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Off the beaten path of western energy and commerce superhighways, Elko, NV, is being left in the dust by natural gas pipeline and power plant developers since the wholesale market and many of its major practitioners suffered the retrenchment of the past 18 months.

Hurricane Isabel left her calling card up and down the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern parts of the U.S. on Thursday in the form of massive power outages, with 5.5 million businesses and homes estimated to have had their juice cut off as a result of the massive storm. Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. gave shippers advance notice Friday that it may have to call an operational flow order (OFO) because markets in southeastern Virginia were taking gas at abnormally low levels because of the power outages.

Hurricane Isabel left her calling card up and down the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern parts of the U.S. on Thursday in the form of massive power outages, with 5.5 million businesses and homes estimated to have had their juice cut off as a result of the massive storm. Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. gave shippers advance notice Friday that it may have to call an operational flow order (OFO) because markets in southeastern Virginia were taking gas at abnormally low levels because of the power outages.

Large swaths of the U.S. and Canadian power grids were left staggering last week after a series of gargantuan and unprecedented power outages hammered the Northeast, the Great Lakes region and eastern Canada leaving millions of customers without power.

A 15.5-cent pop higher in August gas futures Monday left some analysts and brokers considering the possibility that the market has found a summertime bottom due to recent higher temperatures, expectations of smaller storage injections and the likelihood of Atlantic hurricanes. But most observers said they aren’t willing to write off the downtrend just yet. The August contract ended the day at $5.381.

Picking up from where she left off last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said she plans to introduce legislation this week to bolster the authority of federal regulators to detect and penalize companies that defraud and manipulate energy markets.

Picking up from where she left off last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said she plans to introduce legislation next week to bolster the authority of federal regulators to detect and penalize companies that defraud and manipulate energy markets.

Debt-laden and cash-poor energy merchants with few prized assets left to sell should consider selling stock — if they have access to the capital markets. The equity sales would only have a “neutral to mildly negative” effect for many companies, according to a new study.

Stemming the price slide that left the February contract down 41 cents Monday, natural gas futures rebounded Tuesday as traders were once again put in a buying mood by bullish weather outlooks.