Preceded

The news preceded President Obama’s call on Tuesday for more action to address climate change (see Daily GPI, June 26), but executives at NRG Energy Inc. and Tenaska Inc. may have been reading between the lines after announcing within the past few days that because of abundant U.S. natural gas, coal is going to play a much smaller role in their generating schemes going forward.

Protests and street closings preceded the first day of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing in New York last week to determine the scope of a study it will be conducting on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) processes on drinking water.

Protests and street closings preceded the first day of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing to determine the scope of a study it will be conducting on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracing) processes on drinking water.

Prices continued to drop Friday at all points, but the declines were quite a bit smaller than the ones that preceded them on Thursday. The softness was anticipated as cooling load remained relatively light outside the southern third of the U.S. and the screen had fallen in six straight trading sessions before eking out a small gain Friday.

For a lower-demand weekend period preceded by a falling screenand expected to continue the unseasonably warm weather pattern thatdominated nearly all of November, there was surprising firmness inmost of the cash market Friday. Except for further Northeastcitygate declines, essentially flat quotes prevailed elsewhere. Onetrader suggested the moderate gain in futures Thursday may haveprovided a modicum of psychological support for cash traders Fridaymorning.