Hired

ANR Pipeline brought in a big gun this week to mow down theopposition to its proposed Wisconsin expansion project. It hiredformer Wisconsin Public Service Commission Chairman CharlesCicchetti, now a consultant with the Pacific Economics Group and abusiness professor at the University of Southern California, totout its project over others, particularly the competing GuardianPipeline.

Unless an extra contractor is hired, the joint Maritimes &Northeast (M&NE) and Portland Natural Gas Transmission (PNGTS)pipeline will not be able to start service to Maine this winter asplanned.

PG&E Corp. has hired Credit Suisse First Boston (CS FirstBoston) of Melbourne, Australia, to evaluate various options forall of PG&E’s Australian assets, including a possible sale. Thecompany has made an about-face from aggressive investment inAustralia to continued expansion of its North American assets,particularly power generation in New England and pipeline andtrading operations in Texas. Over the past two years, PG&E haspurchased the 390-mile Queensland Gas Pipeline, running fromWalumbilla (near Roma) to Gladstone and Rockhampton, for US$138million, and planned huge expansion projects, including a proposedAU$30 million extension of the Queensland Pipeline and a AU$1billion, 994-mile gas pipeline project from the North West Shelf tothe South-West of the State. It also has built an activeQueensland-based energy trading business.