Unveils

Tired of watching Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) have all thefun, Williams-Transco announced its plans to construct anunderwater pipeline and storm the rich Florida market from thecoast. Named the Buccaneer Pipeline (possibly after Tampa Bay’sfootball team), its first open season will be held shortly afterJan. 1, Williams said today.

In a dramatic step toward the development of a whole new way ofgenerating electricity, Plug Power demonstrated last week the firstresidential fuel cell to successfully power a home.

TransCapacity announced the creation of the gas coordinationsystem (GCS), a tool to communicate and coordinate transactionintentions to external parties so gas can be bought, sold andtransported. TransCapacity’s suite of services works as a GCS tocollect and disseminate information a user can import into its gasmanagement system (GMS).

The Clinton administration finally unveiled its long-awaitedrestructuring program for the electric industry yesterday in aseries of meetings with congressional leaders, stakeholders and themedia. The plan, which did not include specific legislativelanguage, represents a pragmatic position that its proponentsbelieve has the best chance of forging a compromise betweencompeting interests to arrive at comprehensive restructuringlegislation, if not in this session of Congress, then “very soon,”according to Energy Secretary Federico Pena.

Williams opened the doors to its new 300-position,21,000-square-foot energy trading floor, which it says featurestechnology, design and amenities surpassing those of most companiesin the nation. The trading floor is part of a new236,000-square-foot resource center adjacent to the 50-floorWilliams Tower in Tulsa, OK, where Williams has its corporateheadquarters. “As the second most profitable energy marketer in thenation, we remain committed to our customers by providing ourtraders with the absolute best tools available to compete andsucceed,” said Jerry Gollnick, senior vice president of energymarketing and trading for Williams.