Regulatory
Oklahoma Cites Several Counties for Water Systems Violations
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — In the last two years, Oklahoma has cited several counties for health violations at 36 water systems. The Oklahoman reports the violators in Cleveland, Canadian and Oklahoma counties range from those who operate single-well systems serving a handful of public users to municipal..
Nebraska Commission Begins Hearing on Keystone XL Pipeline
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A state commission that will decide whether to approve or deny the Keystone XL pipeline in Nebraska has kicked off the first day of legal hearings on the project. The Nebraska Public Service Commission is scheduled to hear testimony in a series of hearings that could run from M..
2 More Homes Condemned Due to Florida Sinkhole
LAND O’LAKES, Fla. (AP) — Florida officials have condemned two more homes due to a Florida sinkhole, bringing the total to six homes that are now unlivable. Authorities in Pasco County, a suburban area north of Tampa, said in a news release Sunday that the two additional homes were being condemned...
Better Broadband Coming to 7 Vermont Towns Thanks to Grants
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — People in seven rural Vermont communities will be getting better broadband internet service thanks to a series of grants through Connectivity Initiative distributed by the Department of Public Service. The Connectivity Initiative works to expand high-speed broadband service s..
Key Eastern New Mexico Water Plan Set to be Released
CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) — A key task force in eastern New Mexico is set to unveil its plan to conserve water from a massive groundwater supply that underlies parts of New Mexico, Texas and several other states. The Eastern New Mexico News reports (https://goo.gl/y7LmqU) the Water Policy Advisory Committe..
Feds Back in 'Gasland' Town to Test Water, Air
(AP) — The federal government has returned to a Pennsylvania village that became a flashpoint in the national debate over fracking to investigate ongoing complaints about the quality of the drinking water. Government scientists are collecting water and air samples this week from about 25 homes in D..
School Blast Investigators Probing Gas Meter Work
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Workers may have been moving a gas meter when an explosion tore through a Minneapolis school building this week, killing two people and injuring at least nine others, according to federal investigators. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Minneapolis T..
Senate Approves FERC Nominees, Restores Voting Quorum
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has approved two Republicans nominated by President Donald Trump to serve on the federal commission that oversees the nation’s power grid and natural gas pipelines. Senators’ unanimous votes Thursday approving Senate aide Neil Chatterjee and Pennsylvania utility regulat..
Black Water Near Niagara Falls Leads to Call for Resignations
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Several lawmakers want the board that runs Niagara Falls’ wastewater treatment plant to resign after a foul-smelling discharge darkened the water near the base of the falls during a busy tourist weekend. Members of the Niagara County Legislature’s Republican majority said Thurs..
West Texas Water Pipeline to Oilfield Gets Approval
VAN HORN, Texas (AP) — A 60-mile (96.56-million kilometer) pipeline intended to carry 5.4 million gallons (20.44 million liters) of water daily from a West Texas desert aquifer to the Permian Basin oilfield has won approval despite objections of ranchers, farmers and environmentalists. The Culberso..
NTSB Investigates Explosion that Killed 2 at Minnesota School
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were sent to a Minneapolis school Thursday to look into an apparent natural gas explosion and partial building collapse that killed two people and injured at least nine, including one critically. The explosion at Minneha..
Small New Mexico Communities Struggle to Deliver Clean Water
SANTA CRUZ, N.M. (AP) — Eloy Jacquez lives in the house his parents built on Los Lujans Road in 1948. There was no water in Santa Cruz then. The family waited several more years before the first well was drilled just up the street, next to land used as an informal waste dump. Old cars were left to..
Niagara Falls Board, State Regulators Discuss Black Water
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Operators of a wastewater treatment plant that discharged a plume of stinky, black water near the base of Niagara Falls say they’re cooperating with investigators. The Niagara Falls Water Board has said little publicly about the discharge that turned the water near the fa..
Group Drops Fight over Letting City Use Lake Michigan Water
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A group representing mayors and cities in the Great Lakes region has dropped its fight against letting Waukesha, Wisconsin, draw water from Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative says it has reached a settlement with a council representing the regi..
North Dakota Regulators Investigating Minnesota Contractor
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A Minnesota contractor that damaged a natural gas pipeline in North Dakota last week has a history of striking pipelines. The damage caused the release of 126,000 gallons of natural gas liquids and shut down a gas processing plant for three days. State regulators who recently..
Financing Planned for 8 Wastewater Projects in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia officials say eight wastewater infrastructure projects across the state will share $45 million in financing from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The low-interest loans for construction are intended to help protect and improve water quality in rivers, l..
Cause of Home Explosion that Killed Utility Worker Still Unknown
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board has not identified the cause of a Pennsylvania home explosion that killed a utility worker and injured three others. In a preliminary report released Tuesday, the NTSB says a tapping tee leading to the Manor Township home was leaking ga..
Santa Cruz County: Sewage No Longer Spilling from Pipeline
NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Santa Cruz County in southern Arizona says there is no longer any wastewater or raw sewage spilling from an international pipeline that broke last week. Repair work on the underground pipeline began after authorities found the breach on July 25 in a sparsely populated area n..
North Carolina Officials: Equipment Being Set Aside when Outage Happened
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina transportation officials say workers were setting aside equipment that wasn’t in use when they caused a massive power outage that drove tourists from two islands in the Outer Banks. Transportation department spokesman Tim Hass says construction workers stuck the ..
New York Gov. Orders Probe into Niagara Falls "Black Water"
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday cast doubt on a city agency’s claims surrounding a foul-smelling discharge that turned the water near the base of Niagara Falls black at the height of a busy tourist weekend. A day after directing state regulators to investigate, Cuomo, a Demo..
Report: Pipeline Review Underestimated Forest Fragmentation
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) – The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation along with several state agencies say an analysis by the Mountain Valley Pipeline on the project’s impact on intact forests underestimated the effects by more than 300 percent. The Roanoke Times reports that in a July 21 fil..
Minnesota Officials, 3M Struggle Over Clean Water Agreement
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Pollution Control Agency officials say manufacturing company 3M Co. has violated a decade-old legal agreement that outlines how the business pays for clean drinking water in Minneapolis. The Star Tribune reports that about 200 residents in the city’s southeastern suburb..
Utility Panel: Poland Spring Plan Won't Harm Water System
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Poland Spring is clearing regulatory hurdles for its plan to pump up to 172 million gallons of water a year from a public water district well. The Maine Public Utilities Commission said Tuesday a permit application filed by parent company Nestle Waters to withdraw municipal wa..
Regulators Seek More Work for Mississippi Utility Companies
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi regulators have finalized an effort to push utilities to do more to hire locally based companies. The Public Service Commission voted 3-0 Tuesday to adopt its “Hire Mississippi” rule, after proposing it in May. The rule requires regulated private utilities to kee..
EPA Finalizes WIFIA Fee Rules, Congress Provides Additional Funding
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took another major step toward issuing its first credit subsidies for water infrastructure projects. It published a final rule in June, specifying fees it would charge counties and cities expected to vie for money in the first round of funding under the Wate..
Feds Give Maine $300K to Help Ensure Pipeline Safety
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s U.S. senators say the federal government is giving Maine more than $300,000 to keep its pipelines safe. Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King say the federal Department of Transportation is giving the money to the Maine Public Utilities C..
FERC Issues New Natural Gas Project Guidelines
The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Office of Energy Projects has finalized its revised Guidelines for Reporting on Cultural Resources Investigations for Natural Gas Projects, which were issued in draft form on January 25, 2017, for comment. The guidelines have been altere..
Maine Utility Regulators to Weigh in on Water Transportation Proposal
LINCOLN, Maine (AP) — Utility regulators are weighing in on Poland Spring’s plan to transport up to 172 million gallons of water a year from a public water district well that once served a Maine paper mill. The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday is set to discuss a permit application file..
Factory in New York Village with Tainted Water Gets Superfund Tag
HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — A factory site contaminated with chemicals that also tainted drinking water in an upstate New York village near the Vermont border has been designated a federal Superfund site. The listing announced Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency allows federal resources to..
Natural Gas Council Releases Resilience, Reliability Guide
The Natural Gas Council, which collectively represents companies that produce, transport and deliver clean, affordable natural gas throughout the United States, has released a white paper, “Natural Gas: Reliable and Resilient” highlighting the operational measures, physical characteristics and cont..
- 27 pipeline safety violations tied to deadly Pa. chocolate factory explosion
- Contractor gas line strike triggers home explosion in Missouri
- FiberLight to build 1,400-mile West Texas dark fiber network in $350 million expansion
- Fatal trench collapse in Mass. leads to $4.6 million OSHA penalty, dozens of violations
- OSHA investigates fatal trench collapse at Conroe construction site
- T-Mobile to expand fiber broadband infrastructure footprint with $4.9 billion Metronet acquisition
- Cityside launches $100 million fiber build in Corona, Calif.
- FiberLight to build 1,400-mile West Texas dark fiber network in $350 million expansion
- Alaska fiber buildout to expand broadband in rural communities
- 11-mile Texas pipeline replacement upgrades 72-in. PCCP to 102-in. steel