Briefs

The Coastal Corporation has announced that its Coastal Powersubsidiary will build a 265 MW gas-fired power plant northeast ofDenver. Fulton Cogeneration Associates, L.P., an affiliate ofCoastal Power, will own and operate the plant and has entered intoa power purchase agreement with Public Service Company of Coloradobeginning in May of 2000. Construction of the facility will beginthis summer near Brush, CO. Colorado Interstate Gas Company, also asubsidiary of The Coastal Corporation, will build a pipeline fromits Young and Fort Morgan natural gas storage fields to transportnatural gas to the plant.

American Electric Power and Central and South West Corp. reacheda settlement with FERC trial staff that resolves the market powerand rate issues relating to the pending merger of the twocompanies. Under terms of the settlement, AEP would transfer theoperation and control of its bulk transmission facilities locatedin Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and WestVirginia to a regional transmission organization (RTO). Thesettlement also covers rates for transmission services andancillary services and confirms, subject to FERC guidance oncertain elements, that the previously announced generationdivestiture program will satisfy the market power concerns of theFERC staff. Once the merger is completed, the new company will beserve 4.7 million electric customers in 11 states.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded Friday a FERCdecision approving a 20-year cap on bids for Tennessee Gas Pipelinecapacity that are considered under the net-present-value approach.The Process Gas Consumers Group (PGC), which includes industrialgas users, challenged the Commission order, arguing that it failedto engage in “reasoned decision-making” by allowing the cap on theNPV bids. “…..[W]e find FERC’s reasoning on the cap to beunpersuasive and largely conclusory,” the court opined [No.98-1075]. The court said it didn’t “quarrel” with the goal behindthe Commission’s approval of the NPV capacity-allocation method forTennessee, “but [we] remind FERC of its admitted need to balancethe goal with its duty to prevent exploitation of Tennessee’smonopoly power. FERC appears to have forgotten the latter…..” PGCalso took issue with FERC’s decision allowing Tennessee to applyNPV to shippers attempting to change primary receipt and deliverypoints, and the court agreed with industrials on this point. Thecourt ordered the Commission to “better explain or modify” itsapproval of both issues.

Union Gas announced the availability of 2 Bcf of peak storage atthe Dawn Market Hub. The storage permits summer 1999 injection and1999-2000 winter withdrawal. The storage capacity will be awardedbased on a bidding process. All bids are due by 1 p.m. EST onFriday, May 21. The high bidders will be awarded the capacity by 3p.m. EST that same day. The storage hub has six pipelineinterconnects and easy access to 15 pipeline and distributioncompanies, Union Gas said. The complex has a working capacity of130 Bcf and can deliver 2 Bcf/d for customers.

South Jersey Gas Co. filed a petition with New Jersey’s Board ofPublic Utilities (BPU) to increase eligibility in its customerchoice pilot program from 25,000 to 50,000. The announcement marksthe second time in the past 12 months the utility has increased thesize of its pilot. The BPU has set Dec. 31 as a deadline to definecomplete statewide gas deregulation. South Jersey said 22,000customers have participated in the program. The utility serves260,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in thestate.

Houston skyline watchers should note Transco Tower will berenamed Williams Tower. “The tower is a Houston landmark thatsymbolizes stability and innovation, two qualities that accuratelydefine our business at Williams,” said Cuba Wadlington Jr., generalmanager of Williams’ Transco pipeline system. Williams merged withTransco Energy Co. in 1995 and moved to the tower. Then, WilliamsCommunications Solutions, formerly known as WilTel, moved itsheadquarters there in August 1995. Today, Williams houses itsnational technical resource center at the tower and occupies 39floors. The tower is 64 stories tall and was built in 1982. It isthe tallest building in the United States located outside of adowntown area.

Providence Energy subsidiary ProvGas is providing remote systemcontrol and monitoring services for the Portland Natural GasTransmission System (PNGTS) – a new 272-mile pipeline that runsfrom Quebec to Massachusetts. ProvGas began providing 24-hourremote electronic monitoring of the pipeline from its Allens Avenuefacility shortly after the pipeline began operating on March 10.ProvGas will monitor the pipeline using a sophisticated SystemsControl and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to watch the portion ofthe pipeline that runs from Pittsburgh, NH, on the Quebec border,to Westbrook, ME. The line can transport 178 MMcf/d of gas.

Conoco yesterday held its first meeting of stockholders in 18years following the company’s record-setting $4.4 billion initialpublic offering in October 1998, that launched Conoco’s eventualseparation from DuPont. Conoco CEO Archie Dunham said the finalsplit-off from DuPont is expected to occur in the third quarter ofthis year when DuPont will offer its shareholders the opportunityto exchange DuPont shares for Conoco shares.

Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline officials began constructionof the 203-mile mainline that will extend from outside theU.S.-Canada border near Baileyville, ME, to Westbrook, ME.Maritimes and its Canadian affiliate will transport gas from theSable Offshore Energy Project off the coast of Nova Scotia tomarkets in Atlantic Canada and the Northeast U.S. Constructionbegins with the clearing and grading of the right-of-way along thedesignated route followed thereafter by ditching and pipeinstallation. Earlier this year, Maritimes successfully completedthe horizontal directional drill crossings of the Androscoggin andSt. Croix Rivers.