Blasts

This week’s mighty price rally, spurred by blasts of colder weather than anticipated in many areas, appeared to have stalled Wednesday as most points were flat to a little more than a dime lower and Northeast citygates plunged almost as fast as they had run up earlier (several fell by about a dollar or so, and the Algonquin citygate was down more than a dollar and a half).

FirstEnergy Corp. last week said that an interim report issued by a joint U.S.-Canada task force examining the Aug. 14 blackout that swept across large portions of both countries falls “far short” of providing a complete and comprehensive picture of the conditions that contributed to the devastating and historic series of outages. Meanwhile, the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) said in the wake of the report, it may seek to recover damages from entities responsible for the blackout.

The integrity of natural gas price reporting and price indices is “extremely important,” said the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), last week, but it is up to Congress to determine if any new rules are required to govern price reporting practices. However, Chairman James Newsome added he has “yet to see anything” that changes his belief that the commission and other regulatory agencies already possess the tools to address any misconduct that may occur.

Calling the integrity of natural gas price reporting and price indices “extremely important,” the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said he believes it is up to Congress to determine if any new rules are required to govern price reporting practices. However, Chairman James Newsome added he has “yet to see anything” that changes his belief that the commission and other regulatory agencies already possess the tools to address any misconduct that may occur.

While El Paso Corp. aimed its complaint at Congress over a FERC law judge decision that it failed to fill its pipeline during the western energy crisis, the pipeline industry association advised FERC it was concerned that the decision, if ratified, could cause other pipelines to operate in an unsafe manner.

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergin, urged Congress last week to reject the Alaska pipeline route restrictions that were approved the prior week by the Energy Conference Committee as part of the energy bill (see NGI, Sept. 16). Speaking at RBC Financial Group’s Distinguished Speakers Series at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, the ambassador also expressed Canada’s opposition to proposed subsidies for Alaskan gas production. A vote on the subsidies and other tax-related provisions will be the committee’s last major task on the bill.

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Michael Kergin, urged Congress Wednesday to reject the Alaska pipeline route restrictions that were approved last week by the Energy Conference Committee as part of the energy bill (see Daily GPI, Sept. 13). Speaking at RBC Financial Group’s Distinguished Speakers Series at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, the ambassador also expressed Canada’s opposition to proposed subsidies for Alaskan gas production. A vote on the subsidies and other tax-related provisions has been delayed by the committee.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) last Monday took dead aim at press reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to roll out plans that will call for a shift away from using the stick of lawsuits to enforce clean air regulations in favor of a carrot-like approach that will urge electric utilities to voluntarily reduce toxic emissions.

In a blistering comeback to Enron Corp.’s lawsuit against its former merger partner, Dynegy Inc. attorneys last week filed a 51-page response in U.S. Southern District Bankruptcy Court of New York to answer charges that Dynegy had been responsible for Enron’s downfall.