Mulls

In an effort to further address high natural gas prices in California, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking industry comments on whether to reimpose its rate cap on short-term capacity release transportation transactions to the state’s border.

Several generators recently expressed a willingness to cooperate with FERC as the Commission mulls how best to gather data related to generator outages in California, but they also questioned why FERC is not casting a wider net to include data from investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in the state.

The New York Independent System Operator’s (NYISO) board is expected to rule today on a proposal that would allow it to expand and increase financial penalties for power plant owners that are found to have engaged in the exercise of market power. Generators in the state are asking the NYISO to reject the plan, arguing that it will remove incentives for power suppliers to sell electricity into New York during critical peak demand periods.

The advisory committee of the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) said that it recently reviewed a report to discuss the creation of an energy industry standards board (EISB), which would be responsible for electronic communications standards for wholesale and retail electric and natural gas transactions.

The advisory committee of the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) said on Thursday that it reviewed a report this week to discuss the creation of an energy industry standards board (EISB), which would be responsible for electronic communications standards for wholesale and retail electric and natural gas transactions.

Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) of the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee is expected to announce shortly — possibly as early as this week — whether he will introduce emergency legislation in an attempt to head off worsening power shortages that are being predicted for the California wholesale power markets this summer.

Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) of the House Energy and Air QualitySubcommittee is expected to decide over the weekend whether tointroduce emergency legislation in an attempt to head off worseningpower shortages and price spikes that are being predicted for theCalifornia wholesale power markets this summer.

If the staff of the Senate Energy and Natural ResourcesCommittee fails to reach agreement today on two contentious areasin electricity restructuring — the extent of FERC jurisdictionover interstate transmission and whether to include a renewableportfolio standard — the Democratic and Republican committeeleaders, may drop efforts to pass a comprehensive bill this year infavor of a stripped-down measure addressing reliability.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) released results of astudy evaluating the role of the federal Outer Continental Shelf(OCS) in supplying future U.S. gas demand. Results were presentedat an industry symposium held in Houston yesterday.