Fallout

Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) last week stepped down from key committee posts amid the fallout from his arrest by an undercover police detective investigating lewd conduct in a men’s restroom at the Minneapolis Airport. The embattled lawmaker was said to be on the verge of resigning from the Senate Friday, the New York Times reported.

While market “noise” and the potential long-term negative economic fallout from continued high wholesale natural gas prices shroud the merchant electric generation sector in a blanket of uncertainty, the admitted pro-coal-fired generation NRG Energy CEO, David Crane, said five-year forward wholesale gas prices in the $6-$7 range indicate liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports may not be the ultimate price-lowering savior some proponents expect.

The fallout continues from El Paso Corp.’s announcement to revise downward its oil and gas reserves by 41%, with at least three class action lawsuits filed by the end of the week. El Paso announced the changes late Tuesday, and investor confidence has eroded since (see Daily GPI, Feb. 19).

The fallout from Monday’s explosion at Algeria’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex, which killed as many as 27 workers and injured up to 72 persons, has extended all the way to Washington, DC, causing federal energy regulators to question whether a blast of a similar magnitude could occur at LNG facilities in the United States.

The fallout from last Monday’s explosion at Algeria’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex, which killed as many as 27 workers and injured up to 72 persons, has extended all the way to Washington, DC, causing federal energy regulators to question whether a blast of a similar magnitude could occur at LNG facilities in the United States.

Forcing Sempra Energy Resources (SER) and other suppliers to renegotiate the long-term electricity contracts that were brokered with California during the state’s energy crisis could jeopardize the very survival of some companies, threaten the development of a strong energy market in the state and result in higher power prices for consumers, energy suppliers told FERC.

As a further fallout from Enron Corp.’s financial collapse, three Democratic senators from the West Coast introduced legislation in Congress last week to step up the regulatory oversight of the energy markets to ensure full disclosure of all energy transactions. They plan to offer the measure as an amendment to the comprehensive energy bill, which the Senate is expected to take up after the Presidents Day recess.

As a further fallout from Enron Corp.’s financial collapse, three Democratic senators from the West Coast plan to introduce legislation in Congress today to step up the regulatory oversight of the energy markets to ensure full disclosure of all energy transactions.

More fallout from the Enron meltdown surfaced last Wednesday as Democratic Reps. John Dingell (MI) and Ed Markey (MA) asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to reconsider its support for the repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), “as well as its permissive administration of the act.” In addition, the two leading Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee sought SEC support for the removal of a provision in pending electric restructuring legislation that would allow a PUHCA-registered holding company to use one of its subsidiaries to operate its own unregistered and unregulated investment company.