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The foreign invasion of the U.S. electric utility market got offto a good start last week when the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission approved two separate transactions valued atapproximately $10-$11 billion.

A Mexican government decision to eliminate a tariff on naturalgas imports July 1 was heralded as good news for U.S. pipelines andMexican consumers. Currently 4%, the tariff on U.S. gas imports,was to be eliminated in 2003 following annual reductions of 1%. Thetariff went into effect at 10% with the signing of the NorthAmerican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The tariff’s elimination isintended to boost gas availability to Mexico’s northern region asthe country turns more and more to gas-fired power generation.

The controversial Northeast-bound Independence Pipeline andMillennium Pipeline have won draft environmental acceptance at theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission. This was good news for bothpipelines, which have been beset by unprecedented landowneropposition and questions about the “need” for the projects.

Viking Gas Transmission got some good news last week when FERCapproved a looping expansion of its system that will make itpossible for existing customers between the northern Minnesotaborder and West-Central Wisconsin to receive up to 28,000 Dth/d ofadditional gas supplies by the end of the year.

Viking Gas Transmission got some good news Wednesday as FERCapproved a looping expansion of its system that will make itpossible for existing customers between the northern Minnesotaborder and West-Central Wisconsin to receive up to 28,000 Dth/d ofadditional gas supplies by the end of the year.

A measure introduced in the New Mexico senate recently was a”good first step” towards opening up the state’s electricityindustry to competition, says the state’s largest utility, althoughit cited certain concerns.

A measure introduced in the New Mexico senate last week was a”good first step” towards opening up the state’s electricityindustry to competition, says the state’s largest utility, althoughit cited certain concerns.

One of the most significant regulatory events at FERC in 1998went by practically unnoticed: the word “proposed” was put backinto the notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), said CommissionerCurt Hebert Jr. in reflecting on his first full year at the agency.Commissioner Linda K. Breathitt, who also just ended her initialyear, agreed “proposed” took on a “stronger meaning” in a specificNOPR last year, but she hardly found it to be precedent-setting.

Mandating the use of a pre-filing collaborative process fornatural gas pipelines would do more harm than good, and in the endcould thwart industry’s efforts to build enough transportationcapacity to support a 30 Tcf market by 2010, a major pipeline groupsays.