Panel

A panel of industry representatives told federal energy regulators at a Denver technical conference Wednesday that natural gas supplies from throughout North America as well as new imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Alaskan Arctic supplies will be needed in the long term to adequately meet growing demand. There are also plenty of supplies on federal lands if drilling in those geographic areas is ever opened, they said.

A panel of industry representatives told federal energy regulators at a Denver technical conference Wednesday that natural gas supplies from throughout North America as well as new imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Alaskan Arctic supplies will be needed in the long term future to adequately meet growing demand. There are also plenty of supplies on federal lands if drilling in those geographic areas are ever opened, they said.

The role of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will play an ever bigger role for the United States, with imports surpassing more than 8% of total domestic supply by 2010, according to industry experts speaking Tuesday at GasMart/Power 2003 in New Orleans.

The role of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will play an ever bigger role for the United States, with imports surpassing more than 8% of total domestic supply by 2010, according to industry experts speaking Tuesday at GasMart/Power 2003 in New Orleans.

A California Senate panel voted out a measure Tuesday to make the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) into an elective body with each of its five commissioners elected from a separate state district. Industrial customers opposed the measure, which would be a constitutional amendment (SCR 6), saying it would make regulatory decisions even more political. But state utilities so far have voiced no opinion on the bill.

A California Senate panel voted out a measure Tuesday to make the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) into an elective body with each of its five commissioners elected from a separate state district. Industrial customers opposed the measure, which would be a constitutional amendment (SCR 6), saying it would make regulatory decisions even more political. But state utilities so far have voiced no opinion on the bill.

A U.S. House subcommittee last week voted down a proposal that would have allowed states to opt out of FERC’s pending standard market design (SMD) for U.S. wholesale power markets.

After two nominations by the White House, once last year and again in January, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing next week to consider the confirmation of Joseph T. Kelliher to one of two open seats on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Following a year-long investigation, a Senate committee has cleared Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary and current Citigroup executive, and several other bankers of allegations that they acted illegally when they contacted government officials regarding Enron Corp. and its credit rating just weeks before the energy company filed for bankruptcy in December 2001.