State

Bowing to pressure from the state of Florida, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced yesterday the department has significantly scaled back the amount of offshore acreage that will be available for the controversial Lease Sale 181 off the coast of Florida later this year.

Senators from Oregon and Washington State are questioning why a recent FERC order that extends the Commission’s power market mitigation program across the western states 24 hours a day, seven days a week does not allow Pacific Northwest electricity customers to seek refunds for past overcharges dating to last summer.

Acting on recent Ohio legislation aimed at making natural gas customer-choice programs in the state more “consumer-friendly,” the recently formed Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), the nation’s largest public energy aggregated buying group, reported that it has entered into a one-year contract with Shell Energy for natural gas services to residents of the 95 NOPEC communities.

Acting on recent Ohio legislation aimed at making natural gas customer-choice programs in the state more “consumer-friendly,” the recently formed Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), the nation’s largest public energy aggregated buying group, reported that it has entered into a one-year contract with Shell Energy for natural gas services to residents of the 95 NOPEC communities.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a plan that will allow Washington state’s Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project to produce an additional 219,600 MWh of electricity. FERC is suspending part of an interim requirement that allows the licensee to spill water for 16 hours a day during the summer migration of fish. The latest action is in response to a Commission order issued on March 14, which urged all hydroelectric licensees in the 11 states of the Western Systems Coordinating Council to examine their projects and propose any efficiency modifications that may boost generation without causing unnecessary environmental harm. The project is subject to interim spring and summer spill flow requirements to protect fish until a final determination is made by FERC for appropriate flows or other mitigation. Hydropower accounts for 65% of the Northwest’s power generation.

PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest announced plans to construct a gas pipeline lateral across Washington state that would bring gas to new power plants and LDC load from GTN’s mainline.

With the backdrop of California’s continuing energy upheavals, two of the state’s major energy companies announced substantial first quarter earnings increases that were driven largely by the price and supply volatility for power.

With the backdrop of California’s continuing energy upheavals, two of the state’s major energy companies announced substantial first quarter earnings increases that were driven largely by the price and supply volatility for power.

Washington state regulators Wednesday approved new “time-of-day” rates and incentives to cut power use for customers of Puget Sound Energy (PSE) this summer to help ease the western power shortage.