Duke/Fluor Daniel of Charlotte, NC, was selected by TexasIndependent Energy to provide turnkey engineering, procurement,construction and start-up services for a 1,000 MW, greenfield powerplant in Santa Clara, TX. The project is Texas Independent Energy’s(TIE) first power plant to receive financing. TIE is a jointventure of Panda Energy International Inc. and PSEG Global. “Basedon our reference power plant design, the Guadalupe Power Project isour fifth merchant power plant we are building in Texas,” saidClarence Ray, CEO of Duke/Fluor Daniel. Commercial operation ofPhase I scheduled for December 2000. Construction began thissummer.

Western Resources of Topeka, KS, filed a petition forreconsideration with the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) on theKCC order issued Sept. 28 in the company’s merger with Kansas CityPower & Light Co. (KCPL). Western is asking for clarificationin two areas: 1) how the merger savings are to be shared after themoratorium period; and 2) that the intent of the service qualitystandards would be to preserve the company’s good customer service.Western believes the calculation in the order of the merger savingson a NPV (Net Present Value) basis and then the recovery of thatamount during 35 years is confusing and requires additionalexplanation. Regarding customer service standards, the company isasking the KCC to implement standards based upon today’s level ofservice in each of its utility operating divisions. These standardswould be the benchmark versus an averaging calculation that setsartificial standards. The new standards appear to ignore issuessuch as customer density, which varies greatly across the threeoperating divisions. The KCC has 30 calendar days to respond to thecompany’s petition.

Avista Corp. received the Award of Excellence for BestPractices, Customer Care on the Internet for the quality andeffectiveness of its web site, www.avistaenergy.com, from theAmerican Gas Association and the Edison Electric Institute. TheAvista Corp. web site was also recognized as one of the nationsbest by Utility Communicators International last July. The websiteincludes electronic bill presentment and payment, online customercare and home energy audits and a variety of other applications.

In its continuing effort to cripple a $5.7 billion hostiletakeover by NiSource, Columbia Energy Group launched a blisteringattack against the environmental record of the IN-based combinationutility this week. In a full-page advertisement in newspapers inNorthern Indiana and adjacent areas, communities served byNiSource, Columbia blasts NiSource’s “disturbing environmentalrecord.” “Instead of publicity ploys in states outside itsoperating territory, shouldn’t NiSource be spending its time andmoney trying to reduce harmful smokestack emissions and protectingthe welfare of its customers and communities in Indiana?” the adasks. It says NIPSCO, NiSource’s utility subsidiary, last year wasranked as the nation’s third “dirtiest” electric utility, based onnitrogen oxide emission rates, by the Natural Resources DefenseCouncil. It also mentions NiSource is facing a possible lawsuitfrom the New York State Attorney General related to harmfulemissions from one of its principal generating plants. There is”strong evidence” that NIPSCO’s coal-fired power plants may be”major contributors to mercury contamination” in at least fivelarge Indiana lakes, according to a 1999 study by the NationalWildlife Federation, the Hoosier Environmental Council and otherenvironmental organizations, the ad states. NiSource has had a$68/share tender offer for Columbia shares on the table since June.

Exercising an option obtained through a previous transaction,the Coastal Corp. announced that Coastal Field Services Co. (CFS)increased its ownership interest in Mobile Bay Processing Partnersand in the Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline by 27.9% and 27.6% respectively.The increase in ownership, which were options bought through aprevious transaction with Titan Exploration Inc. (see Daily GPI,June 25), makes Coastal the largest owner in both entities. TheMobile Bay partnership owns a natural gas processing plant andcogeneration facility near Coden, AL. The 40 MW cogenerationfacility supplies all the power requirements of the processingplant, which has a capacity of 600 MMcf/d. Gulf Coast holds aone-sixth interest in the natural gas liquids pipeline thattransports liquids from the Mobile Bay plant and other plants tofractionators in Louisiana. Coastal’s interest in the pipelinepartnership is now 42.1%. The purchases were made through CFS’affiliate, Coastal-Dauphin. Other owners in the partnerships aresubsidiaries of Duke Energy and MCN Energy Group.

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