Drumbeat

The drumbeat for a FERC hearing on the proposed mega-merger between Exelon Corp. and Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is growing louder by the day. A number of parties last week urged the Commission not to provide rubber stamp approval of the pending deal, which would create a new company, Exelon Electric & Gas (EEG) [EC05-43]. Others went a step further, urging FERC to issue an outright rejection of the merger.

While it remains unclear what exactly caused last month’s unprecedented blackout in the U.S. and Canada, a wide-ranging group of stakeholders last week said that if Congress is serious about preventing a similar catastrophe from happening again, federal lawmakers must make currently voluntary reliability standards mandatory for the power industry.

The drumbeat has begun in the campaign to demolish roadblocks on the way to developing more domestic natural gas supplies. The American Chemistry Council (ACC), representing America’s largest industrial users of natural gas, Tuesday were joined by members of Congress and key allied trade associations in a press conference calling for comprehensive energy legislation that addresses the long-term structural problems facing energy markets.