Legislative

Skyrocketing natural gas prices and the resulting energy crisis demand immediate legislative action, according to the Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), a non-profit association of major industrial firms with at least 31 supporting members including Alcoa, Bayer, Dow Chemical, the Steel Manufacturers Association and others.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ) have offered up a legislative proposal that would place limits on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants and other sectors of the economy. The legislation also provides for the trading of emissions allowances and includes penalty provisions for companies failing to meet emissions limits set out in the proposed legislation.

President Bush said Thursday the “energy bill’s an important issue,” but it was noticeably absent from his short list of legislative priorities for the new Republican-controlled Congress to tackle in the upcoming lame-duck session or early next year.

The special California state Senate investigative committee last Thursday announced it will subpoena Enron Corp.’s former CEO Jeff Skilling and two other former executives from the company this week to appear at a hearing in Sacramento April 3. Following approval by the year-old Select Committee to Investigate Price Manipulation in the Wholesale Energy Market this week, the subpoenas are expected to be served Monday, according to a committee staff member.

Dynegy Inc. has named Marian Davenport senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, reporting to Kenneth Randolph, executive vice president and general counsel. Davenport has had various executive positions with Dynegy since it acquired Destec Energy in 1997, where she was director of project development.

While Capitol Hill’s legislative schedule has been turned upside down in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee still expects to mark up and vote out a comprehensive energy bill this fall, an aide to the committee said.

As state legislators frantically try to come up with a legislative alternative to the governor’s deal with Southern California Edison Co., the consumer watchdog part of the California Public Utilities Commission last week blasted a more recent agreement, or memorandum of understanding (MOU), crafted with Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric Co.

The reaction to Monday’s failure to obtain a federal mediated wholesale electricity settlement from a California state legislative leader and the state’s largest investor-owned utility were mixed, but both resolved that the state’s stakeholders will move on, seeking relief from what are alleged to be excessive charges from merchant generators/suppliers over the past months.

Aquila Inc. is maintaining its previously set 25% growth target for the year despite the downturn in energy stocks and the continuing regulatory and legislative tirade against western power generators and marketers. By remaining geographically diverse across the United States, Aquila executives said they effectively eliminate concentration risk.