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With several lawmakers from both sides of Capitol Hill calling for FERC to slow down its implementation of a proposed standard market design (SMD) for U.S. wholesale electricity markets, a Capitol Hill aide on Friday cast doubt on whether moves to rein in the federal agency’s SMD proposal will occur as part of the ongoing Congressional efforts to craft a comprehensive energy bill.

The zeal with which natural gas prices have advanced on the heels of primarily hurricane concerns has some traders checking their spreadsheets and preparing for what may be short-lived trading opportunities.

U.S. electricity generating capacity margins are likely to peak in 2003, but fall in subsequent years with the possibility of power shortages appearing as early as 2006, according to an analysis of electricity and natural gas supply and demand unveiled last Monday by an energy analyst with New York-based investment bank Williams Capital Group.

Much of the cash market was essentially flat Monday, although Transco Zone 6-NYC and several Western Canada/Pacific Northwest points saw sizeable declines, while Rockies/San Juan numbers were up anywhere from a dime to about 30 cents. Otherwise it was rare for any point to vary more than 2-3 cents up or down from flat.

Despite an impressive opening trade, natural gas futures dropped lower Thursday morning in knee-jerk reaction to data showing a healthy 60 Bcf was injected into underground storage facilities last week. At 11:10 a.m. EDT, the September contract was 3.9 cents lower at $2.915, but as it turns out, that was only the beginning. With many traders taking an extended lunch break following an especially trying bidweek, a lone speculative fund trader was able to push prices lower in a second wave of selling. The September contract finished at $2.842, down 11.2 cents for the session.

In some of his most colorful language yet in the still-unfolding western energy trading scandals, Portland, OR-based economic consultant Robert McCullough late last month assessed some of the documents turned over to California state legislators by Plano, TX-based Perot Systems Corp, offering an unnamed energy lawyer’s assessment that the Perot firm ran a veritable “crime school” for at least nine would-be market participants in 1997-98, even before the state’s industry restructuring kicked off.

While California’s electricity market has seen “dramatic improvements” since the dark days of the state’s power crisis in 2000-2001, thanks to the stabilization of prices and adequate supplies, the market remains “fundamentally frail,” an official with the California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) told federal regulators last Wednesday.

With even moderate growth, the economic impact of offshore development for Nova Scotia in the next 30 years would be striking, giving the province more gains in gross domestic product (GDP) than any other region of Canada, according to a study by the Greater Halifax Partnership. The study, the first of its kind, examined three potential development scenarios to predict future impacts on the economy, and found that as long as the government offers credible incentives to industry, Nova Scotia’s growth will be dramatic.

Adding to the list of energy trading companies that have seen a sizeable jump in business since Enron Corp. filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, Sequent Energy Management, the wholesale marketing and supply arm of Atlanta-based AGL Resources Inc., said that its business volumes have risen nearly 300% since the energy giant announced Chapter 11.