Motions

In recently filed motions, Virginia’s two leading gas producers blasted would-be class action lawsuits by landowners that seek to collect billions of dollars based on claims that the companies produced coalbed methane gas to which they were not entitled.

FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, acting as Motions Commissioner, last Tuesday overrturned and stayed decisions by an administrative law judge (ALJ) in a Section 5 complaint proceeding involving Northern Natural Gas Co.

FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, acting as Motions Commissioner, Tuesday overrturned and stayed decisions by an administrative law judge (ALJ) in a Section 5 complaint proceeding involving Northern Natural Gas Co.

FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, acting as Motions Commissioner, Tuesday overrturned and stayed decisions by an administrative law judge (ALJ) in a Section 5 complaint proceeding involving Northern Natural Gas Co.

The headline, “Texas Railroad Commission Tries to Block Renewable Transmission Lines,” which accompanied a story regarding some motions filed by the commission to intervene in several Public Utility Commission of Texas proceedings (see Daily GPI, Dec. 3), was misleading. The commission does not necessarily oppose Oncor’s plans to build renewable transmission lines across the state, and Oncor will work with the commission to address all of its concerns as it would with any intervenor in the process, a spokesperson said.

The Canadian province of New Brunswick has filed motions with FERC to suspend review of the competing Quoddy Bay LNG and Downeast LNG projects because of the Canadian government’s decision to deny LNG vessels permission to cross Canadian waters, in particular Head Harbour Passage, in order to reach the proposed import terminals along Maine’s coast.

The Canadian province of New Brunswick has filed motions with FERC to suspend its review of the competing Quoddy Bay LNG and Downeast LNG projects because of the Canadian government’s decision to deny LNG vessels permission to cross Canadian waters, in particular Head Harbour Passage, in order to reach the proposed import terminals along Maine’s coast (see Daily GPI, Feb. 16).

Nearly 20 of bankrupt Enron Corp.’s creditors have apparently filed motions to delay the scheduled auction of the company’s trading assets this week, but one-time merger partner and creditor Dynegy Corp. will not be one of them, a spokesman said Wednesday. However, even if the auction proceeds as planned, Enron is facing more obstacles on the legal front: 51 subpoenas are expected to be issued Friday by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and in Houston, a judge is considering whether to freeze Enron executives’ assets.

The Cal-ISO has filed emergency motions with FERC, seeking to terminate the Commission’s grant of market-based authority to Mirant/Southern Energy, Reliant, Dynegy, and Duke unless it imposes a mitigation plan that “fully protects against the exercise of market power in California,” including refunds, plus interest, of charges exceeding cost-based rates going back to May 2000. The filings join similar actions filed earlier against Williams and AES, after a federal court refused to act.