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Despite the incoming administration’s focus on renewable energy, traditional fuels — especially natural gas — remain key to America’s energy future, according to a trio of industry experts speaking last Wednesday at the United States Energy Association’s (USEA) Annual State of the Energy Industry conference in Washington, DC.

Despite the incoming administration’s focus on renewable energy, traditional fuels — especially natural gas — remain key to America’s energy future, according to a trio of industry experts speaking Wednesday at the United States Energy Association’s (USEA) Annual State of the Energy Industry conference in Washington, DC.

FERC has approved a stipulation and consent agreement requiring NorthWestern Corp. and its subsidiary NorthWestern Services LLC (NWS) to pay a civil penalty of $450,000 for self-reported violations of the shipper-must-have-title (SMHT) requirement and to submit semiannual compliance monitoring reports for one year.

July and August will see warmer-than-normal temperatures dominating the western United States, especially the northern Rockies and northern Plains, and the 2008 hurricane season still looks to be an active one, according to forecaster WSI Corp. of Andover, MA. The season’s second named storm, Tropical Storm Bertha, developed in the eastern Atlantic late last week and was not expected to approach North America until at least early in the week — if at all.

July and August will see warmer-than-normal temperatures dominating the western United States, especially the northern Rockies and northern Plains, according to forecaster WSI Corp. of Andover, MA.

More growth of cooling load, with an especially dramatic boost due Friday in the lower Northeast, along with continuing prior-day futures support rallied cash prices at most points Thursday. The exceptions were flat to about a dime lower quotes at several locations, primarily in the West and Midcontinent.

The current market favors further consolidation by energy utilities, but especially those on the electric side, a Duke Energy official said Tuesday in Washington, DC.

To encourage shippers to run positive imbalances because of dwindling linepack during an especially severe cold snap in Western Canada, NOVA has reset its imbalance tolerance range to 0/+4.

Prices dropped at nearly all points Wednesday as a Thursday return of especially severe winter weather that had been anticipated when the week began apparently was encountering delays. Tuesday’s 15.7-cent decline by February futures also contributed to cash market softness. Expectations that a relatively light storage pull will be reported for last week may have been another factor, one source said.