The Bureau of Land Management is taking public comments on a gas processing plant that QEP Resources Inc. wants to build near LaBarge, Wyoming. The plant would process production from nearby natural gas wells, separating the raw feed gas into refined helium and marketable carbon dioxide and methane streams.
Refined helium product would be delivered to markets by commercial truck. Excess nitrogen would be vented to the atmosphere. Waste streams of hydrogen sulfide would be injected into a sour gas disposal well currently planned to be drilled close to the plant. Another well would be used for injecting waste water and four wells would be used to inject unsold carbon dioxide.
The plant would include about 16 miles of methane and CO2 pipelines, 13 miles of 230-kV transmission line and a substation. While some of the 355 acres for the project are on federal and state land, the majority is on land owned by QEP. The BLM is taking comments until May 20. Comments may be emailed to the bureau.
More: PennEnergy, BLM
Lawmakers Introduce Bill Targeting “Absurd” Fossil Fuel Tax Breaks
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) introduced a bill that would kill tax breaks for fossil-fuel companies. They said the bills could save $135 billion over 10 years.
“At a time when scientists tell us we need to reduce carbon pollution to prevent catastrophic climate change, it is absurd to provide massive taxpayer subsidies that pad fossil-fuel companies’ already enormous profits,” Sanders said in a statement.
The “End Polluter Welfare Act” target federal subsidies for the oil, natural gas and coal industries, as well as grant programs for rail companies. It also calls for an increase in the royalties that coal, oil and gas companies pay for extracting oil and gas from federal land.
More: The Hill
No Changes Needed At Fuel Plant, NRC Says
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave a clean bill to a nuclear-fuel processing plant in Erwin, Tenn. The NRC’s two-year- licensee performance review at the Nuclear Fuel Services facility found that the plant was operating at a satisfactory level of safety and security.
The review singled out an incident in which an employee propped open two valves with a tool rather than holding them open according to regulations, but the infraction was deemed a low-risk event, the commission said. A separate chemical spill at the plant, earlier this spring, is still under investigation.
Nuclear Fuel Services is a subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group.
More: WJHL-TV
FERC to Conduct Environmental Study Of Tennessee Gas Conversion Plan
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will prepare an environmental assessment of a plan by Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline to convert an existing pipeline to transport natural gas liquids collected from shale gas fields. The line was originally built about 70 years ago to move natural gas. It runs 256 miles through 18 Kentucky counties, into Tennessee. The current south-to-north flow will be reversed.
An environmental assessment could take as long as six months, and will look at construction methods, materials, and the pipeline path.
More: Lexington Herald-Leader
Environmental Group Opposing Ameren Nuke Plant License Extension
A Missouri environmental organization is calling for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reverse its decision to grant a license extension to Ameren Missouri’s Callaway nuclear station. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment is appealing the NRC’s decision to extend Callaway’s operating license until 2044. The group cites pending legal challenges that could have an impact on the case.
More: St. Louis Dispatch
NRC Gives Peach Bottom Highest Rating in Review
Exelon Nuclear’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station received the highest safety rating after a review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC announced its finding at a public forum held last week. The NRC senior resident inspector for the plant, Sam Hansell, told a small crowd that the plant on the Susquehanna River had only minor violations in 2014. “Peach Bottom is in a group of top-performer plants,” he said. “They get credit for running their plant safely.”
More: The Baltimore Sun