Natural gas grows in Arizona

This week I posted a story about a massive natural gas pipeline project that is cutting through Northern Arizona to serve the lower half of Arizona, where instant cities are popping up. Just add water (and natural gas, apparently).

The story by TZR correspondent Justin Doom [”Cal Ripken Jr. strikes out in Globe,” Oct. 21, 2007 on TZR.] crystallizes a series of court cases that came across our high-tech, whiz-bang courts tracker. They deal with a massive pipeline that Houston-based Transwestern is building to move natural gas normally bound for California south into central and southern Arizona.

When I counted the lawsuits the company had filed to acquire land for the project, I found it was spread across 132 parcels. That many lawsuits tends to attract media attention.

Justin did a bang-up job of getting the story and chasing down information from Transwestern and the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities statewide.

And I thought I’d spice things up a bit by dialing up an interactive map from L.A.-based Flash developer Rob Lieblein, who was up for the challenge of translating news into Flash. Thanks, Rob! [View his portfolio here.]

My goal was to illustrate Arizona’s insatiable appetite for energy with good sources and a fun map. I hope it worked out. Enjoy!