Supreme

The Florida Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to thedevelopment of merchant power in the state and proposed new gassupply lines in a 6-1 decision issued last Thursday, reversing thestate Public Service Commission’s authorization for Duke Energy’sconstruction of a $160 million, 514 MW power plant at New SmyrnaBeach. (See NGI, Aug. 24, 1998)

The Florida Supreme Court dealt a serious blow to thedevelopment of merchant power in the state in a 6-1 decision issuedThursday, reversing the state Public Service Commission’sauthorization for Duke Energy’s construction of a 514 MW powerplant at New Smyrna Beach.

The Supreme Court last Tuesday rejected a petition for writ ofcertiorari filed by the California Public Utilities Commission(CPUC) and Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) after the partiesfailed to meet the deadline. The petitioners, which filed forreview on Nov. 5, missed the deadline by three days. The CPUC andSoCalGas had asked the high court to review a 1996 FERC decision -upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals two years later – thatthey claimed amounted to a “power grab” of California’sjurisdiction by the federal agency.

A class action complaint was filed in the Supreme Court of NewYork in Nassau County against MarketSpan Corp. and former seniorofficers/directors of Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO). Theclass action was filed on behalf of current shareholders ofMarketSpan who were stockholders of LILCO and/or The Brooklyn UnionGas Co. (BU) or its successor, KeySpan Energy Corp. at the time ofthe merger of LILCO and BU.