Critical

At the Republican National Conference in Philadelphia this week,Republicans unveiled an energy platform that was highly critical ofthe existing policies of the Department of Energy (DOE), theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission and the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA).

New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) told FERC yesterday thesituation has reached a critical stage at the New York IndependentSystem Operator, where start-up problems continue to threaten theretail electricity markets. It has called on the Commission toinvestigate and initiate emergency actions to correct continuingproblems at the ISO.

Reliant is under a Critical Period operational alert due tosevere weather in the system’s market area. Effective today no SBSrate schedule storage withdrawals will be allowed until furthernotice.

Affiliated pipelines Texas Eastern and Algonquin notified shippersTuesday evening that OFOs (or a Critical System Warning in Algonquin’scase) similar to those canceled Monday (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25) would go into effect later thatnight. As before, the OFOs require uniform hourly deliveries in themarket area and carry other restrictions such as no acceptance ofdue-shipper imbalance nominations. Effective today Algonquin isallowing only Primary Firm services through its Cromwell (CT)Compressor Station.

In the aftermath of an extremely critical consultant’s report onits handling of a prospective asset sale, Southern California Gashas reached a settlement with one part of the state regulatorycommission and is separately trying to reopen the possible sale ofits smallest Los Angeles Basin underground natural gas storagefacility in an eastern Los Angeles suburb. An administrative lawjudge (ALJ) with the California Public Utilities Commission isconsidering whether to recommend the deal to the full five-memberCPUC.

California regulators this week are slated to take a criticalstep in eventually opening the natural gas industry to morecompetition when they decide whether to follow staffrecommendations and push for a natural gas consumer protection lawwhen the state legislature reconvenes next month. Staff at theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission are asking the five-memberregulatory body to adopt a proposed consumer protection bill. Thisis in response to the state legislature, which has openly expressedconcerns about unbundling natural gas to the same degree as thestate’s electric industry because of customer and public safetyissues related to the distribution and use of gas.

British Gas Trinidad and Tobago Ltd. (BGTTL) may get an earlyChristmas present. It has asked FERC to issue a preliminarydetermination (PD) on Southern LNG’s proposal to recommission itsliquefied natural gas terminal facility at this Wednesday’smeeting. FERC has placed the project on the agenda — so BGTTL ishalf way there — but whether it will issue a PD is quite anothermatter.

California regulators this week (Dec. 16) are slated to take acritical step in eventually opening the natural gas industry tomore competition when they decide whether to follow staffrecommendations and push for a natural gas consumer protection lawwhen the state legislature reconvenes next month. Staff at theCalifornia Public Utilities Commission are asking the five-memberregulatory body to adopt a proposed consumer protection bill thatwas outlined last August as part of a report to the statelegislature, which has openly expressed concerns about unbundlingnatural gas to the same degree as the state’s electric industrybecause of customer and public safety issues related to thedistribution and use of gas.

Favorable rulings on the MarketLink and Independence Pipelineprojects at the Dec. 15 FERC meeting are “absolutely critical topreserve any realistic opportunity” for the proposed facilities tobe built and operating by the targeted November 2000 deadline, saysa senior official at Williams Gas Pipelines – Transco.