The California Public Utilities Commission has approved $950 million in increased rates for 
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to cover the costs of improvements to its natural gas storage facilities and pipeline capacity.
The rate hike for PG&E is separate from a pending rate disallowance of $850 million related to the utility’s alleged shortcomings in responding to the 2010 failure of a natural gas pipeline in San Bruno. Continue reading
In a victory for oil and gas producers, a federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) does not have the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed last year by the Western Energy Alliance, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Native American tribes in several western states.
The Air Resources Board will conduct a two-day public hearing in Sacramento in July on the 
proposed Regulation for Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for Crude Oil and Natural Gas Facilities.
The hearing will be held at the Board’s Byron Sher Auditorium, 1001 I St., in Sacramento. It will begin 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 21, and reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on the following day. The agenda will be available at least 10 days in advance.
By a 68-1 vote, the California Assembly has approved legislation to halt injection of new gas into 
wells in the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility until every well there is fully tested. The measure now goes to the state Senate and, if approved there, to Gov. Jerry Brown for final action.
The proposed legislation would continue a moratorium that has been in place since February, when Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) was able to seal a well that leaked methane into the air over a four-month period.
In response to the filing of lawsuit by the Luna & Glushon law firm on behalf of Hollywood Hills neighbors and Runyon Canyon Park users, the City of Los Angeles has halted construction of a basketball court in the park with the logo of a private company.
City Councilmember David Ryu asked City officials to stop construction after the lawsuit exposed that the project had been approved without proper notice to neighbors, Park users and the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council.
The Aliso Canyon underground natural gas storage field, the state’s largest, may have to be shut down, the president of the California Public Utilities Commission said. His agency has approved gas and electric power conservation efforts aimed at avoiding power outages.
A four-month leak from the 3,600-acre facility operated by Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), which was halted in February, has resulted in problems that the state’s energy utilities will have to deal with for an extended period of time, said CPUC President Michael Picker.
