Regulatory

Appalachia went red on Tuesday, not only helping Republicans take the White House and keep their grip on the U.S. Senate, but mostly endorsing candidates with pro-energy agendas and rejecting an effort to thwart the oil and gas industry.

TransCanada Corp. vowed Wednesday to try reviving the hotly contested Keystone XL oil export pipeline when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump moves into the White House.

Voters in Washington state on Tuesday rejected a statewide ballot measure to create a carbon tax, with 58% of the votes casts going against Initiative 732, which would have imposed a tax on fossil fuels.

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission met Thursday and discussed proposed changes for the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). Among them no longer is the Sunset staff recommendation to change the commission’s name to reflect its role as a regulator of energy and not of railroads.

Although it has little oil/natural gas activity, voters in California’s central coast Monterey County approved a ballot measure banning new oil/gas development in the county, including the use of well stimulation techniques such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Echoing earlier pleas from Japanese buyers thirsty for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), local government representatives throughout northwest Colorado this month have written FERC, urging federal regulators to reactivate the Jordan Cove LNG export project proposed for the south-central coast of Oregon.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has stayed parts of the state’s regulatory overhaul for shale drillers to consider the merits of a lawsuit filed by the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) that challenges key provisions of the package.

FERC has authorized Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC and Sabine Pass LNG LP to introduce feed gas and refrigerants for the third train of the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana [CP11-72; CP13-2]. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October authorized the start-up of the second train at the terminal (see Daily GPI,Oct. 13).

FERC has delayed by two months the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC, according to a revised notice Tuesday [CP15-558].