, but a utility spokesperson told NGI there was no immediate danger and outages so far had been avoided. Expanding at four to five miles daily, the fire has cut across 311,000 acres of dense pine forests running near TEP’s north-south transmission power lines and coal-fired generation complex at Springerville, AZ. Under threat are the two power lines that carry 1,100 MW of power from Springerville and San Juan Generating Stations into the greater Tucson area. If the fire came close enough to the power lines to shut them down, TEP can bring on additional local generation and coordinate with other utilities to avoid outages, a spokesperson said.

Shortly after the company unveiled its staggering quarterly earnings report on Thursday, ExxonMobil Corp. launched a media blitz, accusing the White House and members of Congress of playing politics in their zeal to repeal annual tax incentives for the oil and gas industry.

The fiscal 2011 budget deal approved by Congress Thursday and forwarded to the White House has some good and bad news for agencies overseeing the energy industry.

The fiscal 2011 budget deal approved by Congress last Thursday and forwarded to the White House has some good and bad news for agencies overseeing the energy industry.

It appeared that many North American residents were destined to experience a “White Christmas,” but likely many wouldn’t be very happy about it as blizzard-like conditions were expected to cause major transportation snarls. Despite the usual softness associated with an extended holiday weekend, prices were up strongly at virtually all points Thursday due to projections of widespread harsh winter weather.

The White House is looking at two prominent female state commissioners to succeed Commissioner Suedeen Kelly at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), according to a Washington, DC, source.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Friday submitted its greenhouse gas (GHG) endangerment finding — that GHG emissions contribute to air pollution and may endanger public health — to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review, an agency spokeswoman said.

The House last Wednesday approved by a two-to-one majority the $10-11 billion lands bill on its second try, sending the measure to the White House for President Obama’s signature following a contentious, protracted debate in Congress.