Elect

The only new face unseating an incumbent in California’s 53-member Congressional delegation turned out to be an alternative energy entrepreneur with a doctorate in mathematics. Rep.-elect Jerry McNerney, a wind energy specialist, unseated seven-term Rep. Richard Pombo from the state’s 11th District in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pombo was chairman of the House Resources Committee. Environmental groups have taken credit for defeating Pombo whom they accuse of trying to roll-back various environmental protections in California and elsewhere.

Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s apparent president-elect, holds a resume that on paper would appear to give him an edge in boosting Mexico’s energy fortunes. Harvard-educated and well-connected, Calderon served as energy minister under outgoing President Vicente Fox for nine months (see NGI, June 7, 2004; Sept. 15, 2003). But if Calderon succeeds Fox into office this December, his impressive credentials are expected to matter very little in a country apparently more concerned about national pride than its stagnant energy resources.

Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s apparent president-elect, holds a resume that on paper would appear to give him an edge in boosting Mexico’s energy fortunes. Harvard-educated and well-connected, Calderon served as energy minister under outgoing President Vicente Fox for nine months (see Daily GPI, June 2, 2004; Sept. 9, 2003). But if Calderon succeeds Fox into office this December, his impressive credentials are expected to matter very little in a country apparently more concerned about national pride than its stagnant energy resources.

Northeastern utility holding company Energy East Corp. said Friday that its shareholders voted to declassify its board of directors and will begin electing all board members annually starting next year.

Duke Energy Corp. shareholders last week approved a non-binding resolution calling for the annual election of board members. Initially opposed by the board of directors, CEO Paul Anderson said the vote will not be opposed.

Even as California’s new governor-elect and various stakeholders emphasize more electricity from renewable sources, the initial proposed power procurement plans by two of the state’s major electric utilities last week emphasized new natural gas-fired power plants. And one those plants is the controversial one that Southern California Edison Co. is attempting to develop with an unregulated affiliate owned by its parent, Edison International.

A preliminary vote tabulation prepared by an independent inspector has affirmed that shareholders voted to elect all 12 of El Paso Corp.’s board of director nominees at the annual meeting in June. On the day of the annual meeting, Ronald Kuehn Jr., El Paso’s interim CEO, announced that the board had been elected in a close vote (see Daily GPI, June 18).

Despite the intensification of Isidore to a category 2 hurricane Friday morning, natural gas futures shuffled lower throughout the session as traders liquidated long positions acquired during last week’s 50-cent price spike. At $3.758, the October contract was down nearly 20 cents from Thursday’s high and 9.8 cents lower on the day, but still 29.1 cents higher for the week. Volume was heavy for a Friday, with an estimated 97,137 contracts changing hands.

The board of directors of New York Mercantile Exchange Inc., (NYMEX) last week voted to elect J. Robert (Bo) Collins Jr. as president. Collins, until now the senior vice president of natural gas trading at El Paso Merchant Energy, has been serving on the NYMEX board since March as a trade representative. Before joining El Paso in 1997, Collins was a natural gas and crude options market maker with Pioneer Futures on the floor of the Exchange.