Underground Construction - August 2022 - 12

Washington Watch
However, eight states, led by Louisiana, intervened and requested
that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
stay the ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted the stay after the Ninth
Circuit denied it, keeping the Trump-era rule in effect. In 2021,
Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and other Republicans on
the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee introduced
a bill (S. 3277) that would codify the Trump rule.
" Section 401 is meant to protect water quality. It is not a
broad license for states to block economic activity or infrastructure
based upon political factors, " Capito said at the time.
That bill has gone nowhere.
FERC Considering Pipeline Sales
of 'Responsibly Sourced Natural Gas'
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) appears
likely to approve the first application from a pipeline company
to sell " responsibly sourced natural gas " (RSG) at a premium
price. Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), a major delivery pipeline
on the east coast has in essence been trying to work out an
acceptable tariff with FERC for sales of RSG.
FERC has been concerned about the lack of minimum environmental
standards that establish metrics for certifying any
gas is at a suitably low methane level
FERC rejected TGP's PCG (producer certified gas) pooling
service option for its Rate Schedule Supply Aggregation,
without prejudice, on April 29, 2022. According to a blog post
by the law firm Sidley Austin, this was because it included proposed
tariff language defining PCG criteria.
TGP re-filed the proposed tariff in May, retaining key attributes
concerning RSG pooling, while removing the PCG
criteria from its tariff.
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" In summary, " wrote Carlos J. Oblitas, director of rates
and regulatory affairs, TGP, in his May 11, 2022, letter to
FERC, " Tennessee's PCG Pooling Service Option proposal
will encourage the transportation of RSG on the Tennessee
system by providing market participants with transparent
and liquid trading points at which to buy and sell producer
certified natural gas.
" Tennessee's new pooling points will also enable market
participants to independently trade, on a bi-lateral basis or by
using a third-party platform or registry, the environmental attributes
associated with the producer certified gas. "
Gas producers are beginning to consider how they can sell
RSG, due to both pressure on the industry to reduce methane
emissions and demands from buyers, whether local gas companies
or utilities. Latest evidence of that strain was President
Biden's mid-June announcement of the U.S. and European
Union's Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway, a commitment
to drive down methane pollution in the oil and gas sector,
and eliminate routine flaring as soon as possible.
There is indication of burgeoning RSG interest from buyers,
too. Recently, Southwestern Energy Company, the largest
dual-basin natural gas producer in the U.S., announced a
multi-year, certified (RSG) sales agreement with the North
American subsidiary of Uniper, one of Germany's largest publicly
listed energy supply companies.
PIPELINES
HDD RIG CENSUS
Global Pipeline Outlook
UCT: Big Show Back in January
Tech Tips
Lateral Focus
But development of measurement methodologies, standards
and certification is something of a Wild West right now.
In April, Kinder Morgan, the parent of TGP, announced a
collaboration with Cheniere Energy Inc., several other midstream
operators, methane detection technology providers,
and leading academic institutions, focused on quantifying,
monitoring, reporting and verifying greenhouse gas emissions
associated with the operation of natural gas gathering,
processing, transmission, and storage systems.
Sempra is a founding member of Veritas, a GTI Energy
Differentiated Gas Measurement and Verification Initiative.
The Initiative supports Sempra Infrastructure and other
customers' desires for responsibly sourced natural gas that
is produced and transported using proven technologies that
minimize GHG emissions.
Sempra Infrastructure is also a sponsor of the Collaboratory
to Advance Methane Science, a research alliance to advance
technological solutions that enable methane emission reductions.
UC
12 AUGUST 2022 | UCONonline.com
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Underground Construction - August 2022

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