American Gas - July 2013 - (Page 11)

digest u p d At e Delayed, While Considering Concerns Regulators block utility’s LNG storage facility plans n ew Mexico Gas Co. has put plans for a $38 million LNG storage facility on hold indefinitely after it drew opposition from state regulators. The Albuquerque-based utility announced last fall its intention to build an LNG receiving terminal, 2.5 million gallon LNG storage tank, and a vaporizer and distribution system in Rio Rancho, just north of Albuquerque. The proposal was aimed at preventing outages like the ones that occurred in February 2011, when a severe winter storm cut off supply lines Ap photo/susAn MontoYA BRYAn diting federal authorizations.” And, it added, the “undesirable effects of permitting delays range from increased project costs to missed in-service dates, along with a variety of associated adverse business, environmental, and other consequences.” The recently proposed House bill would limit agencies’ ability to prolong the process. It would require FERC to approve or deny a pipeline within 12 months from the time an application is filed. Once FERC completes its review and provides its approval, the other agencies involved would have 90 days to produce a ruling. If they don’t respond within the 90-day period, the permit would go into effect without their input. FERC can grant a 30-day extension for “unforeseen circumstances” beyond an agency’s control. This approach will bring more certainty to the approval process and help pipeline projects meet the needs of energy consumers, according to Pompeo. “This bipartisan piece of legislation makes common-sense reforms to the natural gas pipeline permitting process,” he said. “We’re looking forward, modernizing how we approve natural gas pipelines as natural gas becomes more prevalent as a source of electricity generation.” —Peter Haapaniemi Hoping for increased employment and economic development, the Rio Rancho community is supporting NMGC’s plans. from west Texas. Designed to received trucked-in LNG, the facility would have had the capacity to deliver up to 100 MMCf of CNG per day to NMGC’s transmission and distribution systems when needed. But this spring the company announced it was withdrawing its application with the state Public Regulation Commission after commission staff and the Attorney General’s Office said they would oppose it. NMGC spokeswoman Teala Kail told American Gas that the regulators raised objections to the company’s proposed rate recovery mechanism. The company’s application called for the project to be financed with a temporary rate rider that would have increased the average monthly residential customer bill by an estimated 1.12 percent. “Rather than just push ahead with the application, we thought it would be more prudent to see if we could address their concerns first,” said Kail. Any further action on the project, however, now will likely be delayed until resolution of the proposed acquisition of NMGC by TECO Energy, which was announced in late May, she said. Kail said the LNG project had the support of the Rio Rancho community, where city leaders had hoped it would bring increased employment and economic development. A Public Regulation Commission task force report on the 2011 outages—in which thousands of NMGC’s 500,000 customers lost service for several days—called for the state to consider encouraging the development of more natural gas storage locations in New Mexico. —Jennifer Pilla Taylor Continued from page 10 data center—enabling both to conserve energy and reduce costs and emissions. energy giant shell will be the exclusive supplier of LnG to interlake steamship co. when the Great Lakes shipper begins converting its ships to run on LNG starting in the spring of 2015. These ships are expected to be the first LnG-powered vessels on the Great Lakes and among the first in the U.s. interlake anticipates that the conversion to LnG will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulates. Oxford catalyst Group’s new gas-to-liquids pilot plant is now operational. Located at the site of its U.s.-based subsidiary, Velocys, in Plain city, Ohio, the facility will test small-scale commercial plant configurations at relevant operating conditions as well as for training. it is producing nearly 1 barrel per day of ultrapure synthetic liquids and waxes. Future plans include adding a microchannel hydroprocessor for the production of finished fuels. nat G cnG solutions reports that it is offering a new low-cost CNG fueling station for midsized fleets, priced from $60,000 after a federal tax credit. The nat G 500 series comes preassembled and can be skid-mounted to speed transportation and installation. The solution, which delivers from 23 to 80 gasoline gallon equivalents per hour, is available on a zero-dollar, five-year lease starting at 25 cents per gallon. Ge has introduced LnG in a Box, a small-scale LNG fueling Continued on page 12 JULY 2013 AmericAn GAs 11

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - July 2013

American Gas - July 2013
Contents
President’s Message
Subject Index
Shining a Light for Gas Efficiency
Digest
Issues
Issues
Update
Need to Know
By the Numbers
Places
Scratch, Sniff—Evacuate?
Capitol Hill
Cape Canaveral
The Corner Office
AGA Ops Conference
Elm Street
Work in Progress
Profile
For Good Measure
Law
Jobs
Marketplace
Buyer’s Guide
Headway

American Gas - July 2013