Outcome

While some see doom as the outcome if the United States fails to institute a national policy on carbon dioxide emissions or a renewable portfolio standard for power generation, a cadre of researchers predicts quite the opposite, and it’s mostly thanks to the country’s recently found abundance of natural gas, the role of gas in power generation, and electric vehicles.

While some see doom as the outcome if the United States fails to institute a national policy on carbon dioxide emissions or a renewable portfolio standard for power generation, a cadre of researchers predicts quite the opposite, and it’s mostly thanks to the country’s recently found abundance of natural gas, the role of gas in power generation, and electric vehicles.

State regulators in Washington last week fined electric and gas utility Puget Sound Energy (PSE) $995,000 for violating consumer privacy laws by intentionally sharing private customer information with an outside marketing partner without the customers’ written permission.

State regulators in Washington penalized electric and gas utility Puget Sound Energy (PSE) $995,000 for violating consumer privacy laws by intentionally sharing private customer information with an outside marketing partner without the customers’ written permission.

With so much money on the table and no other logical outcome, the pace of mergers and acquisitions among oil and natural gas companies will pick up again this year, and capital investment in the upstream sector will grow by at least 25%, according to a new report by energy research firm John S. Herold Inc.

Calling it an example of a “successful regulatory outcome,” Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services praised an omnibus settlement between Xcel Energy’s Public Service Company of Colorado utility and more than two dozen of its stakeholders. The deal was approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission last December.

Calling it an example of a “successful regulatory outcome,” Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services praised an omnibus settlement between Xcel Energy’s Public Service Company of Colorado utility and more than two dozen of its stakeholders. The deal was approved by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission last December.

In a unanimous decision Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed a Houston jury’s obstruction of justice verdict against the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, which was convicted in 2002 for mishandling Enron Corp.-related documents.

In a unanimous decision Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans affirmed a Houston jury’s obstruction of justice verdict against the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, which was convicted in 2002 for its mishandling of Enron Corp.-related documents.