Infrastructure

Natural gas vehicle (NGV) engine technology provider Vancouver, BC-based Westport Innovations Inc. and Des Plaines, IL-based Gas Technology Institute (GTI) have received a total of $900,000 from two California sources to pursue advances in Westport’s enhanced spark ignited (ESI) natural gas engine.

A unit of Las Vegas-based Southwest Gas Corp. on Monday received FERC authorization to place into service before the end of this year a new 35.2-mile, eight-inch diameter natural gas pipeline lateral in the far northeast corner of Nevada in Elko with new interconnections to the interstate Ruby Pipeline LLC, running from Wyoming to the Oregon-California border.

The Sabal Trail pipeline project scored a regulatory victory last Friday when an administrative law judge (ALJ) recommended that Florida regulators approve a permit for the pipeline over the objection of environmentalists.

Officials at Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility on Wednesday said pre-winter underground storage operations continue unhindered by the seven-week-old leaking storage well at its 86 Bcf capacity Aliso Canyon facility 40 miles north of Los Angeles (see Daily GPI,Nov. 12).

With a recent increase in interstate pipeline applications and an uptick in opposition, it will be a challenge for FERC to continue certificating those projects as quickly as it has in the past, said Commissioner Tony Clark.

Calling it a “carbon-polluting power grab,” Earthjustice on Monday filed an appeal challenging the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) approval of a key agreement to repower an existing natural gas-fired generation plant site in Carlsbad, CA.

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) dividend cut after market close Tuesday lifted shares in Wednesday’s trading. Some analysts and investors were relieved that KMI would retain its investment-grade credit rating and not be accessing unattractive equity markets to fund growth.

FERC has told the backers of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC (ACP) to provide alternative routes for the pipeline that would avoid crossing U.S. forest lands and that the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS) cannot advance without the information.

The Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE PIPES) Act, designed by a bipartisan quartet of lawmakers to improve the safety of the nation’s oil and natural gas pipelines and revamp procedures at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), was passed out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Wednesday morning.