Capitol

A western senator yesterday urged Capitol Hill lawmakers not to spend too much time on the issue of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge because, he cautions, it’s not going to get through Congress.

Appearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, California Gov. Gray Davis argued that FERC must order power generators to refund his state billions of dollars worth of what he said were overcharges for power supplied to the state. “FERC must order these energy companies to give us back our money,” Davis told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee at a hearing looking at the role of FERC and the restructuring of energy industries.

Legislation unveiled last Tuesday on Capitol Hill would ensure that combined heat and power (CHP) systems are allowed to interconnect nationwide with the electricity grid, while also reducing energy costs and harnessing power that would otherwise be wasted.

Legislation unveiled yesterday on Capitol Hill would ensure that combined heat and power (CHP) systems are allowed to interconnect nationwide with the electricity grid, while also reducing energy costs and harnessing power that would otherwise be wasted.

A shroud of desperation enveloped California officials Monday, stretching from the state Capitol in Sacramento, west to San Francisco, and south to Los Angeles as regulators and a federal bankruptcy judge wrestled with the state’s electricity crisis, but with no indication of when and how the battle will end.

The White House last week forwarded to Capitol Hill the nominations of Texas regulator Patrick Wood III and Pennsylvania regulator Nora M. Brownell to sit on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday received the White House nomination of Pennsylvania regulator Nora M. Brownell to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a spokesman for the panel. This came less than a day after the committee received the Bush administration’s nomination of Texas regulator Patrick Wood III to the Commission.

As California suffered through two consecutive days of daytime darkness last week, FERC regulators remained as divided as ever over whether to impose price caps on wholesale power sales in the West to help alleviate the continuing crisis.

As California was plunged into its second consecutive day ofdaytime darkness on Tuesday, FERC regulators remained as divided asever on whether to impose price caps on wholesale power sales inthe West to prevent continuing blackouts and price hikes thissummer.