Proceedings

FERC last Thursday denied pleas filed by Amaranth Advisors LLC and affiliates seeking a stay of enforcement proceedings at the agency pending a court review of an order upholding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) assertion of jurisdiction in the natural gas futures market.

FERC Thursday denied motions filed by Amaranth Advisors LLC and other respondents seeking a stay of enforcement proceedings at the agency pending legal review of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction in the matter.

Duke Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week filed a joint motion calling on U.S. Middle District Court of North Carolina trial Judge Frank Bullock to rule in favor of Duke Energy in the government’s Clean Air Act “New Source Review” (NSR) enforcement litigation brought against the company.

While Canada’s Arctic natural gas remains long regulatory proceedings and a pipeline mega-project away, a new frontier is opening up that some say is on par with the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea. The good news is, this new play is right in the backyard of producers.

While Canada’s Arctic natural gas remains in long regulatory proceedings and a pipeline mega-project away, a new frontier is opening up that some say is on par with the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Sea. The good news is, this new play is right in the backyard of producers.

Citing allegations from consumer groups and other opponents in past proceedings that were left unaddressed, the five-member California Public Utilities Commission Thursday in a split decision directed its staff to launch an investigation into the operations of San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s two major utilities in relation to various merchant energy businesses that Sempra also operates.

Citing allegations from consumer groups and other opponents in past proceedings that were left unaddressed, the five-member California Public Utilities Commission Thursday in a split decision directed its staff to launch an investigation into the operations of San Diego-based Sempra Energy’s two major utilities in relation to various merchant energy businesses that Sempra also operates.

For the second year in succession while still embedded in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announced Tuesday it has doled out $75 million in local property tax payments to 49 California counties, the largest payment being $11.8 million to San Luis Obispo County along the central coast in which the utility’s massive Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Plant is located.

Even under the protection of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy proceedings, April is still a month for shelling out tax payments. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid $67.8 million last Wednesday in property tax payments to the 49 counties in which it operates in the northern half of California. Combined with an additional $145 million the utility will pay in local franchise fees during the month, the company plans to distribute $212 million to California cities and counties by the end of April. The PG&E utility’s CEO Gordon Smith emphasized that the tax payments are part of the company’s role in helping “fund vital public services,” undoubtedly a fact the companies will stress in promoting their proposed reorganization of the utility in bankruptcy court, spinning off all the nondistribution operations. State officials are strongly opposing this, offering their alternative plan that would keep the utility intact. The major property tax payment by the utility was $11.6 million to San Luis Obispo County, along the central California coast where the PG&E Diablo Canyon Nuclear Generating Plant is located. That is more than double the next largest county payment, which was $5.3 million to Alameda County in the East San Francisco Bay..