Consumer

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) unanimously agreed Thursday to create a statewide registry for all nonpublic utility and hazardous liquids pipelines, to assess operators for the costs, and for its inspectors to begin enforcing federal pipeline safety laws on most classifications of pipeline.

Pennsylvanians believe that the benefits of natural gas drilling in the state’s shale plays outweigh any potential problems, but want the state to impose an extraction tax and require the disclosure of chemicals used by drillers, according to the results of a survey by the Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion and the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy.

None of the legislation to amend Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act being considered by the House Agriculture Committee “proposes dramatic changes to Dodd-Frank,” according to committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK).

Many of the regulatory reforms being implemented and proposed under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will be vulnerable to legal challenges if the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fails to conduct a “robust cost-benefit analysis” of the new rules, said CME Group last week.

Many of the regulatory reforms being implemented and proposed under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will be vulnerable to legal challenges if the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fails to conduct a “robust cost-benefit analysis” of the new rules, said CME Group Monday.

California regulators are looking for a new head of the state’s reorganized Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) in response to recommendations from an independent review panel that called for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to change the way it oversees natural gas pipeline safety in the wake of last year’s devastating pipeline rupture in San Bruno, CA. The CPUC is looking nationwide for a new CPSD director.

Coming in under the implementation deadline of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act rules, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), announced Friday that ICE Trust U.S., ICE’s North American credit default swap (CDS) clearing house, will complete its transition to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) and Securities and Exchange (SEC)-regulated Securities Clearing Agency (SCA) by Saturday, July 16.

Coming in under the implementation deadline of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act rules, IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), announced Friday that ICE Trust U.S., ICE’s North American credit default swap (CDS) clearing house, would have completed its transition to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) and Securities and Exchange (SEC)-regulated Securities Clearing Agency (SCA) by Saturday, July 16 (see related story).

In the midst of intense consumer and regulatory unrest, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) acknowledged Thursday that it will be replacing two of its key senior executives: COO John Keenan and Senior Vice President for Engineering and Operations Edward Salas.