Stirred

Bringing to a close a long consumer battle that spawned unrest and stirred state lawmakers, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a final order Sept. 15 for implementing a new state law that limits the amount of utility rates covering federal, state and local taxes to the actual amounts of taxes paid. The change will start with 2006 tax year payments, and a consumer activist group immediately criticized the PUC’s action as insufficient.

Bringing to a close a long consumer battle that spawned unrest and stirred state lawmakers, the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) last Friday issued a final order for implementing a new state law that limits the amount of utility rates covering federal, state and local taxes to the actual amounts of taxes paid. The change will start with 2006 tax year payments, and a consumer activist group immediately criticized the PUC’s action as insufficient.

A day after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration and state lawmakers stirred the global warming pot, the governor on Tuesday called for a “Climate Action Summit” next week in San Francisco and directed the state Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to hold a series of six public discussion sessions in the major regions of the state to consider the implications of the 1,300-page climate report released Monday.

Resuscitated Ivan stirred up the Gulf of Mexico again on Thursday as a tropical storm but lost some strength midday after peaking with 60 mph winds in the morning off of the southwestern coast of Louisiana. However, the second coming of the much more devastating hurricane that destroyed at least seven platforms in the eastern Gulf last week failed to strike fear in the minds of many producers.

Despite some new-found attention in the financial news media, San Jose, CA-based Calpine Corp. is still only studying the feasibility of a California coastal liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in the far northern end of the state.