Tide

Responding to what it said is a rising tide of requests for information about climate change from “individuals and decision makers across widely diverse sectors,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is creating a climate service office dedicated to bringing together NOAA’s climate science and service delivery capabilities, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Monday.

Whether the long-predicted tide of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports comes to U.S. shores as a torrent or a trickle remains to be seen. The predictions of two industry watchers vary greatly, but they’re both looking to Europe for clues.

Whether the long-predicted tide of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports comes to U.S. shores as a torrent or a trickle remains to be seen. The predictions of two industry watchers vary greatly, but they’re both looking to Europe for clues.

Faced with a rising tide of license applications for new nuclear facilities, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must maintain its standards if it is to continue to meet its mission of protecting public health, safety and the environment, according to Commissioner Peter B. Lyons.

Some scattered flat to moderately higher points swam against an overall strongly bearish price tide Monday. Gains ran as high as about 20 cents, but they were heavily outweighed by losses ranging from 2-3 cents to more than 60 cents. Most of the declines were in double digits, while much of the market’s modest amount of strength occurred at western points outside the Waha/Permian Basin market.

Energy stock prices joined the rising tide on the stock market Monday, with Mirant, Calpine and Dynegy leading the wave with gains of more than 11% for Mirant and close to 9% for Calpine and Mirant. Also having a good day were Williams, Reliant and AES, all up by more than 3%. Other energy suppliers saw rises up to 3%. The only group still recording more losers than winners were natural gas utilities. The stock prices of energy companies have been battered in recent months by low energy prices and the Enron implosion. No one yet is calling it a turnaround point, but there was one positive indicator: Monday was the first day in a looooong time that Enron wasn’t on the front page of The Houston Chronicle or The Washington Post.

Making steady progress since Monday against a rising tide of declining energy stock prices, Atlanta, GA-based Southern Co., Akron, OH-based FirstEnergy and New Jersey-based GPU Inc. again were on the plus side Wednesday. It wasn’t hard to figure, as U.S. aircraft carriers steamed toward the Caribbean and the Middle East, with fighter planes expected to follow soon. The three utilities own no foreign facilities.

While the sheer number of pending and projected natural gaspipeline projects may be staggering, that’s not what sets themapart from projects that preceded them. Rather, the distinguishingfactor is that they’re coming at a time when the “complexity andvolume” of environmental issues and the level of landowneranti-project sentiment have reached unparalleled heights, says atop FERC official.

San Juan Basin and California were conspicuous Monday as theonly markets swimming against a bearish tide. All other cash pointswere falling by anywhere from a penny or two (Southwest/Rockies) to15 cents or more, with the majority of declines tending to bebetween a nickel and a dime.