Calling

The USX Corp. board of directors has approved a reorganization plan calling for a tax-free spin-off of the steel-related assets into a separate publicly traded company, United States Steel Corp., while the energy business operates as Marathon Oil Corp. Plans for the split came nearly 20 years after USX acquired the Houston-based oil and gas E&P company in 1982.

California officials Wednesday announced a deal with its small qualifying facility (QF) generators and progress in creating what its governor is calling a “pincer movement” between Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to force lower wholesale prices. Gray Davis was ebullient in claiming a “day of accounting” is coming for merchant generators in which they either take heavy discounts on monies owed them, or substantial decreases (federal price caps) in power prices going forward.

Calling high natural gas prices in California “a matter of serious concern,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering an initiative that would require gas sellers and transporters serving the market to submit information on volumes and prices on a regular basis to ascertain if corrective action is warranted.

A proposal calling on FERC to conduct a formal investigation into wholesale power rates in western markets has been stripped out of the emergency legislation that was introduced Friday by Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.

A proposal calling on FERC to conduct a formal investigation into wholesale power rates in western markets has been stripped out of the latest discussion draft of emergency legislation that was released Tuesday by Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.

New York State Assemblyman James F. Brennan (D-Brooklyn) last week introduced legislation calling for the creation of a New York City public electric power system that would repurchase power plants previously sold by Consolidated Edison (ConEd) to several unregulated companies.

The Wilderness Society lashed out Thursday at Bush Administration plans to expand oil and gas drilling in protected areas, calling for measures aimed at conservation rather than “drilling America first.”

Propelled by forecasts calling for a warmer-than-normal summerand following on the heels of Thursday’s technical rebound, naturalgas futures finished the week on a positive note Friday, ascommercial and speculative traders covered shorts ahead of theweekend. After gapping higher at the open, the April contracttraded quietly for much of the session Friday, finishing 10.8 centsstronger at $5.035.

Calling natural gas “a key part of the equation,” the Californialegislature’s Assembly speaker formed a special subcommittee onMonday to examine natural gas issues as part of the lawmakers’special session on energy, which so far has concentrated on thestate’s stubborn electricity crisis. The focus will be on cost andavailability as has been the similar electricity subcommittee’scharge.