Broad

California’s debacle followed by Enron’s scandal has cast a broad shadow over state and federal energy initiatives this year, according to former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), speaking last Thursday at a two-day industry conference in Seattle, “Buying and Selling Power in the West.”

California’s debacle followed by Enron’s scandal has cast a broad shadow over state and federal energy initiatives this year, according to former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA), speaking Thursday at a two-day industry conference in Seattle, “Buying and Selling Power in the West.”

Columbia Gas Transmission is considering an expansion of its system from its Broad Run, WV receipt point to Market Area 27 near Cumberland, MD, and is holding an open season through Aug. 31 to assess interest.

Vice President Dick Cheney says he expects to see a broad range of energy legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush by the end of the year.

As a clear signal that the state legislature still wants to weigh in with a broad-based settlement to California’s electricity crisis, state regulators Tuesday canceled a special meeting to vote on suspending direct access retail competition at the urging of state officials, including the Department of Water Resources (DWR), which is buying all of the power for financially crippled private sector utilities. The California Public Utilities Commission will reconsider the issue in mid-August, the drop-dead deadline for a legislative solution that will prevent a second major utility from falling into bankruptcy.

Key Senate Republicans yesterday introduced a broad-basedlegislative package of tax measures and other incentives aimed atspurring the production of crude oil, natural gas and alternativeenergy in the Lower 48 states and Alaska.

The first-ever broad-based study analyzing finding anddevelopment (F&D) costs by strategy area and cost componentsfor companies operating in the Shelf and Slope areas of the Gulf ofMexico shows that technology plays a key role in determiningcompetitive advantage. Ziff Energy Group, which released the studythis week at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston,analyzed activity on the Shelf and Slope to 1,500-feet water depth.

While electric restructuring at the federal level meandersalong, a broad group of industry and consumer organizationsreleased a list last week of 23 principles it believes should beincluded. The group is hoping its efforts might add some urgency tothe legislative process.

Prices achieved broad-based small gains Tuesday largely based onan initially firm screen and lingering cool weather in the West,but were retreating in the late going as futures eventually movedlower.