Responding

Responding to rumors that the Canadian government was considering the sale of its C$2 billion stake in Petro-Canada to have more cash on hand to boost federal spending on the economy and security, Canadian Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale said Friday that the government might sell the stake when “the time was right,” but offered no other details.

Responding to a series of pleadings from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), FERC last week agreed to hold a “public comment meeting” to address the concerns of the residents of Westchester County, NY, about the routing of the beleaguered Millennium Pipeline project through their community.

FERC’s Office of Administrative Law Judges is quickly responding to the Commission’s order last week for a hearing to determine whether Transwestern Pipeline exercised market power last winter. Acting Chief ALJ William J. Cowan already has scheduled a prehearing conference for Friday (Aug. 3), and has designated ALJ Jacob Leventhal as the presiding judge in the case.

FERC will hold off on responding to issues raised by several parties in response to a recent Commission order that, among other things, determined that when qualifying facilities (QFs) in California sell excess power or make sales to third parties under court authorization, they should be allowed to request interconnection and transmission service from utilities in California. The Commission last Monday said that it would address all issues raised on rehearing of the order, as well as issues raised in response to a Federal Power Act (FPA) proposal included in the order, in a single future decision.

The National Energy Marketers Association (NEM), responding to the Bush administration’s energy plan and the Democrats’ response, issued on Tuesday an urgent call for bipartisan support for meaningful incentives for massive new investments in additional energy supplies, conservation, infrastructure and technology. “Both plans recognize that new investments are required immediately, but both plans lack sufficient incentives to permit energy prices to come down,” said NEM President Craig Goodman. “Accelerated cost recoveries for new investments in energy supply, conservation, advanced energy technology and environmental protection will solve the energy supply problem quickly and is one of the lowest cost, highest yield policy solutions. New energy supplies, conservation and advanced technology will lower costs to all consumers and should be considered a moral imperative. NEM has long advocated the expansion of existing Internal Revenue Code Sections to include ‘Qualified Energy Restructuring Investments’ for new supplies, conservation, infrastructure, advanced metering and distributed generation technologies.”

Responding to concerns voiced by several Texas qualifying facilities (QFs), FERC last week affirmed that any company that meets the definition of electric utility under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) following restructuring in the Lone Star state will continue to have an obligation to purchase power from QFs.

Responding to concerns voiced by several Texas qualifying facilities (QFs), FERC this week affirmed that any company that meets the definition of electric utility under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) following restructuring in the Lone Star state will continue to have an obligation to purchase power from QFs.

Responding to requests from several dozen congressmen and senators, the General Accounting Office (GAO) has launched an investigation to determine the reasons for the rise in natural gas prices over the past two years and the record high prices last winter. Although the GAO has been asked to look into supply availability, changes in demand, futures trading and the possibility of collusion or price fixing, the scope of the investigation still has not been determined, said Robert Robinson, managing director of natural resources and environment at the GAO.

Responding to requests from several dozen congressmen and senators, the General Accounting Office (GAO) has launched an investigation to determine the reasons for the rise in natural gas prices over the past two years and the record high prices last winter. Although the GAO has been asked to look into supply availability, changes in demand, futures trading and the possibility of collusion or price fixing, the scope of the investigation still has not been determined, said Robert Robinson, managing director of natural resources and environment at the GAO.