Federal

Reducing paperwork and maybe even saving money in the federalgovernment? How can this not be a good thing?

Two federal energy officials may have fed information on unpaidoil royalties that they obtained from producers underconfidentiality agreements to a Washington D.C.-based watchdoggroup to use as ammunition against the producers in a”whistle-blower” lawsuit seeking recovery of back royalties inCalifornia. They may also have “steered the Department of Interiortoward a [royalty] policy favorable” to certain parties, accordingto a report by an investigator with the General Accounting Office(GAO) that was released last week.

Bending another tool in its arsenal to shaping up the electricpower market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hasapproved an 11.6% rate of return for Southern California Edison,replacing the 9.68% rate set earlier by an administrative law judge(ER97-2335, et al).

Bending another tool in its arsenal to shaping up the electricpower market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hasapproved an 11.6% rate of return for Southern California Edison,replacing the 9.68% rate set earlier by an administrative law judge(ER97-2335, et al).

Two federal energy officials may have fed information on unpaidoil royalties that they obtained from producers underconfidentiality agreements to a Washington DC-based watchdog groupto use as ammunition against the producers in a “whistle-blower”lawsuit seeking recovery of back royalties in California. They mayalso have “steered the Department of Interior toward a [royalty]policy favorable” to certain parties, according to a report filedby an investigator with the General Accounting Office (GAO).

A class action lawsuit alleging that KN Energy Inc., now KinderMorgan Inc., violated federal securities laws, committed fraud andmisrepresented itself has been filed in U.S. District Court for theDistrict of Colorado by a Denver law firm. Dyer & Shuman LLPsaid it had filed the lawsuit on March 8 on “behalf of persons whopurchased or otherwise acquired the shares of KN EnergyInc…between March 19, 1997 and March 9, 1999.”

A class action lawsuit alleging that KN Energy Inc., now KinderMorgan Inc., violated federal securities laws, committed fraud andmisrepresented itself has been filed in U.S. District Court for theDistrict of Colorado by a Denver law firm. Dyer & Shuman LLPsaid it had filed the lawsuit on March 8 on “behalf of persons whopurchased or otherwise acquired the shares of KN EnergyInc…between March 19, 1997 and March 9, 1999.” Kinder Morgan hadno comment on the lawsuit.

In a daring move, a staff member of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s new office that monitors the electric andnatural gas markets has accused the Commission of being powerlessto monitor and correct abuses in the electricity industry.

In a daring move, a staff member of the Federal EnergyRegulatory Commission’s new office that monitors the energy marketshas accused the Commission of being powerless to pinpoint andcorrect abuses in the electricity industry due to an absence ofappropriate market data.