Orders

Iroquois Pipeline, having reached a critical point in development of its Eastern Long Island (ELI) expansion project, has asked FERC to defer further action on its application until at least January when Iroquois will provide a status update.

In a rare flexing of its disciplinary powers, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week suspended for one year the authority of Enron subsidiary Transwestern Pipeline Co. to negotiate rates based on basis differentials and ordered shipper refunds for excess charges, which at times reached 100 times the maximum regulated rate during the California energy crisis in 2000-2001. The Commission also issued a draft notice of inquiry (NOI) into all negotiated-rate transportation deals that are tied to basis differentials.

Responding to pleas from the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), the U.S. Department of Energy last Friday issued an emergency order directing Cross Sound Cable Co. to temporarily operate a 24-mile, 330 MW underwater cable system linking Connecticut to Long Island. The DOE said that activation of the cable will alleviate the emergency supply situation caused by the area’s recent heat wave.

Justice Department attorneys were dealt another blow on Friday when a federal judge ordered the Bush administration to turn over to two Washington, DC-based public interest groups more documents and records related to Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force, which developed the national energy policy last year.

In a sweeping unprecedented move Wednesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered more than 140 suppliers and affiliates to furnish information on whether they engaged in Enron-like strategies to manipulate energy trading during the height of the California energy crisis in 2000-2001. The agency, in short, wants sellers to western markets to “admit or deny” under sworn oath whether they unfairly gamed the market.

Just one month after it ended a major reporting requirement for sellers of natural gas to the California market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered all sellers of gas and electricity to western states to report their short- and long-term wholesale sale transactions for 2000 and 2001. The agency has threatened to take “appropriate enforcement action,” including issuing subpoenas, against companies that fail to respond.

Just one month after it ended a major reporting requirement for sellers of natural gas to the California market, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ordered all sellers of gas and electricity to western states to report their short- and long-term wholesale sale transactions for 2000 and 2001. The agency has threatened to take “appropriate enforcement action,” including issuing subpoenas, against companies that fail to respond.

A federal judge in Washington, DC has ordered the Department of Energy (DOE) to turn over secret documents identifying the individuals, companies and groups that Vice President Dick Cheney and his task force met with when developing the Bush administration’s national energy policy last year.

Nine federal agencies have begun a review of an estimated $70 million in existing government contracts with scandal-ridden Enron Corp. and Arthur Andersen LLP to determine whether they are being carried out “in accordance with contract terms and proper business practices.”