Larry Rulison reports for the Times Union that part of National Grid's recently approved rate increase came as the company agreed to abandon its plan to build a controversial $79.8 million natural gas pipeline across the Hudson River. The Public Service Commission allowed National Grid to charge consumers $329 million over the next three years and, in exchange, National Grid withdrew its application to build a 7.3-mile natural gas pipeline across the Hudson from Bethlehem to Troy, a project known as the Albany Loop because it closes an existing horseshoe-shaped gas line that serves the area. "What Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline has learned is that the best way to defeat fossil fuel infrastructure proposals like the Albany Loop pipeline is to attack them early in rate case requests to governmental agencies," said Robert Connors, a founder of Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline. "The PSC listened to us and others and responded appropriately." Read more about this story in the Times Union.