Altered

Kinder Morgan President Michael C. Morgan said Thursday that changes in FERC’s policy on negotiated transportation rates could significantly limit investment in new natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere.

Kinder Morgan President Michael C. Morgan said Thursday that changes in FERC’s policy on negotiated transportation rates could significantly limit investment in new natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the Rocky Mountains and elsewhere.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last Thursday appeared to have altered his message on liquefied natural gas (LNG) in his second appearance before Congress in less than a month, saying the United States should look to LNG primarily as a secondary, peak-shaving fuel when domestic gas sources fall short of demand.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has accused the Bush administration of submitting altered data to Congress to minimize the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing in oil and natural gas production.

Cash prices Monday set a pattern that few expect to be altered by much in the near term: a gradual downtrend of daily declines of about a dime or less at most points. One marketer said it was remarkable how uniform Monday’s price movement was from West to East, with virtually all markets falling nearly in lockstep close to either side of a dime.

California’s political, regulatory and economic landscape was altered last week by the financial earthquake from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s bankruptcy filing on Friday in San Francisco. The bankruptcy adds a whole new dimension to the state’s continuing energy crisis, putting ever-more dire economic consequences on the electricity supply/price crunch that gripped the state since last summer.

California’s political, regulatory and economic landscape was altered last week by the financial earthquake from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s bankruptcy filing on Friday in San Francisco. The bankruptcy adds a whole new dimension to the state’s continuing energy crisis, putting ever-more dire economic consequences on the electricity supply/price crunch that gripped the state since last summer.

TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. and Nicor Inc. yesterday took thefirst formal step towards making the substantially altered VikingVoyageur pipeline project a reality by scheduling an open seasonfor capacity.

Three members of the Wisconsin Legislature told FERC this weekthey would not be supporting the Viking Voyageur project unlesssignificant safety and evironmental modifications were made.Included among the modifications are thicker pipeline in ruralareas rather than just urban areas, automatic or remote shutoffvalves every five miles rather than the planned manual shut-offvalves every 20 miles, use of technology that minimizes the noisecreated by the Hancock Compressor Station, additional pipelineprotection at certain locations so large trucks can be driven overthe line, placement of the line away from residential and schoolareas in Wautoma, routing across farmland in a way that does notimpact irrigation or drainage, and giving property owners the rightto decide where the pipeline should be placed.