Regulatory

As an outgrowth of severe natural gas price spikes a year ago, FERC at year-end approved a proposed tariff solution for California’s electric grid operator allowing for start-up and minimum load cost recovery for gas-fired generation plants that sometimes can be caught in weather-related gas price spikes.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has scheduled two public hearings this month to discuss Algonquin Gas Transmission LLC’s proposed Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) natural gas expansion project.

FERC has approved the Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC export project and related pipeline proposed for the Texas coast. It is the second such project of Lower 48 liquefied natural gas (LNG) export pack leader Cheniere Energy Inc. and the fifth terminal to receive the Commission’s blessing.

Interest in the remediation program for the unplugged “legacy wells” in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) will be tested early in the new year as the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has scheduled an industry day and a separate day for one-on-one meetings with individual companies Jan. 7-8.

Declining oil prices have prompted Alaska Gov. Bill Walker to put an end to non-obligated state spending on a half dozen major projects, including the Alaska Stand Alone Pipeline (ASAP) project, a potential alternative to a larger pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project.

At a time when the state’s chief regulatory organization is under heightened scrutiny and criticism, California Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday named a long-time confidant to head the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and a new commissioner on the five-member panel. The appointments are effective Jan. 1.

FERC’s recent pressure on the electric power market to provide incentives to contract for firm fuel supplies is very encouraging, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) said in a letter to the chairman last week.

Bowing to pressure from its critics, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) on Monday offered more emails containing questionable communications between some of its now-terminated executives and state regulators. It also promised to turn over during the first quarter all pertinent emails since 2010.

A trio of powerful congressional Republicans, citing “an apparent pattern of limited substantive FERC input” in the development of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan and rulemakings bearing on electric reliability, have asked individual commissioners to provide details of any such collaboration between the agencies.