Criticized

The American Public Gas Association (APGA), several power sector groups and other parties this week collectively criticized FERC’s plan to use the “public interest” standard as the default standard of review for energy contract modifications. APGA and the others said this approach “flies in the face of the plain language” of the Federal Power Act (FPA) and the Natural Gas Act (NGA) [RM05-35].

House Republicans from Pennsylvania on Wednesday criticized the Interior Department’s proposed fall 2007 time table for leasing additional acreage in the natural gas-prone offshore area known as Lease 181 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

With a new budget finally put in place in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned his attention to energy issues but got off to a rocky start last Monday with a news report quoting local government officials, environmental groups and consumer activists blasting the governor’s cabinet members for taking an 11-day trip with energy company executives to Australia and South Korea to visit liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

With a new budget finally put in place over the weekend, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to turn his attention to energy issues this month, but his administration got off to a rocky start Monday with a news report quoting local government officials, environmental groups and consumer activists blasting the governor’s cabinet members for taking an 11-day trip with energy company executives to Australia and South Korea to visit liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.

One of bankrupt Enron Corp.’s federal examiners criticized Bank of America Corp., Royal Bank of Canada, KPMG LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in yet another report on the corrupt company.

California’s often-criticized regulatory commission will strive to take a more “balanced approach” in weighing consumer, utility and economic interests, according to Michael Peevey, the former utility senior executive who was named New Year’s eve to a six-year commission term and as president of the five-member California Public Utilities Commission.

In what could turn into another problem for bankrupt Enron Corp., a group representing 32 Pacific Northwest industrial customers has asked FERC to conduct a more thorough analysis of Northwest Natural Gas Co.’s planned acquisition of Enron affiliate Portland General Electric (PGE).

A group representing 32 industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest has asked FERC to conduct a more thorough analysis of Northwest Natural Gas Co.’s planned acquisition of Enron affiliate Portland General Electric (PGE). The group charges that the deal could reduce competition in the region’s natural gas transportation and power markets. Northwest Natural and Enron agreed to the $1.8 billion cash and stock transaction in October two months before Enron declared bankruptcy (see Power Market Today, Oct. 9).

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman last week told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that it is premature to put in place new carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions restrictions on power plants. But the president’s plan will be designed to curb nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxides (SO2) and mercury, she said. The administration’s proposed legislation also will strive to simplify the “complex web of existing regulations.”