Gauntlet

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead laid down the gauntlet Tuesday to a proposal by the U.S. Interior Department to withhold payment of mineral revenues to his state because of federal sequestration. Wyoming is faced with not receiving more than $53 million due this month through July.

FERC laid down the legal gauntlet for California regulators last Wednesday by asserting “exclusive jurisdiction” over Sound Energy Solutions’ planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal for the Port of Long Beach, CA.

FERC laid down the legal gauntlet for California regulators Wednesday by asserting “exclusive jurisdiction” over Sound Energy Solutions’ planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal for the Port of Long Beach, CA.

Setting up a possible showdown with states over how and when electric utilities should join regional transmission organizations (RTOs), FERC late Tuesday said that American Electric Power Co. (AEP) must “expeditiously fulfill” prior voluntary commitments and hand over control of its transmission facilities to PJM Interconnection. Significantly, the Commission also said that after considering various alternatives, AEP’s full integration into PJM is the best solution among the options before the federal agency.

While only 11 states can boast of legislation requiringstatewide customer choice for gas service, a group of Michiganlegislators have recently acted to boost that total. A package ofseven bills was introduced to the state legislature last week withthe goal of totally deregulating the state’s gas industry by April2005. Rep. Mary Ann Middaugh (R-MI-MIH080), one of the package’ssponsors and chair of the energy and technology committee, said thepackage will be considered when the Michigan House returns toLansing next month.

Independence and MarketLink pipeline sponsors were forced to runthe gauntlet last week at a special FERC conference. The event drewbuses filed with t-shirted crowds of pipeline supporters and anopposing army of congressmen, state representatives, localpoliticians and landowner advocates, the likes of which hasn’t beenseen at the Commission since the Iroquois Pipeline project wasproposed in the early 1990s.

Oneok Inc., the successful bidder for Southwest Gas Corp., threwdown the gauntlet earlier this week, challenging losing bidderSouthern Union (SU) to present evidence by today to support itsallegations that Oneok conspired to illegally influence SouthwestGas in its choice of merger partner.

With the Independence Pipeline project continuing its strugglethrough the landowner gauntlet in the Midwest and through thelonger-than-average regulatory review at FERC, Coastal Corp. isattempting a different approach for its proposed Gulfstream NaturalGas System in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. The company plans toget the word out to local officials early and claims it wants asmuch public input as possible prior to filing an application withFERC this fall.

With the Independence Pipeline project continuing its strugglethrough the landowner gauntlet in the Midwest and through thelonger-than-average regulatory review at FERC, Coastal Corp. isattempting a different approach for its proposed Gulfstream NaturalGas System in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. The company plans toget the word out early and claims its wants as much public input aspossible prior to filing an application with FERC this fall. It hasdrawn a preliminary pipeline route on a map and scheduled severalopen houses to discuss the project with landowners, localofficials, regulators and anyone else who’s interested.