Representatives

Republican lawmakers in the Senate and the House of Representatives last Thursday introduced legislation based on the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” initiative, which would create a mandatory program to reduce power plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercury by setting a national cap on each pollutant.

Echoing one another on Tuesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, representatives from production, pipeline and utility companies, as well the Energy Information Administration (EIA), agreed that the current high natural gas prices are a sign that the market is actually working — not broken as some suggest.

Thirty-three California Democrats in the U. S. House of Representatives Thursday asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider an administrative law judge’s proposed ruling that the state was owed $1.8 billion in refunds from alleged wholesale electricity overcharges in 2000-2001. FERC Judge Bruce Birchman made his determination last month, drawing heavy criticism from state officials from the governor on down.

Representatives from natural gas pipeline companies, gas associations and Mid Atlantic power grid operator PJM Interconnection met recently to begin discussions about the impact of adding more natural gas-fired power plants in PJM’s territory. But news of the talks came just as analysts at Energy Security Analysis Inc. (ESAI) issued a report questioning whether the bulk of generation development underway in PJM will ever come to fruition.

In discussions with the Bush administration, members of Congress and industry representatives in Washington, DC, Tuesday, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal reiterated Canada’s desire that any provisions in the energy bill dealing with a northern natural gas pipeline be “route neutral” with no subsidies. The private sector should determine the route, he said.

The Alaska House of Representatives has sent a strong message to gas producers, who so far have been pessimistic about building a privately-owned pipeline system to transport Alaska’s vast natural gas resources to markets in the Lower 48 states: “Build it or we will.” The House passed a bill last Monday sponsored by Rep. Jim Whitaker (R-Fairbanks) to authorize a feasibility study of the state building its own gas line.

Oil and gas industry representatives are concerned that problems with the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) are not being fixed by Congress despite the current opportunity to do so with the required reauthorization of CZMA and the urgent pleas by industry and the Bush administration that changes must be made to remove a substantial impediment to the nation’s energy supply.

Gas industry representatives applauded the Senate Finance Committee’s passage of energy tax legislation late Wednesday. The tax bill provides $4 billion in credits and incentives to the oil and gas industry. The full Senate is expected to begin debate soon on the national energy policy bill, which will include the tax incentives. A key issue going forward will be whether lawmakers can find budget offsets to fund the tax incentive program.

Oil and gas industry representatives are concerned that problems with the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) are not being fixed by Congress despite the current opportunity to do so with the required reauthorization of CZMA and the urgent pleas by industry and the Bush administration that changes must be made to remove a substantial impediment to the nation’s energy supply.