Backs

In the space of less than two years the robust market in the Pacific Northwest for added power generation capacity and corresponding demand for new interstate natural gas pipeline capacity has dried up. This fact has been made clear in current negotiations between the Snohomish (WA) County Public Utility District (PUD) and Williams’ Northwest Pipeline Co. unit over a $6.7 million annual payment the utility agreed to make for added new gas pipeline capacity.

FERC Chairman Pat Wood has asked the Department of Commerce to give coastal zone clearance to Millennium Pipeline so it can proceed toward construction of the U.S. leg of the project, a 442-mile natural gas line that would deliver up to 700 MMcf/d from the Canadian border to the New York City market.

FERC Chairman Pat Wood has asked the Department of Commerce to give coastal zone clearance to Millennium Pipeline so it can proceed toward construction of the U.S. leg of the project, a 442-mile natural gas line that would deliver up to 700 MMcf/d from the Canadian border to the New York City market.

UBS AG is urging FERC to approve a recent filing made by Bank of America (BofA) that would, among other things, allow BofA to sell electricity at market-based rates.

Five months after its plan to lay distribution pipelines under the shoulders of Nova Scotia’s provincial highways was denied, Sempra Atlantic Gas has notified the Nova Scotia government and the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) that the company intends to surrender its gas distribution franchise in the province.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last Thursday voted out legislation that seeks to cut emissions of power plant pollutants, but several lawmakers predicted that the bill, S. 556, will not be able to muster the votes needed to pass the full Senate. They voiced concerns that it would result in dramatic fuel switching to natural gas, which they charged could threaten the reliability of the nation’s electric power system.

Five months after its plan to lay natural gas pipeline for its distribution system under the shoulders of Nova Scotia’s provincial highways was denied, Sempra Energy’s Sempra Atlantic Gas unit has notified the Nova Scotia government and the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB) that the company intends to surrender its natural gas distribution franchise in the province.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff has made headway in narrowing the list of “energy affiliates” that would be subject to the broader standards of conduct that are being considered for natural gas pipeline and electric transmission providers and their sister companies, said an official with a major pipeline group. But she believes the list of potentially affected affiliates still is far too expansive.

Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is backing Suedeen Kelly, a University of New Mexico law professor, to fill the next Democratic opening on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which could come as early as June. The re-appointment by President Bush of Commissioner Linda Breathitt, a Democrat whose term is set to expire at the end of June, remains somewhat uncertain at this point.