Definitely

The East Coast of Canada, now one of the hot spots for new oiland gas exploration and development in the world, could”definitely” be a part of the solution to New England’s energyneeds, Premiers John Hamm of Nova Scotia and Brian Tobin ofNewfoundland and Labrador told attendees at the Offshore TechnologyConference in Houston last week.

The East Coast of Canada, now one of the hot spots for new oiland gas exploration and development, could “definitely” be a partof the solution to New England’s energy needs, Premiers John Hammof Nova Scotia and Brian Tobin of Newfoundland and Labrador toldattendees at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houstonyesterday.

Three of the four leading natural gas trade associations onFriday were said to be either definitely on board or “favorablyinclined” to jointly ask FERC for a second extension of thedeadline for industry comments on the major notice of proposedrulemaking (NOPR) and notice of inquiry (NOI) issued in July[RM98-10, RM98-12]. A source indicated there was a “50-50 chance”the lone association holdout would sign on too. The joint request,which reportedly is being spear-headed by the Interstate NaturalGas Association of America (INGAA), would seek a six-monthextension of the current Jan. 22nd deadline, and could be filed atthe Commission as early as this week. A possible reason for themove is that one of the groups is trying to buy time to broker acompromise with the other three associations on a voluntary auctionproposal, the source said. This would make pipeline participationin capacity auctioning optional, as opposed to the mandatory routethat FERC seems to favor.

Three of the four leading natural gas trade associations onFriday were said to be either definitely on board or “favorablyinclined” to jointly ask FERC for a second extension of thedeadline for industry comments on the major notice of proposedrulemaking (NOPR) and notice of inquiry (NOI) that were issued inJuly [RM98-10, RM98-12]. A source indicated there was a “50-50chance” that the lone association holdout would sign on too.