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If you made the trip to Capitol Hill or were listening over theWeb yesterday, your jaw probably dropped a few inches when ChairmanThomas Bliley (R-VA) of the House Commerce Committee announced to apacked hearing room that he was postponing the scheduled markup onelectric restructuring legislation until next week.

If you briefly closed your eyes during a House hearing ondomestic energy policy last week, you would have thought you hadbeen transported back in time to the early 1990s. The cast ofcharacters — former Energy Secretary James D. Watkins and formerCongressman Phil Sharp — were the same, and the issues theyaddressed – opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)to drilling and lifting the offshore moratoria — rang a veryfamiliar tune.

If you closed your eyes only briefly yesterday during a Househearing on domestic energy policy, you could have sworn you movedback in time by a decade. The players — former Energy SecretaryJames D. Watkins and former Congressman Phil Sharp — were thesame, and the issues they addressed — opening up the ArcticNational Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling and lifting theoffshore moratoria — were identical.

Don’t put your duct tape and plywood away just yet. The lull inthe Atlantic hurricane season finally broke last week with TropicalStorm Bret and Tropical Depression Four throwing a one-two punch tothe gas market and triggering a more than 30-cent jump in NymexHenry Hub futures prices, which broke $3 early on Friday.Meanwhile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) and renowned Colorado State University forecaster Dr.William M. Gray both recently reiterated their predictions that thehurricane season will be a whopper despite the early lull.

Don’t put your duck tape and plywood away just yet. Althoughthere’s been a lull so far in the hurricane season, the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and renowned ColoradoState University forecaster Dr. William M. Gray both still arepredicting a whopper season this year in the North Atlantic andCaribbean Sea during the peak period from mid-August throughmid-October.

The United States didn’t see much of a winter, but you can holdonto your hats this summer because the hurricane season may blowyou away.

The United States didn’t see much of a winter, but you can holdonto your hats this summer because the hurricane season may blowyou away.

It’s funny how an extra hundred million dollars will get your attention. That’s what the board of directors of Southwest Gas Corp. have to contend with in the form of an unsolicited proposal from Southern Union Co., after they already had signed off on an offer from ONEOK Inc.

Like the “Row, row, row your boat” verse that repeats over andover, cash prices repeated their flat trading pattern Tuesday forthe umpteenth time in 1999. Several points made small gains of 1-3cents, likely deriving their modest firmness from a similar rise onthe futures screen.