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Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Bill Richardson made aspirited request to a host of gas industry executives yesterday,asking for their help to pass a federal electric restructuring billbefore the end of this year. Richardson, addressing attendees ofthe Natural Gas Roundtable in Washington D.C., said the gasindustry stands to gain handsomely if electric restructuring getspassed as soon as possible.

A host of Wisconsin businesses, labor unions and state and localgovernment officials have rallied behind the proposed GuardianPipeline as their last, best hope of injecting natural gascompetition into the state. The coalition, which includes GovernorTommy Thompson, said the proposed 147-mile, $230 million interstatepipeline can create competition with ANR Pipeline, resulting inlower energy prices for consumers and increased reliability.

AMDAX.com, an e-commerce company based in San Diego, CA,unveiled plans yesterday to host an Internet-based real-timeutility auction system, in an attempt to give California gas andelectric consumers another option to secure their energy needs. Thecompany said it was in the midst of finalizing numerous contractswith electric generators, gas and electric marketers and end users.Currently, the auction is set to start Nov.1.