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Daniel Adamson, FERC director of the Office of Energy Projects,fired off a letter of rejection to Millennium Pipeline last week,regarding an amendment application for a proposed route changealong the highly controversial power transmission right of way inWestchester County, NY. He also told Millennium officials toconsider substituting a proposed extension of the Iroquois GasTransmission system for the Millennium project.

Last week’s announcement by Montana Power that it is getting outof the energy utility business may be the start of a new push toseparate electric transmission and distribution, with an increasein merchant transmission proposals, spurred by both shareholdersand regulators of the utilities, according to one of the nation’sfirst merchant power transmission companies. U.S. electrictransmission systems collectively represent a $70 to $90 billionset of assets.

It could be argued everyone is a stakeholder in electricrestructuring, and yesterday it seems just about everyone gottogether and weighed in at Congress with the issue. A broad-basedgroup of organizations has developed a list of 23 principles itbelieves should be considered in any federal restructuringlegislation.

Despite record drilling and high gas prices, Canadian producersstill are not managing to boost production. TransCanada Pipelinesestimates Alberta field receipts were 2% lower than expected thiswinter and ended up being essentially flat with the 12.4 Bcf/drecorded in winter 1998-99.

The next growth step for Atlantic Canada’s fledgling natural gasindustry has popped up on the horizon in the form of a discoverywith potential to double offshore production and exports to NewEngland. Offshore of Nova Scotia, PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.expects to know by the end of this year the true size of a gas findin the Sable Island region that it has christened Deep Panuke.

The next growth step for Atlantic Canada’s fledgling natural-gasindustry has popped up on the horizon, in the form of a discoverywith potential to double offshore production and exports to NewEngland. Offshore of Nova Scotia, PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.expects to know by the end of this year the true size of a gas findin the Sable Island region that it has christened Deep Panuke.

The swing market somewhat resembled a popular breakfast foodWednesday: almost as flat as could be, with a slight lean towardthe softer side.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could go a long waytoward increasing liquidity in the pipeline transportation marketby combining capacity release and pipeline interruptibletransportation under one set of rules, according to the head of thelargest electronic gas and power trading system.

KeySpan Energy announced that its earnings are significantlyahead of analysts’ estimates for the first quarter and could be upto 7% higher for calendar year 2000. The First Call averageestimate is currently $1.87 per share for the year 2000, thecompany said. The boost has been caused by many factors Keyspansaid including: Strong growth in our gas market, resulting from anaggressive market strategy in the Company’s new Long Island market;Electric demand and gas demand hit record levels in January, givingKeySpan highest winter send-out days in both electricity and gas;and the benefit of substantial reductions in O&M expenses,amounting to $110 million. In merger-related news, KeySpan saidthat the merger with Eastern Enterprises, which was announced lastyear, is proceeding on schedule and is expected to be completed bythe Fall.