Voting

While she joined the majority at FERC last week in voting out a certificate order to build facilities to liquefy and export natural gas, Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur Monday cautioned industry about rushing to invest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities, questioning how long the U.S. will maintain its technology edge in the development of shale gas that is driving the trend towards exports.

A Delaware business court judge last week said he won’t stop El Paso Corp. shareholders from voting on Tuesday (March 6) on a proposed takeover by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), but he admonished El Paso Corp. CEO Doug Foshee and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for “disturbing” behavior that led to the transaction. Shareholders still have a chance to weigh in on whether they believe the sale to KMI was “tainted by disloyalty,” wrote Delaware Chancellor Leo Stine.

A Delaware business court judge on Wednesday said he won’t stop El Paso Corp. shareholders from voting next week on a proposed takeover by Kinder Morgan Inc. (KMI), but he admonished El Paso Corp. CEO Doug Foshee and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for “disturbing” behavior that led to the transaction. Shareholders still have a chance to weigh in on whether they believe the sale to KMI was “tainted by disloyalty,” wrote Delaware Chancellor Leo Stine.

Calgary’s Pembina Pipeline Corp. and Provident Energy Ltd. agreed Monday to merge in a C$3.2 billion ($3.1 billion) transaction that would create a Canadian giant with oil and natural gas pipelines to transport crude and natural gas liquids (NGL), midstream gas processing and an energy marketing arm.

In voting out four major proposed rules last Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “substantially completed the proposal phase” of the regulatory reforms called for under the sweeping Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. The Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have scheduled a roundtable on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the schedule for implementing the final rules for swaps and security-based swaps under Dodd-Frank. And the CFTC has reopened the comment period on all of its proposals.

In voting out four major proposed rules Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “substantially completed the proposal phase” of implementing the sweeping Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.

The Maryland Senate ended its 2011 legislative session last week without voting on a bill that would have frozen the permitting of Marcellus Shale drilling until 2013 while state agencies reviewed the results of various studies into Marcellus development and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

The Maryland Senate ended its 2011 legislative session without voting on a bill that would have frozen the permitting of Marcellus Shale drilling until 2013 while state agencies reviewed the results of various studies into Marcellus development and hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking).

The Senate Agriculture Committee last Monday approved President Obama’s choice for chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), voting out the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.