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All points were falling Monday in the general absence of severewinter weather except in parts of the Upper Midwest. For a change,the softness was relatively consistent; although California onceagain registered declines larger than most at the border and Malin,it was not nearly as out of step with the overall market as itoften had been since March began. Most of Monday’s drops werebetween 10 and 20 cents.

Black Hills Energy Capital Inc., the independent powersubsidiary of Black Hills Corp. announced it has initiated thepermitting process to build a coal-fired electric generatingfacility capable of up to 500 MW adjoining its other generatingplants near Gillette, WY.

Western state governors included support for an Alaska naturalgas pipeline to bring in new supplies, along with expansion of gaspipelines and electric transmission lines in the lower 48 statesamong their long-term recommendations to deal with the energycrisis in the West.

Petal Gas Storage L.L.C. ate a little crow at FERC last week. Itconceded that its original proposal for expanding thedeliverability capacity serving its storage facilities was a betterplan after all.

Petal Gas Storage L.L.C. ate a little crow at FERC last week. Itconceded that its original proposal for expanding thedeliverability capacity serving its storage facilities was a betterplan after all.

“It’s like prices are wandering aimlessly in the wilderness,”one trader remarked of Tuesday’s sharp reversal from the marketstrength that opened the week. All points were on the same downhillpage as declines ranged from about 15 cents to 90 cents but withmost of them clustered in the range of 30-50 cents.

Saying it was as troubled by the public remarks of Alabamaofficials as it was of the $3.4 billion judgment, Exxon Mobil firedback yesterday, refuting what it called a “personal attack” on itsintegrity. A jury trial last week found the oil company haddefrauded the state and underpaid royalties on natural gas wellleases in state waters (see Daily GPI, Dec. 20).

After marketing natural gas to Georgia customers for a littleless than a year, DukeSolutions, a unit of Duke Energy, has decidedto throw in the towel. The marketer, which only has firm contractswith 16 customers on the Atlanta Gas Light system, filed a petitionwith the Georgia Public Service Commission (GPSC) to cancel its”Certificate of Authority” to provide natural gas marketingservices in Georgia.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) followed its ownprecedent that it had set back in early October with three otherstate utilities by granting South Jersey Gas almost half of theLevelized Gas Adjustment Clause increase it had petitioned for tomeet higher wholesale natural gas prices. The utility hadpetitioned for a 39.7% rate increase, but the board granted thecompany a 19% annual raise.