FERC Chairman Curt Hebert Jr. last week tapped Kevin P. Madden,a well-known and popular official at the Commission, to be generalcounsel. He succeeds Doug Smith, who left the Commission on Friday.Madden has held a number of posts during his 21-year tenure atFERC, most recently as deputy director of the Office of Markets,Tariffs and Rates. Prior to that, he had been director of theOffice of Pipeline Regulation since 1988. He also served as anattorney adviser and trial attorney in the Office of GeneralCounsel during his years at FERC. “I chose Mr. Madden from a largefield of potential candidates both outside and within theCommission. His contributions will be crucial to our futureachievements, especially during this critical juncture of electricmarkets,” Hebert said.

Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., a gold producer, has signed aletter of intent with El Paso Merchant Energy Co. to negotiate a15-year power purchase agreement for 150 MW of a proposed 480 MWpower plant to be located near Carlin, NV. Financial terms of thedeal were not disclosed. The plant will be owned by El Paso and isexpected to be a major customer for the proposed 291-mile naturalgas Ruby Pipeline project sponsored by Colorado Interstate Gas Co.,which is also owned by El Paso. Newmont also signed a memorandum ofunderstanding (MOU) with Sierra Pacific Resources to help the plantmarket electricity directly to retail customers within SPR’sservice territory. Newmont now receives 110 of the 175 MW of powerit uses annually from SPR, and the MOU provides that generatingcapacity would be available to meet Nevada’s energy demands.

©Copyright 2001 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.