Involved

A federal warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of a single suspect identified as being involved in at least one of two incidents of tampering with Western Grid transmission tower footings about 150 miles apart in southeast Oregon and northern California last Monday.

The trial of three former Dynegy Inc. executives involved in the financing scheme Project Alpha is expected to begin Aug. 4 and last at least eight weeks, attorneys said last week. Jamie Olis, 37, Gene Shannon Foster, 44, and Helen Christine Sharkey, 31, pleaded innocent in separate appearances before a Houston judge last Tuesday.

The trial of three former Dynegy Inc. executives involved in the financing scheme Project Alpha is expected to begin Aug. 4 and last at least eight weeks, attorneys said Tuesday. Jamie Olis, 37, Gene Shannon Foster, 44, and Helen Christine Sharkey, 31, pleaded innocent in separate appearances before a Houston judge.

Chiming in on an ongoing dispute that has all parties involved in need of a few aspirin, Bayer Corp. said Thursday that it is urging the U.S. Congress and the Bush administration to lift restrictions on natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and the Outer Continental shelf and to encourage more natural gas supplies from Canada.

Mirant Corp. reported last Thursday it overstated its net income from 1999 through the first half of this year by $41 million, but it said an independent review of its books found no fraud was committed by the company. The Atlanta-based company also revealed that the Department of Justice is looking into its energy trading practices and certain accounting matters.

Mirant Corp. reported Thursday it overstated its net income from 1999 through the first half of this year by $41 million, but it said an independent review of its books found no fraud was committed by the company. The Atlanta-based company also revealed that the Department of Justice is looking into its energy trading practices and certain accounting matters.

Nearly two years after the fatal explosion on El Paso Natural Gas, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a series of factual reports last Thursday that appeared to confirm federal investigators’ initial suspicions of substantial internal corrosion as the cause, or one of the causes, of the blast that killed 12 members of an extended family in August 2000.

It was another week of change for those involved with the current and the former Enron Corp. last week, with ex-employees scoring victories in court, more top executives joining the ranks of the unemployed, and almost all new and old members of the board of directors announcing plans to resign.

Chevron Corp. said Monday it will work with Irving Oil Ltd. to study the costs and other factors involved in building a C$500 million (US$320 million) liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Saint John, NB. Irving Oil, a family-owned company with energy interests in eastern Canada, announced two months ago that it was considering construction of an LNG plant at its ice-free Canaport deepwater facility, where it has operated an oil terminal since 1970 (see Daily GPI, July 26).