Runner

While Denali and TransCanada are the most notable Alaska gasline projects, there’s no clear front-runner at this stage of the game, the federal coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects said Monday.

One of the youngest commodity exchanges, The IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), founded in 2000, reportedly is the front-runner as a merger partner for one of the oldest, the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT), whose origins as a trader of cocoa, coffee and cotton go back more than 100 years.

Reports swirled around Washington last week that the White Houseplans to tap Bill Richardson, U.S. Ambassador to the UnitedNations, as the next secretary of the Department of Energy, butthere was no official confirmation. If true, this would mark thesecond time Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler, who mostconcede is best qualified for the job, has been edged out of thetop energy post.