Issued

The D.C. appellate court issued a final ruling last weekupholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 1998clean-air rule requiring several states east of the MississippiRiver to enforce strict nitrogen-oxide (NOx) emission standards.

FERC staff issued favorable environmental impact statements onproposed pipeline expansions by Trans Union Interstate and WilliamsGas Pipeline Central. Both projects primarily will serve new powergeneration in the Midcontinent and Gulf Coast regions. In itsEnvironmental Assessments, Staff said the projects would have noadverse environmental impact if certain mitigating measures wereundertaken. Trans Union Interstate is proposing a 430,000 MMBtu/dpipeline extension to a 2,700 MW combined-cycle, gas-fired powerplant proposed by Union Power Partners near El Dorado, AR. Thepower plant is expected to be operation in spring of 2002. Anapplication for the 42-mile 30-inch diameter pipeline was filedlast December. The Williams project, called the Pleasant HillPipeline, would involve construction of two miles of 24-inchdiameter pipe and 2,890 hp of compression in Franklin County, KS,and Cass and Johnson County, MI. The project would provide 44,200Dth/d of gas in the winter and 88,200 Dth/d of gas in the summer toUtiliCorp United’s proposed Pleasant Hill Power plant in CassCounty, MI, to UtiliCorp’s distribution system in Missouri and toU.S. Energy Services in Pettis County, MI. UtiliCorp also willconstruct its own eight mile pipeline to the Williams facilities.

Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day noticeWednesday, effective until further notice. The 2% tolerance fornegative daily imbalances is considerably more stringent than thosein OAD notices earlier this month.

NewEnergy is seeking natural gas supply for its commercial,institutional and municipal customers in Massachusetts, RhodeIsland and Connecticut. The company issued a request for proposals(RFP) for an undetermined amount of supply this week. Stephen J.Remen, a managing director in NewEnergy’s New England office, saidthe amount will be determined after a supplier is found and a salesproposal can be sent out to NewEnergy’s customers, which numbermore than 20,000 in the three states. “This new gas RFP willposition us to offer both electricity and natural gas service toincreasing numbers of customers as we anticipate the marketbecoming more competitive in the months ahead,” said Remen. “As themarket continues to evolve we want to solicit bids on gas supply tomaximize the dollar savings that we can offer our customers.” TheRFP requires citygate delivery and behind-the-citygatetransportation management. Responses to the RFP are due May 29 at10 a.m. Contact NewEnergy at 617-772-7500 or 888-772-WATT toreceive a copy of the RFP document.

Florida Gas Transmission lifted Sunday a market-area Overage AlertDay notice that had been issued last Tuesday (see Daily GPI, May 10), but cautioned shippers it wouldcontinue to monitor hourly and daily takes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in areport issued yesterday that the 2000 hurricane season could be awhopper with 11 or more tropical storms, of which seven or morecould become hurricanes, with three or more classified as major.”The greatest influences in this forecast continue to be theon-going La Nina and a lesser-known climate phenomenon of warmerthan normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures that affect hurricaneactivity over very long time scales,” said NOAA Administrator D.James Baker. “La Nina is defined by cooler-than-average sea-surfacetemperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. Duringlast year’s hurricane season, La Nina was bold, and clearlydefined, and gave forecasters more certainty. This year, La Nina’send is in sight,” Baker said. “Even if La Nina fades by August (asthe current forecast suggests), La Nina’s remnants and otherinfluences will still likely bring more storms than usual,” headded.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in areport issued yesterday that the 2000 hurricane season could be awhopper with 11 or more tropical storms, of which seven or morecould become hurricanes, with three or more classified as major.”The greatest influences in this forecast continue to be theon-going La Nina and a lesser-known climate phenomenon of warmerthan normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures that affect hurricaneactivity over very long time scales,” said NOAA Administrator D.James Baker. “La Ni¤a is defined by cooler-than-average sea-surfacetemperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. Duringlast year’s hurricane season, La Ni¤a was bold, and clearlydefined, and gave forecasters more certainty. This year, La Ni¤a’send is in sight,” Baker said. “Even if La Ni¤a fades by August (asthe current forecast suggests), La Ni¤a’s remnants and otherinfluences will still likely bring more storms than usual,” headded.

Citing significant demand, Florida Gas Transmission issued anOverage Alert Day notice Tuesday for its market area. The noticehad a 10% tolerance for negative daily imbalances, but FGTsaid itmay reduce the percentage if conditions do not improve. Thepipeline, which previously re-evaluated system operations eachmorning before announcing whether an OAD would be extended, nowsays the notices will remain in effect “until further notice.”

Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day noticeTuesday morning for that gas day and extended the notice through atleast today. Citing significant demand in its market area, FGTapplied the notice to the downstream segment east of Station 12 innorth-central Florida. The notice carried a 6% tolerance fornegative daily imbalances; however, FGT said if conditions do notimprove, it may cut the percentage prior to the start of today’sgas day.