Several neat stories today.  Links follow:

TransCanada got approval to start the southern leg today:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/27/transcanada-gets-ok-for-south-...

BP is looking to ship Bakken crude west to Washington State in a bid to reduce its costs there:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/bp-refinery-rail-idUSL2E8...

Las Brisas air permit (coal and coke fired power plant) was invalidated by a judge today

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-anne-hitt/las-brisas-energy-cent...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/utilities-calpine-idUSL2E...

As natural gas prices have crawled toward $3 per MmBtu in Texas and $4 in eastern U.S. markets, the attraction of gas over coal begins to diminish, Hill said.

Calpine expects utilities to run coal plants during the hot summer months to meet higher baseload demand, meaning gas-fired plants will be used to meet afternoon peak power needs.

"Everything is online and you're switching on and off, based on the economics, versus having some coal plants that were laid up," Hill said.

In the next few years, Calpine Chief Executive Officer Jack Fusco said more affordable gas and the finalization of more stringent environmental rules will only "significantly" increase the amount of coal-fired generation to shut.

"Approximately 40 gigawatts of coal plants have already announced retirements, much of which are smaller, older, less efficient units," Fusco said.

While many shutdowns are attributed to pending environmental regulation, the economics of sustainable lower gas prices play a large role, Fusco said.

....

Southern Co. (SO) said Wednesday it plans to shut down about 4,000 megawatts of older coal-fired power plants to comply with stricter federal pollution rules, but said its compliance costs would be nearly $1 billion lower than previously thought.

The Atlanta power giant plans to continue operating 13,000 megawatts of coal plants into the future and will switch about 3,000 megawatts of power plants to run on low-priced natural gas from other fuels, the company said.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/07/25/southern-co-to-shut-coal...