Regulatory

As the 800 MMcf/d Zone 3 capacity enhancement on the Rockies Express Pipeline LLC gets ready to come online, the Rover and Nexus Gas Transmission pipelines, two other major east-to-west Appalachian takeaway projects, continue vying for regulatory approval.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) won a vote among Democratic lawmakers in the House on Wednesday to continue serving as House Minority Leader. According to reports, Pelosi won an eighth term to lead the Democratic caucus after defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) by a vote of 134-63. Reps.Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and James Clyburn (D-SC) were unchallenged and will remain as minority whip and assistant to the leader, respectively. Although losing the presidential race, Democrats managed to add six seats in the 2016 election and will have 194 members in the House for the 115th Congress, which begins on Jan. 3.

FERC has denied a request for a stay over Tennessee Gas Pipeline LLC’s (TGP) proposed Broad Run Expansion Project and will allow tree clearing for the project to continue.

Federal officials on Tuesday agreed to reconsider the status of the lesser prairie chicken, whose habitat sprawls through the oil and gas fields of West Texas, New Mexico, Kansas and the Rockies, after a petition requested it be relisted for protection.

Most of the impact fee revenue from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas law, Act 13, is being disbursed to a handful of counties and municipalities, with the former spending most on public safety and the latter focusing on public infrastructure, according to a report commissioned by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.

The Denver metropolitan area is expected to meet the 2008 federal ozone standard of 75 parts per billion (ppb), officials at the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) said recently, but it may turn out to be too little too late, since the Obama administration has already raised the standard.

Sponsors of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects on Canada’s Pacific coast were urged Wednesday by an industry-supported study to give high priority to establishing cooperation with native communities.

A federal judge said three energy trade associations will be allowed to intervene in a lawsuit filed last summer by two environmental groups over the Department of Interior’s (DOI) decision to approve nearly 400 oil and gas leases in three western states.

FERC gave Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) the go-ahead Monday to begin service on part of its Zone 3 capacity enhancement project, which when fully operational will add 800 MMcf/d of east-to-west capacity to the pipeline.