Certification

After years of living the American dream, the past six years have been an “American nightmare,” Enron Corp. founder Kenneth L. Lay said Monday in his fraud and conspiracy trial. Lay, 64, who faces several years in prison if he is convicted on a half dozen criminal counts, took the stand in his defense for the first time, attempting to convince jurors in Houston he had done no wrong in the months before Enron collapsed.

Although they support FERC certification of the proposed Cheyenne Plains Gas pipeline because it would give Midwest customers access to additional lower-priced natural gas from the Rocky Mountains, Kansas regulators last week said they believe the overall rate of return being sought by the El Paso-affiliated project is much too steep.

Although they support FERC certification of the proposed Cheyenne Plains Gas pipeline because it would give Midwest customers access to additional lower-priced natural gas from the Rocky Mountains, Kansas regulators said they believe the overall rate of return being sought by the El Paso-affiliated project is much too steep.

In seeking FERC certification as a regional transmissionorganization (RTO) last week, PJM Interconnection LLC and its ninetransmission owners claimed the regional independent systemoperator (ISO) already possessed the characteristics and functionsrequired by the Commission’s Order 2000 to qualify as an RTO.

In seeking FERC certification as a regional transmissionorganization (RTO) yesterday, PJM Interconnection LLC and its ninetransmission owners claimed the regional independent systemoperator (ISO) already possesses the characteristics and functionsrequired by the Commission’s Order 2000 to qualify as an RTO.

The Iowa Utilities Board has moved toward certifying natural gasmarketers in the state after issuing a proposed rulemaking thatsets different standards for small- and large- volume customers,specifically focusing on smaller customers who may not have theresources to evaluate a potential marketer.

The Iowa Utilities Board is moved toward certifying natural gasmarketers in the state after issuing a proposed rulemaking lastweek. The proposal sets different standards for small- and large-volume customers, specifically focusing on smaller customers whomay not have the resources to evaluate a potential marketer.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) began thecertification process for the Coastal Corp.’s Gulfstream NaturalGas project, a pipeline from Mobile, AL, across the Gulf of Mexicoand the state of Florida. And in related news, Williams re-filedit’s application for the competing Buccaneer Gas Pipeline. Aprevious Williams filing was rejected without prejudice forinsufficient environmental information.

The new policy statement on pipeline certification, which callsfor incremental pricing of projects filed past a certain deadline,came under fire at FERC last week from a cross-section of interestsin the natural gas industry.