Midwest

ANR Pipeline proposes to establish two new transportationservices to meet the hourly natural gas demands of powergenerators, primarily in the Midwest market.

FirstEnergy Corp. added 30,000 industrial, commercial andresidential customers in the Midwest through an acquisition of theretail natural gas business of Volunteer Energy LLC, a subsidiaryof Williams. The acquisition was filed with the Federal TradeCommission and the Department of Justice and the parties expect toclose later this month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

FirstEnergy Corp. added 30,000 industrial, commercial andresidential customers in the Midwest through an acquisition of theretail natural gas business of Volunteer Energy LLC, a subsidiaryof Williams. The acquisition was filed with the Federal TradeCommission and the Department of Justice and the parties expect toclose later this month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In an attempt to better support record-breaking power demand inthe Midwest, OG&E Electric Services (OG&E), an OGE Corp.subsidiary, said yesterday it plans to reactivate two powergenerators at its Mustang Power Plant. The utility is alsoconsidering other enhancement projects, with a goal to add 1,000 MWto its power supply system.

Slightly more than one year after Midwest power prices spiked to$7,500/MWh from $25/MWh, causing suppliers to default on contracts,companies to go out of business and federal regulators to concludeit was a one-time anomaly, the power market did it again.

Slightly more than one year after Midwest power prices spiked to$7,500/MWh from $25/MWh, causing suppliers to default on contracts,companies to go out of business and federal regulators to concludeit was a one-time anomaly, the power market did it again.

FERC shot down one major Midwest-to-Northeast pipeline projectyesterday but gave another competing project a final green light.The $447 million Vector Pipeline emerged victorious, receivingFERC’s final approval and a presidential permit in a draft order,while the $400 million TriState Pipeline was sent back to thedrawing board to redesign the pipeline-lease portion of itsproposal.

With the Independence Pipeline project continuing its strugglethrough the landowner gauntlet in the Midwest and through thelonger-than-average regulatory review at FERC, Coastal Corp. isattempting a different approach for its proposed Gulfstream NaturalGas System in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. The company plans toget the word out to local officials early and claims it wants asmuch public input as possible prior to filing an application withFERC this fall.

With the Independence Pipeline project continuing its strugglethrough the landowner gauntlet in the Midwest and through thelonger-than-average regulatory review at FERC, Coastal Corp. isattempting a different approach for its proposed Gulfstream NaturalGas System in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. The company plans toget the word out early and claims its wants as much public input aspossible prior to filing an application with FERC this fall. It hasdrawn a preliminary pipeline route on a map and scheduled severalopen houses to discuss the project with landowners, localofficials, regulators and anyone else who’s interested.