Works

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last Wednesday voted out legislation to restrict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, setting the stage for a major fight between Democrats and Republicans on the floor next year.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee late Wednesday voted out legislation to restrict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, laying the groundwork for a major fight between Democrats and Republicans on the floor next year.

Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee pledged to finish markup of the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill late Wednesday, even if it meant voting out the remainder of the 180 amendments that were being considered en bloc.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) Thursday ordered an investigation of Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) request to increase natural gas rates by $107 million, or 11%. The cash-strapped utility, which is owned by the city of Philadelphia, has become a political issue in the coming mayoral election, and some critics want it sold or taken over by the PUC.

There’s no better time than the present to plan a pipeline or storage expansion project, and despite having a dozen or so projects already in the works, Kinder Morgan said Friday more are on the way. Kinder Morgan Pipelines President Scott E. Parker told a GasMart audience in Denver that Clarington, OH, the current terminus of the proposed $4.4 billion Rockies Express pipeline, probably will end up being an intermediate point with extensions to Oakford, PA, and then possibly Leidy, PA.

Sen James Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced two energy-related bills this week, one that says the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not have authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing under existing law, and a second that clarifies congressional intent in the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act that uncontaminated storm water discharges from oil and gas exploration, production, processing and treatment sites are exempt from the costly EPA storm water program.

As the Port of Long Beach, CA, 25 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, methodically works through the development of an environmental impact assessment, proponents and opponents of a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the harbor city continued to butt heads last weekend. A neutral city official in attendance said the confrontation was probably a draw in terms of the number of people on each side.

El Paso Corp. continues to play push-me pull-you as it works out a long-term plan to get debt levels in check without starving its remaining core businesses. CEO Doug Foshee stressed that the company should meet its divestiture target of $3.4 billion by the end of this year, but going forward, “we won’t be able to sell our way to prosperity. We have to grow our core businesses.”

The Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) Friday filed a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) for an overall decrease in rates of $32 million/year from the level of rates that went into effect March 1.