Struck

Sempra subsidiary Sempra Pipelines & Storage and ProLiance Transportation and Storage LLC last Monday announced that they struck an agreement to construct, own and operate the Liberty Gas Storage project under development in Calcasieu Parish, LA.

Sempra subsidiary Sempra Pipelines & Storage and ProLiance Transportation and Storage LLC on Monday announced that they struck an agreement to construct, own and operate the Liberty Gas Storage project under development in Calcasieu Parish, LA.

In an eleventh-hour move, Senate Republicans struck an agreement with the White House which cleared the way for Senate approval of about 175 pending nominations, including that of FERC Commissioner Suedeen G. Kelly for a second term, and which will result in the expected recess appointment of two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in January.

In a surprising turn of events, Senate Republicans struck an agreement with the White House over the weekend which cleared the way for Senate approval of about 175 pending nominations, including that of FERC Commissioner Suedeen G. Kelly for a second term, and which will result in the expected recess appointment of two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in January, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) said.

In a surprising turn of events, Senate Republicans struck an agreement with the White House over the weekend which cleared the way for Senate approval of about 175 pending nominations, including that of FERC Commissioner Suedeen G. Kelly for a second term, and which will result in the expected recess appointment of two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in January, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-NM) said.

An alleged agreement struck between the White House and Southeastern federal lawmakers that would delay the formation of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and FERC’s standard market design (SMD) proposal could destroy efforts to bring the country’s power grid up to snuff, as well as undercut the ability of regions to address capacity shortages, the president of the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA) warned Vice President Dick Cheney last week.

The Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD) of Snohomish County, WA, struck out a second time last Monday in its attempts to collect damages for high-priced power or renegotiate contracts signed during the western energy crisis. Monday’s loss came in the form of the dismissal of its case by a U.S. district judge in California. The judge ruled that the claims made by the PUD against power suppliers are preempted by FERC’s regulatory authority.

Confirming rumors that began circulating late last week, Northwest Natural Gas Co. and Enron Corp. struck a deal to sell Enron’s electric utility subsidiary Portland General Electric (PGE) for $1.875 billion. Under terms of the transaction, expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2002, Natural will pay $1.55 billion in cash, give up $200 billion in preferred stock, $50 million in Natural common stock, and assume Enron’s $75 million balance in customer benefits obligations, stipulated in its 1996 PGE purchase. Natural also will assume almost $1.1 billion in PGE debt and preferred stock.

It was appropriately Halloween when the clock struck midnight for California’s electricity financing woes. A short-term, $4.3 billion “bridge” loan for buying wholesale electricity supplies reverted to a higher-interest, three-year term loan, adding to the costs of the state’s foray into power buying at a time when a statewide economic summit was scheduled to take place over the weekend to re-energize the state’s economy.