Natural Gas News – July 3, 2018

PG&E Upgrading Natural Gas System in Watsonville

Oil Price reported: Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) will be working this summer to upgrade its natural gas system in Watsonville. Crews will be replacing portions of PG&E’s underground natural gas pipelines. Crews began work on June 26 by excavating at the following locations: Pennsylvania Avenue from Main Street Ram-say Park to Green Valley Road. Green Valley Road from Pennsylvania to Lawrence Avenue. The work hours are Sunday night to Friday night from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. Traffic impacts of the work will include lane closure with traffic control onsite. Barring unexpected delays, the work will take place through October. There are no planned natural gas service outages, according to PG&E. If this changes, a PG&E representative will contact the impacted customers. Crews will vent natural gas from pipelines as the project progresses. As PG&E vents the pipe, the smell of natural gas and the sound of venting may be noticeable to nearby homes and businesses, depending on the wind direction. For more on this story visit oilprice.com or click https://bit.ly/2MJ1knV

Proposed Natural Gas Plant in Superior Dealt Setback in Minnesota

MPR reported: Minnesota Power’s plan to team up with the Dairyland Power Cooperative to build a 525- to 550-megawatt natural gas plant in Superior, Wis., failed on Monday to get an administrative law judge’s blessing. Minnesota Power must go to Minnesota utility regulators to enter into such an agreement because its customers could end up paying for the plant through electricity rates. The first step in that process is presenting its case before an administrative law judge. On Monday the judge, Jeanne Cochran, said the commission should issue an order denying Minnesota Power’s request because the utility “has not demonstrated that these affiliated interest agreements are consistent with the public interest.” For more on this story visit reuters.com or click https://bit.ly/2KoZoE9