Appeal

Federal prosecutors said Thursday they will ask a Houston judge to reconsider a ruling that resulted in the dismissal of charges concerning false energy reporting against two former energy traders last month. The ex-traders, who worked for El Paso Corp. and Dynegy Inc., still face related charges for wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday they will ask a Houston judge to reconsider a ruling that resulted in the dismissal of charges concerning false energy reporting against two former energy traders. Both of the ex-traders still face charges related to wire fraud.

Arizona regulators voted last Thursday to seek a stay and court review of FERC’s decision requiring El Paso Natural Gas shippers who now receive preferential full-requirements (FR) service to convert to contract demand (CD) service on Sept. 1.

Arizona regulators voted Thursday to seek a stay and court review of FERC’s decision allowing system-wide conversion of full-requirements (FR) service to contract demand (CD) service to go forward on the El Paso Natural Gas system on Sept. 1.

ExxonMobil had presented its case for appeal to the state’s high court in April, arguing that the punitive damages awarded to the State of Alabama in December 2000 were “without merit” (see NGI, April 29).

Marathon Oil has filed an appeal in federal court in Wyoming seeking to overturn a ruling by the Interior Department’s Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) that found three Marathon-owned leases for coalbed methane (CBM) development in the Powder River Basin were illegally awarded by the federal government in early 2000.

Exxon Mobil Corp. said it will take “all legal steps” tochallenge a record $3.5 billion verdict announced last week by anAlabama jury, which found the oil company had defrauded the stateand underpaid royalties on natural gas well leases in state waters.The case centered on charges that the energy giant had underpaid upto $87.7 million in royalties on the Mobile Bay natural gas projectin the Gulf of Mexico.

Merchant power plant developers attempting to get a foot in thedoor in Florida were thrown out again by the state Supreme Court.The court rejected Duke Energy’s motion for rehearing of a decisionhanded down this spring that said the state’s public servicecommission had no authority to approve a 514 MW merchant plant Dukeplanned to build in New Smyrna Beach.

Merchant power plant developers attempting to get a foot in thedoor in Florida were thrown out again by the state Supreme Court.The court rejected Duke Energy’s motion for rehearing of a decisionhanded down this spring that said the state’s public servicecommission had no authority to approve a 514 MW merchant plant Dukeplanned to build in New Smyrna Beach.