Government

In a rare display of unanimity, pipelines and producers lastweek said the federal government’s ban on oil and gas production ona wide swath of public lands – both onshore and offshore – was thebiggest obstacle to supplying the 30 Tcf of gas needed to meet theClinton administration’s proposed global-warming targets.

In a rare display of unanimity, pipelines and producersyesterday said the federal government’s ban on oil and gasproduction on a wide swath of public lands – both onshore andoffshore – was the biggest obstacle to supplying the 30 Tcf of gasneeded to meet the Clinton administration’s proposed global-warmingtargets.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is considering callingon government and industry resources to help make its ownassessment of the future demand outlook for natural gas in theeastern half of the United States and the need for new pipelinecapacity, Chairman James Hoecker said last week.

A group representing municipal- and government-owned utilitieslast week renewed its call for FERC to impose a moratorium onelectric utility mergers that threaten competition while theindustry is undergoing transition. At a minimum, it proposed thatthe Commission only approve mergers that could show “clearbenefits” that would result from such combinations.

Congressional proponents of royalty in-kind legislation, whichwould force the government to assume the cost of transporting andmarketing its royalty portion of oil and gas production, aredrawing large sums of political action committee donations, softmoney and individual contributions from the oil and gas industry.