Primarily

Only a gain of about a nickel by the Florida citygate, spurred primarily by Florida Gas Transmission’s issuance of an Overage Alert Day (see Transportation Notes), and flat quotes at Westcoast Station 2 were left out of Thursday declines ranging from a little less than a nickel to about 20 cents. Despite having a major storm with plentiful snowfall due to linger through the weekend, the Northeast recorded most of the biggest losses.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to adopt rules setting standards for reducing toxic air pollution, primarily from mercury, from the nation’s coal- and oil-burning power plants by November 2011, according to a court settlement reached between the agency and a coalition of environmental groups, the groups said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to adopt rules setting standards for reducing toxic air pollution, primarily from mercury, from the nation’s coal- and oil-burning power plants by November 2011, according to a court settlement reached between the agency and a coalition of environmental groups, the groups said.

Based primarily on the previous day’s 25.1-cent run-up by October futures, but also getting a slight boost from a pinch of extra cooling load returning to the desert Southwest and parts of the South along with forecasts of Friday lows in the 30s in upstate New York and some New England locations, the cash market was flat to higher across the board Thursday.

While companies that are primarily financial traders — i.e., speculators — are the main target of U.S. Treasury Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory reform efforts by the Obama administration, hedgers seeking to manage commodity price risk could get caught in the regulatory crossfire, according to an analysis of proposed reforms by Deloitte & Touche LLP.

While companies that are primarily financial traders — i.e., speculators — are the main target of U.S. Treasury Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory reform efforts by the Obama administration, hedgers seeking to manage commodity price risk could get caught in the regulatory crossfire, according to an analysis of proposed reforms by Deloitte & Touche LLP.

MDU Resources Group reported 2Q2008 earnings of $55.1 million (30 cents/share), down 52% from $115.3 million (63 cents) in 2Q2008, due primarily to substantially lower natural gas and oil prices.

Southern Company Services (SCS) agreed to pay $350,000 as FERC continued its crackdown last week on violators of the agency’s capacity-release rules, including the shipper-must-have-title (SMHT) requirement and the prohibition on buy-sell transactions.

Southern Company Services (SCS) agreed to pay $350,000 as FERC continued its crackdown on violators of the agency’s capacity-release rules, including the shipper-must-have-title (SMHT) requirement and the prohibition on buy-sell transactions.