Regulatory hurdles: Dallas-based Energy Transfer Equity announced today it has filed for permission from federal regulators to build its proposed natural gas export terminal at Lake Charles. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves, Energy Transfer says construction will begin in 2014 with a target date of exporting gas in the spring of 2018. Last August, the federal Energy Department gave the company permission to export up to 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day for 25 years. Energy Transfer plans to modify a terminal that opened in 1981 to handle liquefied natural gas imports so it can handle exports. At least 10 export terminals are in various stages of planning in Louisiana, Texas, Maryland and Oregon.
Sidelined: Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino veered off a two-lane highway and crashed his motorcycle over the weekend, sending him to a hospital and leaving him in what his family described only as “stable condition,” Sports Illustrated reports. He is expected to make a full recovery. Petrino crashed Sunday night near a small town 20 miles southeast of Fayetteville. State police spokesman Bill Sadler says the Razorbacks coach was taken to a hospital for treatment, but he declined to say which hospital or whether Petrino was still there today. The university confirmed the crash and issued a statement from Petrino’s family that disclosed no details about any potential injuries. Get the full story here.
Get real paid: Rhode Island law enforcement agencies that participated in an investigation resulting in a Google forfeiture of $500 million last year will receive $230 million of that money, federal officials announced today. Google forfeited the sum last August to settle a U.S. government investigation into its distribution of online ads from Canadian pharmacies illegally selling prescription drugs to American consumers. The investigation found that Google allowed Canadian pharmacies that illegally exported drugs into the United States to advertise on its AdWords platform. The $500 million sum represents the gross revenue Google collected in ad buys from hundreds of Canadian pharmacies, plus the earnings generated from the illegal drug sales to American consumers from 2003 to 2009, federal officials have said.
