Response

In response to a stunningly bullish weather forecast for the last week of December, natural gas futures shot higher Monday morning as short traders elected to take their profits and head for the exits. As one might expect, the January contract received the biggest buying boost, etching a 17.9-cent advance to close at $2.747, its highest settle since becoming the prompt contract late last month.

The Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) moved quickly into a “response mode” following the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, contacting pipeline companies to determine the level of preparedness within the industry, said a top OPS official last week. In the end, it was judged to be “very good.”

The Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) quickly moved into a “response mode” following the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes, contacting pipeline companies to determine the level of preparedness within the industry, said a top OPS official. In the end, it was judged to be “very good.”

The cash market plunged Thursday in response to the latest reports of increased storage (both new and revised) and the screen’s subsequent dive Wednesday afternoon. Weather fundamentals remain generally lightweight and the latest Atlantic tropical storm was fizzling out almost as fast as it had developed.

In response to a request from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) earlier this week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has 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.

A significant number of customers who have entered into an electric retail open access (ROA) enrollment process sponsored by Consumers Energy Co. are holding back on taking the next step for open access service, according to a recent investigation done by staff at the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC). Although PSC staff did not find a direct correlation between the low participation rates and problems with Consumers’ enrollment process, it voiced concerns over whether the company will be able to handle a much larger anticipated volume of customers once full electric open access kicks in at the start of next year in Michigan.

“It’s not as if this is the Grand Canyon,” said a former energy spokesman for the Bush campaign in response to an assault on the president’s proposal to open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas exploration and development.

“It’s not as if this is the Grand Canyon,” said a former energy spokesman for the Bush campaign in response to an assault on the president’s proposal to open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas exploration and development.

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.”