Minority

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) called on President Bush last Thursday to re-nominate Commissioner William Massey to a third five-year term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Among a growing minority of healthy major energy sector players, San Diego-based Sempra Energy received a positive response from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service last Wednesday that it has established an equity fund unit to seek partners in buying presumably bargain-priced energy assets.

Among a growing minority of healthy major energy sector players, San Diego-based Sempra Energy received a positive response from Standard & Poor’s Rating Service Wednesday to its announcement earlier in the week that it has established an equity fund unit to seek partners in buying presumably bargain-priced energy assets.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) last week called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin a federal investigation into the causes for the recent spike in natural gas prices across the nation and particularly in his home state of South Dakota.

One of two remaining minority Republican appointees and a former two-time president of California’s regulatory commission, Richard Bilas announced Wednesday he is resigning from the California Public Utilities Commission effective March 8. In a letter to Gov. Gray Davis, Bilas, a Ph.D. free-market economist and former university professor, curtly referred to being “most frustrated by the policy changes at the Commission.”

One of two remaining minority Republican appointees and a former two-time president of California’s regulatory commission, Richard Bilas announced Wednesday he is resigning from the California Public Utilities Commission effective March 8. In a letter to Gov. Gray Davis, Bilas, a Ph.D. free-market economist and former university professor, curtly referred to being “most frustrated by the policy changes at the Commission.”

A number of top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO), recently urged Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham to initiate a rulemaking at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to re-impose cost of service prices for all wholesale power sales in California and the other 12 states in the Western Systems Coordinating Council, including full refunds back to October of last year.

A number of top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO), last week urged Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham to initiate a rulemaking at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to re-impose cost of service prices for all wholesale power sales in California and the other 12 states in the Western Systems Coordinating Council, including full refunds back to October of last year.

The Georgia House and Senate passed separate bills last week that would change the states deregulation program for the first time since its inception in 1998. The changes, however, are a far shot from the re-regulation that some legislators including Georgia Sen. Regina Thomas (D-Savannah) had sought.