Brings

In one of the most aggressive environmental enforcement actionsever, the federal government yesterday filed a series of lawsuitsagainst 32 coal-fired electric utility plants in the South andMidwest alleging that they made illegal modifications to theirfacilities, which resulted in increased nitrogen oxide (NOx) andsulfur dioxide (SOx) emissions over the years.

While it remains to be seen whether winter will show up thisyear, gas customer choice programs are very much with the industryright now. Programs in Maryland, Michigan and Washington, DC, areunder way. On the electric side of customer choice, two pilots havejust been kicked off in Texas.

Following a five-day, 30-cent price drop, the natural gasfutures market dug in its claws Friday as scale-down industrialbuyers found good value in winter gas prices. Gaining 6.2 cents tofinish at $2.608 the October contract was only the tip of theiceberg. Led by the December contract, which was up 7.7 cents to$2.974, the winter strip (Nov.-Mar.) posted an impressive 5.6-centgain.

Less than two months after FERC approved its Medicine BowLateral, Wyoming Interstate Co. Ltd. (WIC) last week was back atthe Commission seeking a second-phase expansion of the line to add120 MDth/d of capacity. WIC also is laying the groundwork for athird expansion to further meet its contractual commitments withproducers tapping into the prolific coal-bed methane (CBM) reservesin the Power River Basin in Wyoming.

Avista Energy had a difficult second quarter, bringing in abouthalf the net income ($8.5 million) it posted in the second quarterof last year ($15.6 million), mainly because of an $11.6 millionnet loss in its marketing and trading division and costs associatedwith expanding its non-regulated businesses. But CEO T. M. Matthewssaid he’s comfortable that earnings this year will fall within therange of securities analysts’ current estimates, which are between$1.25 and $1.35 per share. He also predicted the company is in forsome significant changes ahead.

Dallas-based Texas Utilities Co. is changing its name to TXU,which is also the company’s stock symbol. The action bringstogether divisions and subsidiaries, domestic and international,under one name. TU Electric/Lone Star Gas, the company’s largestdomestic operation, will be renamed TXU Electric & Gas.

The signing by the United States last week of the Kyotoagreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions elicited jeers onCapitol Hill and in some energy circles. The move was seen as “moreof a gesture of goodwill” to encourage commitments from developingcountries that are attending the conference now underway inArgentina, according to Capitol Hill and gas industry sources. Theyseriously doubt President Clinton will submit the controversialaccord to the Senate, which is sharply opposed to it.

Texas Eastern Transmission resurrected an old war horse toprovide additional service to PECO Energy and new service to MobilOil’s Paulsboro, NJ, refinery.