Energy

The nation’s largest underground coal mining company claims a proposed update to the federal stream protection rule is the top regulatory threat to its industry.  “What this rule does is put an end to underground mining in the United States,” Gary Broadbent of Murray Energy Corporation said at an Ohio State Bar Association program in Columbus on April 14. The closely-held company is headquartered in St. Clairsville, Ohio. [node:read-more:link]

The lumbering coal-fired power stations facing closure because of age and air emissions have been the workhorses of the U.S. high-voltage electric transmission grid. When the grid was stressed and frequency dropped, they ran harder.

Now, as tomorrow's grid is reshaped with more wind farms, solar arrays and gas-fired plants, experts warn that new regulation will be needed to ensure that these new resources provide the frequency support and other essential services that the coal plants delivered. [node:read-more:link]

It’s not your imagination. It’s been windier than usual lately across Minnesota.  April is the windiest month of the year on average in Minnesota. And this April our winds have blown harder than average.  It turns out our winds have been producing some unprecedented power production across the Upper Midwest lately.  On one day last November, more than 50 percent of Xcel’s total energy output was produced by wind. That’s a pretty remarkable fact for renewable energy, and one that might have been unthinkable just five or 10 years ago. [node:read-more:link]

Two companies crucial to the business of U.S. energy exploration have abandoned their planned $34 billion merger, according to the Justice Department.

The department filed suit April 6 to block the merger of Halliburton and Baker Hughes. It claims the transaction would unlawfully eliminate significant competition in almost two dozen markets crucial to the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the United States. [node:read-more:link]

A Montana wind energy project plans to make use of existing infrastructure built for coal.

In large part, the existing electrical grid was built around hydropower, nuclear and coal and natural gas power plants. Those existing long-distance power lines are either filled to capacity with conventionally-generated electrons, or they just aren’t there, leaving vast swaths of the West — often the best places to build a wind or solar plant — without a way to get that power to the people who need it. [node:read-more:link]

Federal transportation board rejected a proposed Montana railroad due to coal bankruptcies. [node:read-more:link]

Kinder Morgan Utopia has filed lawsuits seeking eminent domain against 15 Harrison County landowners.

The lawsuits were filed April 4 against landowners who have declined all Kinder Morgan Utopia offers for pipeline easements across their properties.

The Kinder Morgan Utopia pipeline will stretch 240 miles and carry ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from the Utica shale fields in Harrison County, Ohio, to Fulton County, Ohio. From there, it will proceed through Michigan to Ontario. [node:read-more:link]

A tanker from Louisiana loaded with U.S. natural gas is en route to Portugal, the first shipment in a trade relationship that could shake up the European market. In Europe, American gas will add to a swell in supply in a crowded market long dominated by Russia. Analysts predict that the arrival of U.S. gas could trigger a price war, leading to lower prices for consumers that could act as a shot in the arm for the struggling European economy. [node:read-more:link]

Plunging oil and gas has generated more than 84,000 pink slips in Texas, according to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. But many rig hands, roustabouts, pipe fitters and even some engineers are finding a surprising alternative in the utility-scale solar farms rising from the desert near the border with New Mexico. [node:read-more:link]

Plans to build a $3.3 billion natural gas pipeline from New York into New England through western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire have been suspended. [node:read-more:link]