Wake

Doubts pile up in the wake of the California State Lands Commission rejection of BHP Billiton’s proposed offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal as being too problematic from both safety and environmental standpoints. Proponents of three other offshore LNG projects along the Southern California coast are worried, but each is a different type of proposal. BHP officials said Tuesday they are assessing their options, one of which is to challenge the state agency’s ruling in court.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued an advisory bulletin urging owners and operators of liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants to be vigilant in securing their facilities in the wake of the breach at KeySpan Corp.’s Lynn, MA, storage site in August.

Quieting recent suggestions that the company was going to separate its regulated and unregulated entities in the wake of its failed merger with Exelon, Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG) management said Tuesday the whole company continues to produce strong operational results and that the continued financial success will allow for “disciplined future growth” going forward.

In what could be a final curtain call for the investigations and lawsuits that have littered the last five years in the wake of California’s 2000-2001 energy crisis, two state regulatory administrative law judges (ALJ) earlier in the month released a proposed decision recommending that regulators drop two investigations of Sempra Energy and its major utilities regarding alleged California border wholesale natural gas price manipulations. To date, Sempra has settled almost all of the allegations in court and regulatory agreements.

In what could be a final curtain call for the investigations and lawsuits that have littered the last five years in the wake of California’s 2000-2001 energy crisis, two state regulatory administrative law judges (ALJ) earlier in the month released a proposed decision recommending that regulators drop two investigations of Sempra Energy and its major utilities regarding alleged California border wholesale natural gas price manipulations. To date, Sempra has settled almost all of the allegations in court and regulatory agreements.

Quieting recent suggestions that the company was going to separate its regulated and unregulated divisions in the wake of its failed merger with Exelon, Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG) management said last week that the entire company continues to produce strong operational results and that the continued financial success will allow for “disciplined future growth” going forward.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) said he may challenge current House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) for the position of Republican leader in the wake of the Democratic sweep in the mid-term elections.

In the wake of the scuttled merger between Exelon Corp. and Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), Mike Morris, CEO of American Electric Power (AEP), thinks a “huge chill” has been put on mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity in the utility sector.

In the wake of a blistering report by the Interior Department Inspector General last week of ethics violations and amid fresh allegations that top agency officials blocked four auditors from recovering millions of dollars in oil and natural gas royalties from producers, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) Thursday called on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to schedule a hearing to question Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne about the charges and what he is doing to address the ethics problems at the department.