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Representatives from the electrical industry sharply criticized on Tuesday a proposal in the House to extend federal regulation to include local power plants in major cities to protect them and the national power grid from cyberattacks. Under the 1935 Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforces security standards for most of the nation's power plants, including facilities and control networks -- known as bulk power systems -- that connect power systems. But the commission does not have regulatory jurisdiction over electrical systems outside the continental United States and to local distribution facilities, which include some in large cities...

Energy panel Republicans are levying accusations of witness intimidation against Democratic Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of the key authors of the contentious House climate change bill. Republicans have seized on a letter – a copy of which was obtained by The Hill – that Markey penned to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff asking FERC to investigate the actions of a major energy company on the same day that the company’s CEO was set to testify before the energy panel on the dangers of a carbon cap and trade system. According to the June 9 letter, Markey requested...

Efforts by utility regulators to reopen costly long-term electricity supply contracts struck at the height of the California energy crisis were deflected by the U.S. Supreme Court in a ruling yesterday. The decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia sent the case back to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with instructions to determine if the public interest was harmed by energy supply contracts signed in 2001. The case was filed by Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County, Wash., which entered into a long-term electricity supply contract with the Morgan Stanley Capital Group. As the crisis waned, prices dropped, but...

From a State of Alaska press release: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decided today that the owners of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline - BP Pipelines (Alaska) Inc., ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska Inc., Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company, Unocal Pipeline Company and Koch Alaska Pipeline Company LLC - failed to prove that their 2005 and 2006 rates were just and reasonable. The FERC ordered refunds to TAPS shippers that are estimated to result in at least $600 million, plus interest, in additional tax and royalty revenues to the state.

WASHINGTON - Federal energy regulators on Thursday approved a $700 million liquefied natural gas terminal proposed for Long Island Sound, a facility opposed by the state of Connecticut and other critics who say it would damage the environment and be vulnerable to a terrorist attack. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted 5-0 to approve the terminal, which would be located 9 miles from Long Island and 10 miles from Connecticut. FERC says it would be the first floating terminal in the U.S. for storage and delivery of natural gas. The 1,200-foot-long, 82-foot-high terminal would be built by Broadwater Energy, a...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is "disturbed" by information found on a late Colombian guerrilla leader's computer allegedly linking his leftist rebel group to neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador, a top official said Wednesday. The computers were retrieved by Colombia from a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel camp in Ecuador it attacked on Saturday, killing FARC's number two leader Raul Reyes and triggering a diplomatic row with its two neighbors. "We are disturbed by information emerging from the computer hard-drives of Raul Reyes that appears to indicate that some of Colombia's neighbors were either unable or unwilling to...

WASHINGTON: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and U.S. futures exchanges are fighting efforts by the U.S. Congress to give two regulators authority over the $4.2 trillion commodities market, a move they say will drive trading overseas. At issue is whether the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, armed with new powers, has the right to levy fines against the failed hedge fund Amaranth Advisors for allegedly manipulating natural gas futures prices.

A federal appeals court ordered energy regulators Wednesday to consider ordering stiffer penalties for power companies that manipulated the market and caused blackouts during the 2000-2001 energy crisis. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's 2003 handling of some of the fallout from California's energy crisis was "arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion." The state has sought reimbursement for an estimated $8 billion to $10 billion paid by consumers and businesses for overpriced power. FERC ordered energy companies, including several subsidiaries of bankrupt Enron Corp., to pay about $3 billion for market manipulation....

FERC nominee Marc Spitzer Wednesday cautioned against the nation's growing reliance on liquefied natural gas (LNG), saying the United States shouldn't put all of its "eggs in one basket." "I'm not naysaying LNG as a natural gas alternative. But again to put all you eggs in one basket doesn't seem to me to be the right choice," the Arizona regulator said during a brief confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Spitzer has been tapped for a five-year term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission expiring June 30, 2011. If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace...

Three New York lawmakers have asked the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to recuse himself from deliberations on the Broadwater LNG import terminal proposed for Long Island Sound. FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher, the lawmakers said, used to work for LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, a law firm retained by Broadwater to represent it in its application before FERC. In a letter to Kelliher, U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton and U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop, who represents the east end of Long Island, urge the commissioner to step aside from the Broadwater deliberations to avoid the appearance of...

LOS ANGELES — A proposed liquefied natural gas terminal at the Port of Long Beach cleared a major hurdle Friday as a federal panel concluded the project would not pose an environmental threat to the area. The environmental staffs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the port, along with the U.S. Coast Guard and several other agencies, conducted the yearlong review. The draft report said the terminal would be within acceptable noise and air pollution limits, and that tanks holding the liquid natural gas and pipelines carrying it could withstand all but the most violent earthquake. The report also...

With a nudge from Congress, federal regulators are intensifying their efforts to sweep up the remaining fallout from California's energy crisis. Five years after consumers in San Diego started feeling the pinch of rising electricity prices -- a symptom of a larger crisis that ultimately cost the state billions of dollars and unmasked widespread price manipulation -- the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appears determined to close the books on the issue. "I want to accelerate California refunds. I want to close out the California proceedings," Joseph Kelliher, the new FERC chairman, said during his first day on the job last...

WASHINGTON - The Senate agreed Wednesday to give federal regulators clear authority to override state objections to the siting of liquefied natural gas import facilities, rejecting a proposal that would have allowed governors to block a project because of public health or the environmental concerns. Supporters for increased federal authority over LNG import facilities argued that the country will require huge increases of natural gas imports in coming years and that state-imposed roadblocks could hamstring needed import projects. They argued states will continue to have a say in siting decisions because of various local and state requirements for local permits....

Exxon Mobil Corp. moved one step closer Friday to winning approval for a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast that could be used to import LNG from Qatar by 2008. The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Friday that a proposed site near the Texas-Louisiana border won't significantly harm the environment. The next step is for the commission to consider recommendation. The project at Sabine Pass is called Golden Pass. Exxon Mobil has another proposed site, near Corpus Christi, that is awaiting final approval, and a third location off the shore of Cameron Parish, La....

California and federal energy officials warned Thursday that the electricity system in Southern California would face hard times this summer, especially if the weather was unusually hot, and that next summer might be even rougher. The southern half of the state "is the worst electricity supply situation in the entire country," Joseph Kelliher, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said at an electricity conference in San Francisco. "It's indisputable that there are problems, and some problems have remained for some time," he said. FERC Chairman Patrick H. Wood III, reflecting on the chaotic blackout days of the California...

WASHINGTON (AP) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and five other coastal-state governors are asking senators not to take away states' role in approving natural gas import terminals. The issue is expected to come up Thursday when the Senate Energy Committee debates language in an energy bill that would give authority over placement of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In a letter Wednesday to the energy committee's chairman and top Democrat, Schwarzenegger and the governors of Massachusetts, Louisiana, Delaware, Rhode Island and New Jersey said states and local agencies should have shared jurisdiction with the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday threw his weight behind Long Beach and other coastal communities in a critical fight between California and the federal government. At stake is the state's authority to approve liquefied natural gas terminals and other coastal energy developments. In direct opposition to the Bush Administration, Schwarzenegger formally declared his support for states' rights when it comes to LNG terminals. In a letter to members of the Energy Committee, the governor stated his opposition to pending legislation that would grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission final approval of LNG sites. Officials in Long Beach, where an LNG...

...There was time... when natural gas was the most politically popular fuel around because it burns more cleanly than oil or coal.... Yet supply has not been able to keep up with this demand. Since 1996, natural gas production has grown by less than 1% a year as the most accessible U.S. gas fields are tapped out.... The main political bottleneck is that the professional green lobby has turned hostile to natural gas. The Sierra Club and the Nader retinue have successfully pushed moratoriums for most new offshore drilling of the fuel, have fought to keep the most gas-rich federal...

WASHINGTON - House Republicans made clear their support late Tuesday for reinforcing the federal government's final authority over the siting of liquefied natural gas import terminals, even if states or local communities object. An attempt by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to remove the provision from proposed energy legislation failed 35-18 in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Supporters of the bill said the authority of federal regulators over LNG terminals needed to be clarified as the demand for LNG imports increases in coming years. The panel was expected to finish work on its portion of a massive energy bill on...

WASHINGTON – As California officials assert their authority in court over liquefied natural gas terminals, Congress is moving to make it clear that federal regulators have the final word on where the sometimes-controversial facilities are located. An energy bill being crafted by a House committee would solidify the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's role in approving the growing number of proposed LNG facilities nationwide, proponents say. Some of the terminals, including several proposed for California, have encountered strong opposition from residents worried about accidents or terrorist attacks involving the highly explosive fuel. Senate energy subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., introduced similar...