Levy

Facing multi-billion-dollar budget shortfalls, the California legislature has warmed up an old proposal to levy a severance tax on oil and gas production to fund the state’s struggling higher education system. The measure, Assembly Bill 656 (AB 656), was voted out of the lower house Revenue and Taxation Committee Monday with a “pass as amended” recommendation, sending the proposal to the Appropriations Committee.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter on Thursday said he will push for a ballot measure this November to levy higher severance taxes on oil and natural gas development to fund college scholarships and protect wildlife habitat. The initiative needs 76,047 registered voters’ signatures before it is put on the ballot.

The Republican-led Senate rejected Democratic efforts to levy a controversial windfall profits tax on the earnings of major energy companies as part of the $60 billion tax reconciliation bill that was passed Friday, but it added nearly $5 billion to the tax burden of oil companies and repealed tax benefits that were approved in the energy bill in August.

The Republican-led Senate fended off a Democratic drive Thursday to levy a controversial windfall profits tax on the earnings of major energy companies as part of a $60 billion tax reconciliation package.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Thursday said he would oppose any plan that would seek to levy a tax on oil companies to help pay for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) this winter.

The main thing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission needs from an energy bill is muscle, or the authority to levy stiff penalties for criminal and civil rules violations, FERC Chairman Patrick Wood said in a letter to Rep. John Dingell, D-MI, ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The main thing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission needs from an energy bill is muscle, or the authority to levy stiff penalties for criminal and civil rules violations, FERC Chairman Patrick Wood said in a letter to Rep. John Dingell, D-MI, ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Puget Sound Energy Inc. has called on FERC to levy price caps inthe Pacific Northwest bulk electricity markets that are equal towhat it ultimately decides to establish for the Californiawholesale market. Last week, the Commission proposed a “soft”$150/MWh price cap on wholesale sales of electricity in California.