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FERC staff has recommended that the full Commission approve anaccord under which El Paso Natural Gas has agreed to pay SouthernCalifornia Edison $32 million and make certain rate concessions topreserve its 1996 capacity-turnback settlement.

Just in case there were any doubters still out there, AlliancePipeline says it now has nine of 10 mainline construction crews inthe field installing the $3 billion pipeline system. The crewsstarted construction on two spreads in North Dakota, one inMinnesota, two in Iowa, one in Illinois and two in Saskatchewan. AThird crew is starting in Saskatchewan this week.

The White House has given the green-light to the renomination ofCommissioner Curt Hebert Jr. for a full five-year term at theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission. “It’s my understanding thatthey’ve signed off on my nomination,” Hebert told NGI.SenateMajority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) sent a letter to the White Housein January seeking his renomination. The Senate EnergyCommitteeis expected to schedule a hearing after Congress returns fromrecess in mid-April, at which time it will begin to schedule ahearing.

Sources were searching for new ways of expressing “flat” as1999’s relative lack of volatility in day trading continued Monday.A lot of zeroes were showing up in the average-change column of theprice table even as lack of fundamentals again failed to depresscash numbers. A Southwest trader reporting “not much demand andplenty of supply available” was surprised that prices weren’t goingdown.

Georgia deregulation proved it is in full throttle last week asthe municipality representing the city of Marietta formed analliance with Columbia Energy’s Georgia affiliate, Columbia EnergyRetail Corp. The alliance calls for a 10-year deal with the city ata guaranteed base price of 39.9 cents per therm for one year and acontractual promise to be competitive for the other nine. Themunicipality includes between 30,000 and 40,000 gas customers.

Westcoast Energy Inc. last week challenged BC Gas’ request for an abbreviated approval process for the Southern Crossing pipeline proposal and called for a full public review of the re-filed proposal by BC Gas to build a $350 million pipeline across Southern British Columbia. Westcoast maintains the Southern Crossing project is too expensive and that there are other alternatives.

With demand rising in southern California and its pipes too fullto do anything about it, Transwestern Pipeline Co. is holding anopen season through Dec. 18 to solicit shipper interest in apossible mainline expansion. The pipeline is exploring theconstruction of a compressor station near Gallup, NM, that willincrease mainline capacity to the California border by 140,000Dth/d. The cost of the expansion is estimated at $15-$20 million.

Williams Energy Services has acquired full ownership ofVolunteer Energy Corp., increasing its stake from 50%.

The three largest gas utilities in western Pennsylvania(Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Equitable Gas and Peoples Gas) urgedcustomers to press Congress to restore full funding to the LowIncome Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The three gascompanies began a letter writing campaign on behalf of customers,consumer groups and social service agencies. Elimination of LIHEAPwould impact thousands of customers in Pennsylvania, the utilitiessaid. Nearly 350,000 Pennsylvania families benefit from theprogram. The LIHEAP grant is applied directly to heating bills.Eligibility is based on family income and the number of householdmembers. LIHEAP, a federally-funded program, has been around fortwo decades, but its future was thrown into doubt last month whenthe House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate the programin fiscal 1999, saving $1.1 billion. President Clinton hadrequested $1.4 billion for LIHEAP in his 1999 budget. Members ofthe U.S. House of Representatives will have another opportunity toconsider LIHEAP funding later this month.