Motion

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she is pleased that the Superior Court of Alaska has denied a motion filed by Point Thomson leaseholders ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips for a stay that would have allowed them to retain leases while they fight the state’s earlier decision to take the leases back after the companies have failed for years to develop the North Slope field.

In denying a summary judgement motion of the proposed Millennium Pipeline, a federal court in Washington, DC Friday affirmed a 2003 ruling by the Commerce Department that cleared the way for New York State to block the construction of the 700 MMcf/d pipeline project from Lake Erie to New York City.

Indicating that it may reopen the Weaver’s Cove LNG proceeding because of proposed changes to the project, FERC filed a motion in Boston’s First Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday asking for temporary suspension of the deadline to file the official record of the proceeding while it considers requests from the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board to reopen the case.

Responding to a motion from the California parties, FERC Thursday agreed to temporarily suspend its procedural schedule established in an interim guidance order it released last week. The federal regulatory process will wait for a ruling from a federal district court in New York City that has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 26 on the issue of Calpine Corp.’s bankruptcy court request to set aside eight of its power supply contracts because they are unprofitable for the Chapter 11-protected company.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday filed a motion to dismiss charges against a former Duke Energy North America LLC (DENA) trading executive whose case ended in a mistrial in December (see Daily GPI, Dec. 7, 2005).

Nicor Inc. said Monday that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) granted a motion last week filed by its gas distribution company, Nicor Gas, to adjust its base rates to recover $54.2 million, compared to the $48.8 million allowed under tariffs previously filed on Oct. 4. Because the order shifted certain revenues and credits between base rates and the purchase gas adjustment rider, the company estimates that the actual annual net revenue increase will be about $34.7 million under the newly revised tariffs, compared to $29.3 million under the previously filed tariffs.

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly and the City of Fall River, MA, filed a motion with FERC in the Weaver’s Cove LNG docket on Thursday requesting that the Commission initiate a new comprehensive evidentiary hearing to review all of the proposed and planned northeastern liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals in order to identify those that best serve the public interest.

Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas Reilly and the City of Fall River, MA, filed a motion with FERC in the Weaver’s Cove LNG docket last Thursday requesting that the Commission initiate a new comprehensive evidentiary hearing to review all of the proposed and planned northeastern liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals in order to identify those that best serve the public interest.

The Department of Justice’s Enron Task Force has filed a motion in a Houston federal court seeking to try former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay in May or June on bank fraud charges for allegedly issuing false statements for loans he obtained.