Regulatory
Wellinghoff Named Acting Chairman of FERC
Industry execs with good luck in Vegas might want to put some money down on President Obama eventually eliminating the “acting” adjective he put in front of the title of new FERC “Chairman” Jon Wellinghoff.
What The Stimulus Brings
The stimulus posturing, debating and finagling is now over, a done deal. The dye is cast as to how the money is being allocated; now states/agencies begin the mad dash to grab their fair share of the money. About the only thing undecided at the Federal level is who is going to pay for all this . . .
Trends Of The Illegal Alien Workforce
Immigration attorney Elise Healy cites a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report that as of January 2007, there were estimated to be 7 million illegal Mexican aliens in the United States, up from 4.7 million from 2000.
Workforce: Immigrants Play Key Role In Utility Construction
Over the past several years, foreign-born workers have played an increasingly important role on most types of construction projects, including utility construction.
Last Minute Bush Rule On Endangered Species Could Speed Gas Projects
A last-minute rule from the Bush administration limits the ability of federal wildlife officials and environmentalists to throw a monkey wrench into an application for construction of new gas transmission lines and LNG facilities.
Increased Sewer/Water Funding Headlines Many Changes In Washington
Sewer and drinking water funding has been a back burner issue in Washington for the past decade, as local infrastructure needs have come to a boil. But the economic stimulus package Congress will pass will include substantial funds for water infrastructure.
U.S. Supreme Court wades into water war
The water war between North Carolina and South Carolina may soon go before the nation’s highest court.
EIA Report Says Planned U.S. Pipelines Carry $28 Billion Price Tag
Despite turmoil in the financial markets and oil prices that are the lowest since 2003, the U.S. natural gas industry appears likely to remain one of the stronger performers in the energy sector. Supporting this is the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) report, Additions to Capacity on the U.S. Natural Gas Pipeline Network: 2007.
FERC relents on key Issues in final posting rule
FERC walked a fine line with its final rule on natural gas flow posting, reducing the number of intrastate pipelines – called major non interstates for the purpose of this rulemaking – who will have to comply while at the same time ditching a former proposal which interstates had opposed. FERC threw a bone to interstates, too.
Democratic future darkens prospects for LNG approvals
The gas infrastructure conference on Nov. 21 touched on LNG pricing and terminal construction, but never got into the political issues which are likely to bear on FERC’s approval of new LNG terminals.
Climate Change Agenda Could Have FERC Selecting Pipeline Projects
Worries about potential escalating demand for natural gas from electric utilities and industrials forced to switch fuels because of climate change legislation from Congress was the major factor behind the FERC natural gas infrastructure workshop on Nov. 21.
PHMSA Releases Controller/Control Room Regulation
The federal pipeline regulatory agency proposed a broad new rule which would force hazardous liquid, transmission and distribution pipelines plus LNG terminals to train and test large numbers of employees in control room operations, and implement new safety measures for SCADA systems.
Alaskan Pipeline Project
FERC officials say they aren’t pressuring the competing Denali and TransCanada Alaskan pipeline projects to merge. But the two projects – one already in the pre filing process – are heading toward submitting construction applications to FERC at roughly the same time in 2011 or 2012, depending on who one talks to, in what would be a regulatory clash and crash that the agency hopes to avoid. Congress is also pressuring the two Alaskan gas transportation contestants, though very subtly.
NASSCO Obtains Favorable OSHA Ruling For Confined Space
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has given verbal assurance to NASSCO that it will continue to consider the sewer rehabilitation work typically performed by its members as "maintenance" rather than "construction" as had been proposed in a rule change to OSHA's confined space standard, reports Irv Gemora, executive director of NASSCO.
Everybody’s talking
As turmoil continues to grip the world’s stock markets and traders seem to have a knee-jerk reaction every time some CEO goes to the bathroom, there is a bright side.
Gas Infrastructure Commission Legislation Prompts Worries
With Congress almost certain to pass a bill revising or eliminating its longstanding ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, interstate natural gas pipelines are trying to insure that any bill does not include an amendment setting up a national commission which would examine the adequacy of current federal policies governing the siting of natural gas infrastructure.
Some Dissatisfaction With DIMP
While distribution companies and state regulators seem to be satisfied with the general outlines of the proposed distribution integrity management program (DIMP) announced on June 25 by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a number of questions are being raised by both groups about some of the proposal's murky details.
OSHA Proposes Change In Penalty Authority
Pushed by a decision by a federal appeals court, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wants to make changes in its respirator and training standards which will allow it to assess a penalty on a company on a per employee violation basis. A decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 2005 said OSHA went beyond the language of those two standards in fining a Houston construction company for 11 violations of the asbestos standard, based on the fact that the company did not provide 11 employees with respirators or training for removing asbestos.
Melfred Borzall’s Red Tools Going Green
For over 60 years, Melfred Borzall’s directional drilling and horizontal earth boring tools have been identified by their signature red color. Now, those red tools are turning green.
FERC Approves Midcontinent Express Pipeline
Major gas producers lost their battle to stop construction of the 506 mile Midcontinent Express Pipeline (MEP) when FERC cleared the project in late July.
House Seeks To Improve Municipal Bond Market
Local sewage infrastructure projects would get a boost from legislation a House committee approved on July 30.
Fuel Talk
Energy paints a complicated picture. Everybody’s got an opinion, but most are centered around getting prices back down; especially for gasoline but also for gas and electric. And the construction industry is caught in the middle.
Progress or politics?
Let me say up-front that I’ve never been a fan of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), which helps to explain some of my admittedly jaundiced views. My opinion is that their grasp of energy issues/realities/policy is non-existent. Pelosi’s ineffective leadership in the House has made Newt Gingrich’s embattled tenure seem like a walk in the park. But that’s politics.
Oklahoma Weighs ‘Undergrounding’ Options For Power Grid
The Public Utility Division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) has completed an investigation into measures that could be taken to protect the state's power infrastructure from ice, wind and other disasters that have the potential of disrupting electrical service. Some of the measures could have a substantial impact on underground construction.
Water Development Board Discusses Plans At GCTA Luncheon
Nearly 90 attendees and their guests gathered to hear Mark D. Hall, P.E. director of the Project Engineering and Review Division, in Project Finance and Construction Assistance (PFCA) at the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), Houston, TX, speak at the Aug. 13 Gulf Coast Trenchless Association meeting held at the Houston Engineering and Scientific Society Building.
Show Us The Money
The presidential and Congressional elections of 2008 are over. For better or worse, our nation’s course seems set for the next four years. Economic stimulus talk is running rampant again in Washington. God help us, maybe they’ll get it right and make public works, especially underground infrastructure, a key part of any stimulus package? <strong>Second nature</strong>
- OSHA cites Florida contractors for trench safety violations at sewer and excavation sites
- Biden-Harris administration invests $849 million in aging water infrastructure, drought resilience
- Cadiz to reuse steel from terminated Keystone XL pipeline for California groundwater project
- Texas contractor penalized by OSHA for repeated trench safety violations
- West Virginia approves $67 million for water, sewer projects