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Eagle Construction & Environmental Services, L.P. and Southern Waste Services, Inc. Announce Merger
Panama City, FL, Nov. 5, 2008 – Eagle Construction & Environmental Services, L.P. (“Eagle”) and Southern Waste Services, Inc. (“SWS”) are pleased to announce the formation of a leading, super-regional environmental services firm with twenty-seven strategically located service centers spanning nine states. The combination unites two market leaders and creates a firm with expertise in numerous services, including: planned remediation, land- and water-based emergency response, industrial services, demolition, training, and technical services. Together, Eagle and SWS are uniquely positioned to provide customers with a comprehensive set of environmental services across the Southern and Midwestern United States.

Eagle and SWS will work together and evaluate integration opportunities in a thoughtful and well planned manner to maximize the benefit to the companies’ employees, customers, and operations. Eagle, who will operate under the new name of Eagle Construction & Environmental Services, LLC, is managed by Marc Walraven, who has been named President. SWS will continue to be managed by current SWS President
Jim Weber. “The merger of these two businesses is extremely exciting,” said Jim Weber. “While day-today operations will continue to be conducted by the same outstanding teams our customers know and depend upon, we will now have at our disposal the tremendous resources, experience, and expertise of both firms.”

“The companies have a shared commitment to safety, integrity, and customer service. The success of both Eagle and SWS has been predicated upon being there when our customers need us, knowing what to do, and doing it right. By combining our experienced teams, specialized equipment, and geographical base of operations, we will be able to undertake any environmental remediation, emergency response, and ongoing maintenance projects in the Southern and Midwestern United States. When called upon, we will also be
able to mobilize a large, coordinated response to any disaster within the continental United States,” said Marc Walraven.

In addition to the merger, Eagle and SWS benefit from an investment by ShoreView Industries, previously an investor in SWS, to provide growth capital for the company. “We would like to congratulate Jim, Marc, and their teams on bringing together two marquee brands in the environmental services industry,” said ShoreView Principal Brett Habstritt. “The companies’ strong management teams, exemplary employees, and leading reputations provide an ideal platform to pursue strategic acquisitions, establish new service center locations and expand existing services. We look forward to supporting the company as it evaluates its numerous growth alternatives.”

About Eagle Construction & Environmental Services, L.L.C.
Eagle Construction & Environmental Services L.L.C. (Eagle) is a full service environmental remediation, specialized construction and emergency response company with one goal: to turn adversity into peace of mind for our clients. Eagle is a company of people dedicated to delivering best-value services and solutions through innovative applications of science and technology. Eagle is committed to the highest
standards of ethical behavior and professional integrity as we deliver cost effective, high quality services.

Eagle has an extensive base of repeating and satisfied clients, including federal, state and local governments and industrial/commercial companies.

Eagle’s company headquarters is located in Eastland, Texas and its nine district offices are in; Gonzales, Louisiana; Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, Texas; Harriman, Tennessee; Findlay and Marion, Ohio; Highland, Indiana; and Ormond Beach, Florida.

As a full service environmental company, Eagle’s services cover the full range of needs, from the predictable and planned to the sudden emergency and disaster situations. Our capabilities range from hazardous waste removal, environmental remediation, demolition and construction to waste management, Emergency Response Strike Teams, underground storage tank removal and disaster relief. Eagle has
developed a team of resources capable of providing a top quality project each and every time.

About Southern Waste Services, Inc.
Southern Waste Services, Inc. provides turn-key environmental services for industry and government. SWS offers a broad range of capabilities that include: Emergency Spill Response for Petroleum & Chemical Products, Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Wastes and Bio-Hazardous Wastes, Industrial Maintenance Services, Vacuum Truck Services, Remediation, Training and Disaster Recovery & Cleanup.

SWS specializes in providing around the clock emergency spill response and remediation services to clients world wide. Employing strong management practices and quality work ethics, while working closely with our customers and regulatory agencies, SWS provides rapid, safe, and efficient solutions for our clients’ environmental problems.

Service Centers are strategically located throughout the Southeast: Pensacola, Panama City Beach, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Lake Wales, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Ft. Myers and Ft. Lauderdale in Florida; Birmingham and Decatur in Alabama; Atlanta and Savannah in Georgia; Paducah, Kentucky; and Nashville, Tennessee. With an extensive network of pre-negotiated pricing agreements with other
Emergency Response contractors and incident command providers, SWS response capabilities are virtually unlimited!

About ShoreView Industries
ShoreView Industries is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based firm that manages $600 million in private equity funds. ShoreView invests in established, middle-market companies with operations in North America, across a wide range of industries.

Energy firms likely to trim their spending; Analysts expect slowdown will create caution
By KRISTEN HAYS, Houston Chronicle, Oct. 7, 2008 -- The financial crisis that has choked credit markets also may stem the flow of capital spending by oil and natural gas companies as the situation shakes out, analysts said.

"All the oil companies, large and small, will cut back their capital spending," Fadel Gheit, an oil analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, predicted. "The ones that keep their capital spending intact will be the exception, not the rule."

Even if companies have the money for new exploration and production projects, "they will say, 'We will wait for the market to cool off,' " he said.

The industry also is watching crude prices, now at around $90 a barrel after approaching $150 in midsummer. Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $2.25 to settle at $90.06 Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Well-established companies with proven track records, healthy cash flow and low debt — from the largest publicly traded oil majors and independents to the oil services conglomerates and drillers they hire — will weather the credit crunch even though investors have pummeled their stocks along with the rest of the Dow industrials, analysts said.

But unproven or overleveraged companies that need banks to finance projects may find credit markets as well as private equity sources less welcoming. That could lead to asset sales, cutbacks in exploration and production or inability to fulfill contracts.

Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities in Houston said in a note to investors that North American operations are vulnerable in two areas: publicly traded companies that outspend their cash flow and cut back because equity markets are too expensive to access or closed to them, and companies that cut back exploration and production spending out of anxiety rather than lack of cash.

"These issues recently cemented our view that domestic E&P spending would have to rein in," the note said.

Gheit said the oil majors may divert some spending to acquisitions of weaker players — companies more vulnerable to the credit crisis as the price of crude falls, largely on economic concerns.

Tudor Pickering also noted that the crunch creates a buyer's market as squeezed companies seek to sell assets to raise cash for exploration and drilling programs. They would have to accept lower prices than they want or cut capital spending, Tudor Pickering said.

Asset sales by Plains
Late last month, Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Co. announced that it was selling its remaining 50 percent interest in oil and gas assets in West Texas, New Mexico and Colorado to Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum for $1.3 billion. Last year Occidental bought the first 50 percent — with almost identical production — for $1.6 billion.

Plains said the deal would allow the company to pay down debt, reduce capital expenditures, and focus on the growing Haynesville shale in East Texas and Louisiana.

John Olson, an analyst with Sanders Morris Harris in Houston, said the crisis won't noticeably affect the oil majors, which are flush with cash after months of record-high oil prices. Exxon Mobil alone had nearly $40 billion in cash on hand three months ago when it reported second-quarter earnings.

And many independents that focus on exploration and production and have no refining operations "continue to be reasonably strong," he said.

Funded through cash flow
Chip Minty, spokesman for Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy, said the company's plan to launch a second project in Canada's oil sands at a cost of $1 billion stands.

"Our capital expenditures for 2008 are fully funded through our cash flow, so we aren't relying on the credit market to allow us to move forward on that," Minty said.

But Devon is monitoring the crisis and its fallout, he said, particularly its impact on the economy and commodity prices in the long term.

Staying on track
Another major project, Motiva Enterprises' $7 billion expansion of its Port Arthur refinery, remains on track as well. David Sexton, president of Shell Oil Products U.S., said last month that the financial crisis wouldn't interfere because the project was financed largely from earnings and contributions from its companies, Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco.

But Olson noted that some producers already have announced cutbacks. Last month Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy said it would cut drilling capital expenditures by $3.2 billion and expected $2 billion of excess cash in 2009 and 2010 to pay down debt.

The company, a major player in natural gas including emerging shale plays, also curtailed some output and lowered production growth projections.

In a conference call with analysts last month, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon attributed the pullback to concerns about natural gas prices, which have fallen 50 percent since July, rather than to the credit crisis.

Cutting the capital budget
Houston-based Petrohawk Energy Corp. said last week it would cut its 2009 capital budget by a third, to $1 billion, and reallocate spending to projects viewed to have the best potential for reserves growth, such as developments in the Haynesville and Fayetteville shale plays.

"This is in response to lower (natural) gas prices and the credit crunch that most industries are going through right now," Petrohawk CEO Floyd Wilson told analysts. He noted that the company has not tapped its ability to borrow up to $1.1 billion.

Brian Uhlmer, a senior analyst with Pritchard Capital Partners in Houston, said cash-rich, established drilling contractors — such as Transocean, Noble Corp., Diamond Offshore or ENSCO International — are well positioned to weather the credit storm. But undercapitalized companies face choppy waters.

For example, Norwegian rig contractor MPF Corp. went bankrupt last month because it couldn't find more financing amid cost overruns for a new ship intended to combine functions of drilling and production. Currently, separate vessels perform those functions — drillships drill and floating production, storage and offloading vessels produce, store and ship oil to shore.

Not willing to risk it
Uhlmer said the overruns, combined with the untested design, left MPF shut out of credit markets. "On the credit side of it, bankers don't want to take a risk on an unproven design," he said.

The same goes for newly formed drillers that haven't built or operated rigs or drillships before, whether or not they stick to proven designs, Uhlmer said.

Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned oil company, has awarded 32 contracts for new vessels. Of those, five are with companies that have existing drilling operations with more than two rigs, Uhlmer said.

"We said six months ago when Petrobras bid all these contracts that most of these won't get built, wondering who would finance them." Now, the financial crisis "kind of magnifies the situation."

Drilling Boom Revives Hopes for Natural Gas

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/25/2008 - HOUSTON -- American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in half a century, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that domestic gas fields were in irreversible decline.

The new drilling boom uses advanced technology to release gas trapped in huge shale beds found throughout North America gas long believed to be out of reach. Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, releasing less of the emissions that cause global warming than coal or oil.

Rising production of natural gas has significant long-range implications for American consumers and businesses. A sustained increase in gas supplies over the next decade could slow the rise of utility bills, obviate the need to import gas and make energy-intensive industries more competitive.

While the recent production increase is indisputable, not everyone is convinced the additional supplies can last for decades. The jury is still out how big shale is going to be, said Robert Ineson, a natural gas analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm.

Still, many people in the natural-gas industry believe a new era is at hand, and a rising chorus of Wall Street analysts and Congressional lawmakers supports that notion. Competition among companies for rights to the new gas has set off a frenzy of leasing and drilling. Its almost divine intervention, said Aubrey K. McClendon, chairman and chief executive of the Chesapeake Energy Corporation, one of the nations largest natural gas producers. Right at the time oil prices are skyrocketing, were struggling with the economy, were concerned about global warming, and national security threats remain intense, we wake up and weve got this abundance of natural gas around us. Senior Democrats in Congress are getting behind natural gas, portraying it as an alternative fuel for transportation that can serve as a stopgap until renewable sources of energy, like solar and wind power, become economical on a broad scale. You can have a transition with natural gas that is cheap, abundant and clean, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, said Sunday on Meet the Press on NBC. She also said that an investment she and her husband had made in a company that produces natural gas for use in automobiles, revealed last week by The Wall Street Journal, was not a conflict of interest because Im investing in something I believe in. Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus, has introduced legislation to offer more tax credits to producers and consumers of natural gas and mandate the installation of natural gas pumps in some service stations.

Domestic gas production was up 8.8 percent in the first five months of this year compared with the period a year earlier, a rate of increase last seen in 1959, during the great drilling boom that followed World War II.

Most of the gain is coming from shale, particularly the Barnett Shale region around Fort Worth, which has been under development for several years. The increase in gas production stands in sharp contrast to the trend in domestic oil production, which has been declining steadily since 1970 and dropped 21 percent in the last decade alone.

The Barnett region proved that, using new technology, shale gas could be extracted on a large scale. But lately, companies have set their sights on shale formations that could produce far more gas than the Barnett.

Testing to determine the productivity of fields has been completed on just a tiny fraction of the potential acreage. According to a new report by Navigant Consulting, paid for by a foundation allied with the gas industry, there could be as much as 842 trillion cubic feet of retrievable gas in shales around the country, enough to supply about 40 years worth of natural gas, at todays consumption rate. But thousands of wells need to be drilled before the exact reserves will be known.

Domestic natural gas prices have already plunged 42 percent since early July, an even faster drop in price than oil or most other commodities, in part because the rapid supply growth has begun to influence the market. Price spikes remain possible, of course, but throughout the industry the shale discoveries are causing a shift in thinking about the long-term outlook.

Black or brown shales are a type of sedimentary rock, high in organic matter, found beneath millions of acres in at least 23 states, including New York. The rock has been known for more than a century to contain gas, but it was considered virtually worthless until a decade ago because typical wells on such sites would produce gas briefly and then die.

Now, companies are drilling long, horizontal wells and pumping in water to fracture the rock, releasing vastly more gas than could the vertical wells of old.

The Barnett was the first shale field to undergo major development, and gas production has gone up tenfold since 2001, so that it now produces 7 percent of the nations supply of natural gas. At least two other shale formations, the Haynesville in Louisiana and Texas and the Marcellus in Appalachia, are believed to be even larger, though substantial production in those will take another two to five years.

Prospectors have identified at least two dozen shale beds in North America that could contain large amounts of gas. Production is clearly growing, and the growth is sustainable, said Michael Zenker, a natural gas analyst at Barclays Capital.

A Deutsche Bank report, by the analyst Shannon Nome, recently estimated that production from the eight largest shale fields was likely to hit 6.6 billion cubic feet a day this year, or 11.8 percent of national gas production, and then rise to 14.5 billion cubic feet a day by 2011 almost a quarter of domestic production. Shale is the most significant domestic natural gas find in 50 years, said Chris Ruppel, an analyst at the institutional brokerage firm Execution, which means the United States will become gas independent, and more industrially competitive versus Europe for gas-intensive industries such as chemicals, fertilizer, smelting iron and aluminum. Shale gas could ultimately be important beyond North America. The rest of the world has shale formations on an immense scale. Many of them are known to contain gas, but exploration and assessment of those fields with the new production techniques have barely started.

Several large shale fields are being explored in Canada. In the United States, real estate speculators are becoming overnight millionaires in Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas by buying up parcels of land and flipping them to companies that drill for natural gas. Wildcatters are ordering every rig they can get their hands on, and paying signing bonuses of $25,000 an acre to drill below houses, schools and churches. Pipeline companies are building as fast as they can to get the new gas to market.

As the frenzy unfolds, some energy experts urge caution in projecting how big the new supplies will be and whether they will alleviate the loss in productivity of conventional wells, particularly those in the Gulf of Mexico. Its hard for me to believe we will have more domestic gas production in six years than we have now, said Chip Johnson, president and chief executive of Carrizo Oil and Gas, a Houston company involved in several of the shale fields.

The Energy Departments 2008 estimates for shale gas reserves that may one day be economically produced stand at 125 trillion cubic feet, about a seventh of the most optimistic industry estimates. Jeffrey Little, a department gas analyst, said the government estimate was based on 2006 data and could increase after further testing. The larger reserves could very well be out there, but their magnitude is uncertain, he said. Some industry experts warn that shortages of engineers and rigs, scarcity of pipelines near some shale fields and fights over land and water use could slow development in some states.

In the Marcellus field, drilling and pipeline work must be done over woody and hilly terrain, and enormous amounts of water are needed to fracture the shale. Drilling has been halted in places after local regulators caught companies drawing water from streams without permits. We see natural gas as potentially a very important transitional fuel, but we cant use it at the expense of our natural resources, said Kate Sinding, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, who warned that water-intensive drilling in shale could threaten local water supplies and aquifers.

Domestic gas production was in decline from the early 1990s to 2005, before production from shale beds and some lesser unconventional fields led to increases beginning in 2006. In the meantime, consumption increased by more than 15 percent, satisfied largely by rising imports.

Prices in recent years soared from less than $2 per thousand cubic feet in 1999 to more than $13 as recently as last month, before a precipitous decline in recent weeks. Natural gas closed Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $7.84 per thousand cubic feet, the lowest price since Feb. 1.

With the growth of power generation from natural gas, the Energy Department estimates that gas consumption will increase 3 percent this year and an additional 1.7 percent in 2009. But that is well below expected supply increases.

Such increases carry risks. Some in the gas industry fear that if prices fall too much, producers will pull back on their investments in drilling and development. If prices drop much more, said Mr. Johnson of Carrizo Oil and Gas, producers will slow down or at least not be as aggressive.

Bigger Gas Pipeline Planned to Cross 22 Miles of Pasco
Tampa Tribune, 6/11/2008, Reporter Julia Ferrante
DADE CITY - About 22 miles of a proposed natural gas pipeline expansion could someday stretch through Pasco County.

A representative from the Florida Gas Transmission Co. briefed Pasco County commissioners Tuesday on the company's plans.  The 36-inch pipeline would stretch from Tallahassee to South Florida, cutting through 25 counties.

The Pasco portion primarily would run adjacent to an existing corridor along State Road 52, south through Land O' Lakes to the Hillsborough County line, said Stephen Veatch, the company's senior director for certificates and tariffs.

The $2 billion expansion project would serve utility providers such as Florida Power & Light, Seminole Electric Cooperative, the city of Tallahassee and possibly Progress Energy in the future.  The expansion is needed to serve growing energy needs and higher demands for natural gas, an environmentally preferable alternative to coal, Veatch said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must approve the project, which company officials expect to be completed by 2011.

Commissioners asked about the safety of the project and its effects on future development and roads. "Following the S.R. 52 alignment, there are plans to go from two lanes ultimately to six lanes," commission chairman Ted Schrader said. "Obviously, with the expansion of S.R. 54 and U.S. 41, I hope you will be in communication with the state Department of Transportation, so you are not laying the line only to have it covered up with pavement."

Commissioner Pat Mulieri, who helped fight a medical waste incinerator project before being elected, cautioned the company to inform residents of its plans. She said a local attorney representing the gas company contacted her and told her Pasco officials have little say about where the pipeline may go, but she disagrees. "I said, 'Wait and see','' she said.

For information about the project, call 1-877-663-9161 or go to www.panhandleenergy.com/fgt/phaseviii.

FOCUS: Florida Readies For First US Ethanol Pipeline
Source: Susan Buchanan, Dow Jones Newswires.  As central Florida gas stations switch to E-10, a 10% ethanol blend, the state will soon accommodate the first U.S. ethanol pipeline - running from Tampa to Orlando and owned by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMP) in Houston.

With Florida Gov. Charlie Crist poised to sign an energy bill soon requiring 10% ethanol in gasoline by 2010, central Florida vendors are already in compliance and way ahead of that plan, having phased out regular gasoline this month.

Kinder Morgan, the top independent, energy pipeline owner in the U.S., is spending millions of dollars to convert and clean its 104-mile, central Florida gasoline pipeline to move both gasoline and ethanol later this year.

So far, ethanol isn't produced in Florida, but Midwest corn-derived fuel enters by boat from the Gulf Coast and also by train, while Caribbean and Central American ethanol arrives on vessels.

Trial Run Slated For September
"We're doing lab tests with different metals for the pipeline now and will have our first experimental ethanol run through the line in September," said Jim Lelio, business development director at Kinder. "If early runs are successful, commercial operations will start later this year. Gasoline will move through the line, followed by ethanol, and a small amount of intermingling will occur where the two meet, in what's called a transmix." The pipeline is 16 inches in diameter.

Roger Listenberger, North American director at Hart Energy Consulting in Virginia, said the Orlando region is the third-biggest gasoline market in the U.S. because of tourism, a dense population and heavy auto driving. The region's rail service is inadequate for ethanol movement in any scale and the new pipeline will reduce truck traffic on highways to Orlando, he said. With 10% blending, greater Orlando is expected to need a substantial, 225 million gallons of ethanol yearly, he noted.

Kinder is addressing engineering problems before using its Florida pipeline for dual fuels. When mixed with oxygen, ethanol can cause pipes to crack, and ethanol is also troublesome because it attracts water.

The ethanol that Kinder will move is stored in Tampa in well sealed tanks to keep water and air out, said Joe Hollier, spokesman for Kinder Morgan. And he said the process of cleaning, or "pigging," the pipeline with a scrubber will be used to remove dirt, oxygen and water.

Oil Companies Eye Savings, Image In Switch To E-10
"The major oil companies and even the smaller ones have already converted their central Florida gas stations to E-10 since ethanol is cheaper than gasoline and because of the recognition they receive for embracing biofuels," said George Philippidis, ethanol expert and associate director of Florida International University's Applied Research Center. "They're saving some money with ethanol, a little of which will probably be passed on to consumers. The energy bill is the governor's baby and everyone expects him to sign it."

Ethanol closed at $2.476 a gallon, basis June, on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, while New York Mercantile Exchange gasoline ended at $3.1658 a gallon.

Beth Snyder, Exxon Mobil (XOM) spokeswoman, said "we started converting our central Florida stations to E-10 on April 15 and finished by May 1." She refrained from commenting on the Tampa pipeline but said Exxon continues to look for the most efficient way to move its products.

Philippidis thinks the Florida pipeline is an "excellent, cost effective, idea that will keep trucks off highways and help address a shortage of railcars for U.S. ethanol. The line will be a quick means of transport."

Brazil's sugar-cane ethanol sector has become increasingly efficient and has a network of mixed-use ethanol pipelines, from which the U.S. can learn, he said. With endless fields of cane, favorable weather and inexpensive labor, Brazil is the lowest-cost ethanol producer. Brazilian experts have worked as consultants for the U.S. biofuel industry.

While most of the ethanol arriving in Florida is from the Midwest, duty-free product under the Caribbean Basin Initiative and the Central American Free Trade Agreement is also entering terminals at Tampa, Port Everglades and Jacksonville, Philippidis said. Florida consumes Brazilian ethanol after it's been processed in the Caribbean to avoid a 54-cent a gallon duty on Brazil's biofuel. Under the CBI, ethanol produced in Brazil and other countries undergoes minimal dehydration in a CBI nation and can enter the U.S. tax-free for up to 7% of U.S. consumption.

Governor Crist said during a recent trip to Brazil that he hopes to see the U.S. tariff on Brazilian ethanol removed and wants to make Florida a gateway for biofuel imports from that nation. Philippidis supports those proposals.

While Florida has yet to produce ethanol, Philippidis is involved in a project to make fuel from cane bagasse or waste at Florida Crystals Corp., sugar growers in West Palm Beach. That project should be commercially viable within a few years, he said. Plans by other firms to use Florida citrus peel for ethanol have been tabled for now because European buyers this year are gobbling up peel for livestock feed, he said.

Florida agriculture officials want to promote local biofuel production, with cellulosic technology that can make ethanol from wood chips, switch grass and sorghum.

Florida responded quickly to a federal mandate in December that requires the gradual replacement of 36 billion gallons of gas with renewable sources by 2022 - including 21 billion gallons of that with biofuels. The law requires an 8% replacement by the end of this year.

Direct Sales Gas Transmission Pipelines Now Defined as Interstate Pipelines

PHMSA has issued a notice advising gas transmission pipeline operators that the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement, and Safety Act of 2006 eliminated the former exception of direct sales natural gas pipelines from the definition of an interstate gas pipeline facility. As a result, direct sales gas transmission pipelines subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) formerly considered to be intrastate pipelines for purposes of the pipeline safety laws are now defined as interstate pipelines. As interstate pipelines, direct sales pipelines are subject to the applicable Federal pipeline safety regulations and PHMSA is responsible for regulatory oversight and enforcement.

Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company wins approval to build gas storage facility in Indiantown 

Stuart, FL, May 8, 2008 –  The Martin County (FL) Board of County Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company’s request to develop two liquefied natural gas storage tanks in southern Florida, near Indiantown in  Martin County. 

Nineteen Indiantown and Martin County residents spoke in support of the project during the public hearing that led to the commissioners’ decision.  “The Floridian Natural Gas Storage facility is part of our bright future,” said Scott Watson, chairman of the Indiantown/Western Martin County Chamber of Commerce. “Indiantown looks forward to this project, we need this project, the state needs natural gas storage, we need the jobs,” he added. 

“This is too good of a project to pass up,” said Commissioner Lee Weberman before voting in to approve the facility.  The commissioner’s sentiment was echoed by Business Development Board Executive Director Ron Bunch who said “It makes a lot of sense for the county and for Indiantown.”

All necessary state and local approvals needed to build the eight-billion-cubic-foot gas storage facility have been received by Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company.  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement, finding no significant negative impact, as part of the agency’s review of the proposed facility.  FGS expects to receive its 7(c) certificate from the FERC this summer. 

“Pending FERC approval, we hope to break ground on the facility in the first quarter of 2009 and be ready to operate by 2012,” said Brad Williams, one of the company’s principals.  “The people of Indiantown and Martin County have been terrific to work with and we look forward to many, many years together -- as neighbors, associates and friends,” he said. 

The Floridian project will provide natural gas storage services to utilities and other Florida users and benefit Florida consumers by enhancing system reliability, contributing to hurricane hardening efforts, reducing utility fuel costs and reducing green house gas emissions by reducing the burning of fuel oil.

Additional information about the Floridian gas storage project can be found at www.floridiangasstorage.com. 

Exxon to test new technology to remove CO2 from gas

Mon May 5, 2008 6:42pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp said on Monday it plans to spend more than $100 million to test a technology that could allow it to affordably remove carbon dioxide and other substances from natural gas.

The company said it is building a commercial demonstration plant near LaBarge, Wyoming, to test its "Controlled Freeze Zone" (CFZ) technology -- a process to freeze out and remove components in gas.

The process can remove not only carbon dioxide, but also hydrogen sulfide, which is found in "sour" gas, it said.  After it is removed, the carbon dioxide could be used for enhanced oilfield recovery or injected into underground storage.  If successful, the technology could reduce the cost of producing gas from sour gas fields, Exxon said.

Exxon will begin building the plant this summer, and it expects operations to start in late 2009.  It plans to test the plant, which will process about 14 million cubic feet of gas per day, for one to two years.

E & E's HQ - World's Oldest Existing Building to be Awarded LEED® Platinum Certification

LANCASTER, N.Y.-- FEPA member Ecology and Environment, Inc.'s (E & E's) worldwide headquarters building, located just outside Buffalo, N.Y., has been awarded Platinum-level LEED certification for existing buildings by the U.S. Green Building Council. E & E's headquarters facility is the tenth in the country, the first in New York State, and the oldest existing building in the world to be awarded this highly sought-after designation. Achieving this highest level of certification further underscores E & E's role as a leader in corporate sustainable philosophies and practices.

"E & E's founders, Frank Silvestro, Gerry Strobel, Ron Frank, and my father Gerhard are visionaries in a lot of ways," says Kevin Neumaier, E & E's senior vice president of sustainability. "More than 20 years ago, before LEED existed or 'green building' was a common term, they designed our worldwide headquarters to embody the environmental ethics that we practice. We have always used sustainable and green practices. Receiving the LEED Platinum status just reaffirms that we are a leader in our field."

The LEED Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction, and operation of sustainable buildings. LEED provides an independent, third-party verification that a building meets the highest standards in green building performance, measuring five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

The certification process required a stringent review of E & E's corporate operations. When E & E applied for certification, the company already had established a number of green practices, including recycling and waste reduction, green building design elements, power and water conservation measures, transportation-reduction programs, and employee-awareness and behavioral change initiatives. Most importantly, notes Neumaier, "Due to our original design and operational procedures, we did not have to significantly retrofit our building in order to qualify for this certification."

Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council personally congratulates E & E, saying that, "Ecology and Environment is a premier example of a company that truly practices what they preach. The efforts taken by the company to attain Platinum-level certification are nothing short of exemplary."

"Our employees are a huge part of our success," says Neumaier, "We push each other every day to make our environment better. This building has been the ideal place to develop solutions for sustainability. For 20 years we've had a chance to put solutions in place and test them to see what really works and what's practical. This experience makes us a better consultant for our clients and has served as the inspiration for many of our current high-tech solutions such as GreenRide, GreenMeter, and Project Earth."

Headquartered in Western New York, E & E is one of the world's leading organizations in pioneering innovative yet practical solutions to fight global climate change and reduce our everyday carbon footprint. The company provides services for building energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and many other environmental services. E & E is located online at www.ene.com.

El Paso Closes on Gulf LNG Clean Energy Project

El Paso Corp. announced that a subsidiary of the company has closed the previously announced acquisition of a 50 percent interest in the Gulf LNG Clean Energy Project, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, which is currently under construction in Pascagoula, Miss. A subsidiary of El Paso is managing facility construction and will operate the facility upon completion. The terminal is expected to be placed in service in late 2011 at an estimated total cost of $1.1 billion.

"This project continues El Paso's long history with LNG," said Jim Yardley, president of El Paso's Pipeline Group. "We look forward to working with our partners in this important venture to provide additional sources of clean burning natural gas to the region and beyond."

Further information about the Gulf LNG Clean Energy Project, including a project map, is available at http://www.lngcleanenergy.com or http://www.elpaso.com.

El Paso, which already owns one of only four currently operating land-based LNG regasification terminals in the United States located at Elba Island near Savannah, Ga., provides natural gas and related energy products in a safe, efficient, and dependable manner. The company owns North America's largest interstate natural gas pipeline system.

Florida Gas Transmission Company Announces Florida Power and Light Is Anchor Shipper for Proposed Pipeline Project
Monday February 11-- HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Florida Gas Transmission Company (FGT) today announced that Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) has agreed to become the anchor shipper of a proposed natural gas pipeline expansion project through a 25-year service agreement for 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of capacity.

As part of this precedent agreement, FGT will seek regulatory approval to build a proposed Phase VIII system expansion at an estimated cost of $2 billion to provide approximately 800 MMcf/d of increased natural gas capacity into Florida. The proposed Phase VIII expansion includes construction of approximately 500 miles of additional large diameter pipeline and the installation of approximately 170,000 horsepower of additional compression. Pending regulatory approvals, FGT is anticipating a spring 2011 in-service date for the project.

FGT, a subsidiary of Citrus Corp., operates a 5,000-mile natural gas pipeline system extending from south Texas to south Florida with current mainline capacity of 2.1 billion cubic feet per day. Citrus Corp is 50 percent owned by Southern Union Company (NYSE:SUG - News) and 50 percent owned by El Paso Corporation (NYSE:EP - News). The proposed project is expected to be financed through cash flows from operations and an appropriate level of debt at both the FGT and Citrus entity levels.

As proposed, the Phase VIII expansion will increase the capacity of FGT’s mainline facilities from the Mobile Bay, Alabama, area to southern Florida to provide additional firm transportation service capacity throughout Florida to meet the state’s rising energy demand. FGT previously announced an open season under which capacity is available to other interested shippers for the Phase VIII pipeline expansion. The open season extends from January 14 through February 15, and the results will determine the final scope of the project.

“With this commitment from Florida Power and Light, we have made the final investment decision to go forward with the Phase VIII expansion, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals,” said Bob Hayes, senior vice president and chief commercial officer of Florida Gas Transmission. “Florida needs more generation capacity to meet the growing electric demand. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fossil fuel that could supply FPL and other customers with the fuel to meet the increasing electrical need with less environmental impact than alternative fuel sources. Currently 85 percent of the natural gas consumed in Florida is used for electric generation. FGT’s Phase VIII expansion could help the state’s utilities meet Florida’s increasing energy needs because natural gas demand in the Florida peninsula is projected to grow over 1 billion cubic feet per day by 2015.

“FGT has worked with FPL for almost 50 years to bring cleaner burning natural gas to Florida,” Hayes continued. “FPL was FGT’s anchor customer when the pipeline was built into Florida in 1959 and this agreement represents the continuation of a successful partnership.”

About Florida Power and Light Company

Florida Power & Light Company is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL - News), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of nearly $16 billion and a growing presence in 27 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.

About El Paso Corporation

El Paso Corporation provides natural gas and related energy products in a safe, efficient, and dependable manner. The company owns North America’s largest interstate natural gas pipeline system and one of North America’s largest independent natural gas producers. For more information, visit http://www.elpaso.com.

About Southern Union Company

Southern Union Company, headquartered in Houston, is one of the nation’s leading diversified natural gas companies, engaged primarily in the transportation, storage, gathering, processing and distribution of natural gas. The company owns and operates one of the nation’s largest natural gas pipeline systems with approximately 20,000 miles of gathering and transportation pipelines and North America’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal.

Through Panhandle Energy, Southern Union’s interstate pipeline interests operate approximately 15,000 miles of interstate pipelines that transport natural gas from the Anadarko and San Juan basins, the Rockies, the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile Bay and South Texas to major markets in the Southeast, Midwest and Great Lakes region.

Southern Union Gas Services, with approximately 4,800 miles of pipelines, is engaged in the gathering, transmission, treating, processing and redelivery of natural gas and natural gas liquids in Texas and New Mexico.

Through its local distribution companies, Missouri Gas Energy and New England Gas Company, Southern Union also serves more than half a million natural gas end-user customers in Missouri and Massachusetts.  For further information, visit www.sug.com.

E&E Set to Prepare for Solar Energy Facility at Kennedy Space Center

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., January 11, 2008—Florida Power and Light Company selected FEPA member E & E to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) for a proposed large-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar power generation facility at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The EA will complete an environmental review on the construction of the facility, which is set on NASA-owned property.

The EA will include evaluation of two 100-acre sites and possibly up to two 10-acre sites; it will also evaluate up to a 3-mile-by-50-foot right of way of the associated electrical interconnection route. E & E will prepare the EA in accordance with NEPA and NASA Procedural Requirements.

As PV solar energy development costs continue to decline—and the emphasis on clean, domestic energy sources continues to rise—this project presents a significant opportunity for E & E to build its solar energy portfolio while positioning the company as a major player in an emerging market sector.

Tampa Electric is turning to natural gas; The utility wants to build a plant at the Polk Power Station by 2013

By ASJYLYN LODER, Times Staff Writer - Published January 19, 2008

The question hangs like smog over Florida's utilities: If not coal, then what?

Some clean air advocates, cheered by the cancellation of plans for five coal plants in the state last year, hoped alternative energy might take up the slack. Tampa Electric has a different answer: natural gas.

Tampa Electric plans to build a more than 500-megawatt natural gas plant at its Polk Power Station, said Tom Hernandez, the utility's vice president for supply.

The utility finds itself pressed on several fronts at once. Continued growth means it needs a new power plant by 2013. But Tampa Electric can't afford pricey nuclear plants, like those planned by Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light. It also can't afford expensive forays into large renewable projects. That leaves Tampa Electric with two choices: coal or natural gas.

With the increasing likelihood of greenhouse gas regulation, carbon-heavy coal looks like a poor choice.

That's why the utility cancelled plans in October for a 630-megawatt "clean coal" plant. Natural gas will produce less carbon dioxide, the primary contributor to climate change.

It's also cheaper to build. The utility estimated the cost of its cancelled coal plant at $2-billion, or about $2,900 per kilowatt. A 2006 estimate for the natural gas plant estimated $1,000 per kilowatt, Hernandez said. He cautioned that inflation for cement, steel and other supplies will drive up that price.

With fewer emissions at a cheaper price, why didn't TECO plan on natural gas in the first place? Blame the fuel's cost, Hernandez said. It costs Tampa Electric at least twice as much to burn natural gas instead of coal, he said.

Natural gas prices have more than doubled since 2002, according to the Energy Information Administration, the federal agency that tracks energy statistics. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted supplies in 2005, prices surged even higher.

Tampa Electric relies on coal for about 55 percent of its power, and natural gas for the rest, Hernandez said. The new plant will boost natural gas to 48 percent. If the utility continues to invest in natural gas, that will leave it further exposed to higher prices and weather-related disruptions in supply, Hernandez said. The utility wants the plant to come on line in 2013. After that, Tampa Electric will probably turn again to coal.

Q & A: The decision
What happened?
Tampa Electric says it will build a natural gas power plant in Polk County to replace the planned coal plant that the utility canceled in October.

How big is it?
More than 500 megawatts, or enough to power 150,000-homes.

How much will it cost?
In 2006, the utility estimated that this type of plant would cost $1,000 per kilowatt. However, that number could be substantially higher because prices have risen for construction needs like cement and steel.

When will it be built?
It's unclear when construction will start, and Tampa Electric is still months from seeking regulatory approval. The utility wants the plant to be on line by 2013.
Source: Tampa Electric

Florida PSC Commissioner Appointed to US DOT Pipeline Safety Committee
Florida Public Service Commissioner Lisa Edgar has been appointed to the US Dept of Transportation Technical Pipeline Safety Standards Committee (TTPSC). The TTPSC is a statutorily mandated advisory group that provides input to PHMSA on proposed regulations. Jeryl Mohn, Senior Vice President of Operations and Engineering for Panhandle Energy also serves on the committee. Panhandle Energy, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a subsidiary of the Southern Union Company. Through Panhandle Energy, Southern Union operates more than 15,000 miles of pipeline including FEPA member Florida Gas Transmission Company.

Florida Gas Transmission Company Phase VIII Expansion Proposed

Florida Gas Transmission Company is considering an expansion of its pipeline capacity to increase natural gas supply in Florida. Research indicates the state’s population is expected to continue to increase and demand for energy continues to climb. Currently, 85 percent of the natural gas consumed in Florida is used for electric generation. The proposed project would provide the State of Florida with additional natural gas supply that would enhance reliability for the growing demand. Building the pipeline along FGT’s existing pipeline system provides an effective way to bring new gas supplies to Florida while minimizing the impact on land use and the environment. The proposed Phase VIII expansion would increase the capacity of FGT’s mainline facilities to provide additional firm transportation service capacity to Florida. The potential expansion would include construction of additional large diameter pipeline and the installation of additional compression. The proposed Phase VIII expansion would take place in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. FGT announced an “open season” January 14, 2008. The open season gives potential shippers the opportunity to tell FGT how much capacity they want on the proposed pipeline. The results of the open season would determine the final scope of the project, which includes the configuration of the expansion facilities, the cost of the facilities and the incremental capacity available to shippers. The open season will close February 15, 2008. Pending regulatory approvals, FGT would anticipate a spring 2011 in-service date for the project.

Florida Legislation

The FEPA Legislative Committee is tracking numerous bills pertaining to the energy industry.  For a complete list, click here.

Federal Issues

Senate Energy Committee Hears Testimony on Food versus Fuel Debate and the Impact of the Renewable Fuels Standard

Source: AOPL.  In the face of increasing pressure to revisit the renewable fuels standard (RFS) the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee met to hear views from Administration agriculture and energy officials. The majority of the committee members, including Chairman Bingaman (D-NM), indicated it was too early to scale back the RFS. A few members expressed their difficulty defending the ethanol policies to consumers and others concerned about high food prices. Ethanol proponents claimed a reduced RFS would send negative signals, thereby undermining the investments necessary to produce cellulosic ethanol.

Separately, two states, Texas and Connecticut, have asked for a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cut by half the current mandate. Texas Governor Perry said the mandate was harming livestock production and the overall state economy. The EPA is expected to make a decision on these requests by the end of July.

Senate Bill to Expand Energy Production and Ethanol Pipeline Funding

Source: AOPL.  Senator Coleman (R-MN) introduced a bill, S. 3126, to expand offshore drilling, expand nuclear energy, and support alternative fuels including coal to liquids. In addition, the bill would create a renewable energy trust fund to assist with developing renewable energy and energy efficiency R&D using the additional federal royalties from the new offshore drilling. The energy trust fund would also provide funding for a $4 million loan guarantee program to facilitate development of new interstate common carrier ethanol pipelines. The bill provides several factors that the government must consider in providing the loans including the volumes to be transported, markets served, proximity to ethanol production sources, and several other factors. The bill stipulates that loan guarantees shall not exceed 90% of the eligible project costs.

FERC

Floridian Natural Gas Storage Project Filed with FERC

On October 31, 2007, the Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company filed applications with FERC to construct and operate the Floridian Natural Gas Storage Project in Martin County, Fla., about two miles north of Indiantown.  The project would include the initial construction of a liquefied natural gas storage tank, liquefaction systems, vaporization systems and two parallel pipelines that would connect the facility with the regional gas infrastructure, via an interconnection with Gulfstream Natural Gas System, and Florida Power and Light's connection to Florida Gas Transmission's mainline system. The filing may be viewed on FERC's website using the "eLibrary" link; enter the docket number (CP08-13 and PF07-3).  For more details see the Notice of Application.

FERC Announces 2008 Open Meeting Schedule   

Joseph Kelliher, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has announced the schedule for the Commission’s open meetings for calendar year 2008. Meetings will be on the third Thursday of every month.  The Commission does not meet in August.

The open meeting dates for calendar year 2008 are as follows: January 17, February 21, March 20, April 17, May 15, June 19, July 17, September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18.

The meetings, held at the Commission’s headquarters at 888 First Street, N.E., in Washington, DC, are open to the public consistent with the Government in the Sunshine Act. 

The Commission news release announcing the open meeting schedule may be found at
http://www.ferc.gov/news/news-releases/2007/2007-3/10-04-07.asp