Shaping

An epic battle with multiple fronts is shaping up in Canada overan appeal by the Northwest Territories government for the NationalEnergy Board to take jurisdiction over the Nova pipeline grid awayfrom Alberta.

An epic battle with multiple fronts is shaping up in Canada over an appeal by the Northwest Territories government for the National Energy Board to take jurisdiction over the Nova pipeline grid away from Alberta.

FERC sent one major Midwest-to-Northeast pipeline project backto the drawing board last week but gave another competing project afinal green light. The $447 million Vector Pipeline emergedvictorious, receiving FERC’s final approval and a presidentialpermit in a draft order, while the $400 million TriState Pipelinewas told it must redesign the pipeline-lease portion of itsproposal to get FERC’s rubber stamp.

CMS Energy Corp. last week continued building what’s shaping up to be a Powder River Basin dynasty. Subsidiary CMS Continental Natural Gas agreed with Pennaco Energy, and CMS corporate affiliate CMS Oil and Gas to gather coal-bed methane gas from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana.

Deregulation and competition continue to spark changes inutility company boards, from increased use of stock to compensatedirectors to growing numbers of directors from the financial fieldto greater frequency of board meetings. These are key findings inthe just-released fourth annual Spencer Stuart Utility Board Index(UI) report, which analyzes the proxy statements of 50 leadingutility companies nationwide. The report focuses on membership andpractices of the nation’s utility boards, and this year highlightsthat many utility boards are becoming more like their counterpartsat Standard &amp Poor 500 companies.