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WEI Member News After nearly a century providing safe, reliable natural gas service to Albertans, ATCO Gas announced that it is now serving more than one million customers. More BC Hydro Investigates Wood Fiber for Bioenergy BC Hydro released the first phase of its two-phase Bioenergy Call for Power with a request for proposals that will utilize forest-based biomass--including sawmill residues, logging debris and other residual wood--for power production. More Pacific Power Will Not Sign BPA Residential Exchange Relief Agreement Unacceptable risk and the absence of benefits for its customers were the reasons cited by Pacific Power for declining to sign a proposed Residential Exchange Interim Relief Agreement filed in February by the Bonneville Power Administration. More California Coastal Commission Approves $22 Million Environmental Project Southern California Edison has gained unanimous approval from state regulators to create a 150-acre man-made giant kelp forest off San Clemente, Calif. More Seattle City Light Surpasses Conservation Targets Mayor Greg Nickels announced today that Seattle City Light's customers helped the utility beat its energy conservation goal for 2007, saving enough energy to power 8,500 Seattle homes and reducing 45,000 tons of climate pollution. More ConocoPhillips Re-Assesses North Slope Pipeline Proposal Options As a result of the lack of engagement by the State of Alaska on the company’s proposal submitted in November of 2007, ConocoPhillips is reassessing how best to advance the Alaska North Slope gas pipeline project. More El Paso Corp. Announces Capacity Commitments for Ruby Pipeline; Ruby and Rocky Mountain Open Seasons El Paso Corporation announced that Ruby Pipeline, LLC has executed long-term precedent agreements with two additional shippers, bringing the total long-term capacity commitments on Ruby to 650,000 dekatherms per day. More ENMAX Announces Proposed Acquisition of Cordero Energy, Inc. ENMAX Corporation has confirmed an announcement by Cordero Energy, Inc. regarding ENMAX’s proposed acquisition of Cordero for approximately $218 million, including the assumption of debt.
EWEB Helps Keep Eugene Near Top of “Green City” List Eugene finished in the top five in Popular Science magazine’s recent “green cities” list, largely due to the renewable wind, solar, biomass and hydroelectric power provided to the city’s residents by the Eugene Water & Electric Board. More LADWP Performs Well in Business Customer Satisfaction Business customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power rate the utility 2nd highest in overall customer satisfaction among public and investor-owned utilities in the Western United States and 8th highest in the nation, according to a study released last week by J.D. Power and Associates. More Nevada Power Company Files for Decrease in Electric Rates Nevada Power Company made its annual electric deferred energy filing with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada calling for an overall 5 percent decrease in electric rates for southern Nevada customers. More Northwest Pipeline GP Solicits Binding Commitments for Sundance Trail Expansion Project Williams announced that Northwest Pipeline GP is launching an open season to seek binding commitments from shippers for participation in its Sundance Trail expansion project. More
Oceanlinx to Provide Wave Energy to Maui At a press conference with Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, Oceanlinx Limited, an Australia-based high-tech company, formally announced plans to provide electricity to Maui Electric Company from Hawaii’s first wave energy project. More PGE and Warm Springs Tribes Award $3.5 Million to Deschutes Basin Projects More than 20 resource protection projects dedicated to enhancing and improving stream and land habitats and species in the Deschutes Basin were recently approved for funding by Portland General Electric and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs through the Pelton Round Butte Fund. More SCPPA Approves 200 MW Wind Purchase The Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) on behalf of its participating members; Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Burbank Water and Power and Pasadena Water and Power, announced the approval of a 20-year power purchase agreement with UPC Wind for Milford Wind Corridor Phase I for the output of a 200 MW wind generation facility to be located in Beaver and Millard Counties, Utah, subject to the approval of the local participants’ governing bodies. More
SMUD Ranked Highest in West in Business Customer Satisfaction For the second year in a row, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District was awarded top honors in the Western region in business customer satisfaction and scored highest nationwide, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study. More S&P Upgrades Avista Corp. to Investment Grade Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced in early February, that it has upgraded the corporate credit rating of Avista Corp. to BBB-, which raises the company’s rating to investment grade. More On the Move
Raman Raj Named LADWP Chief Operating Officer More
Jay Ignacio Appointed President of Hawaii Electric Light Company More
Questar Corp. Appoints Charles Stanley COO, Ronald Jibson, Questar Gas Exec. VP; Alan Allred, Questar Gas President and CEO to Retire More
President & CEO Ershel Redd Departs El Paso Electric More
Williams Names Robyn Ewing as Chief Administrative Officer
David Bowen, Andy Wappler Join Puget Sound Energy More
NW Natural Hires Bruce Anderson as Salem-area Community Affairs Manager More
News
Southern California Edison Explores Federal Override Option Southern California Edison met with FERC officials in February to discuss a request to overturn Arizona’s rejection of a proposed power line in the desert. More
CO2 Emissions’ Costs, Risk to Figure in Power Financing Three major Wall Street banks will begin setting environmental standards that factor in the financial risk associated with loaning money to power companies seeking to build coal-fired plants. More BC Rolls Out CO2 Tax On July 1, British Columbia will become the first jurisdiction in North America to implement a carbon tax for fuel consumers. The tax—said to be the most comprehensive in the world--will be levied on nearly all fossil fuels, including gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal, propane and home heating oil. More Biofuels Have High Environmental Costs Two studies published last month concluded that when the full emissions costs of biofuels production are calculated, their net environmental impact is potentially worse than that of conventional fuel. More BP Could Sell Off Its Greenest Businesses The CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, indicated that the company may put its $7 billion wind and solar energy businesses up for sale. More California Sets Customer-Generated Renewable Power Payments The California Public Utilities Commission last month approved long-term prices for utilities to purchase renewable energy from their customers. More Bay Area AQMD Proposes CO2 Fee Program Regulators in California’s Bay Area have proposed charging a fee to businesses based on their greenhouse gas emissions. The fee, proposed by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District would apply to power plants, landfills and oil refineries as well as to small businesses like restaurants and bakeries. More Environmentalists Give Nuclear Power a Second Look As energy prices climb alongside concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, a few environmentalists are reconsidering their long-held opposition to nuclear power. More FERC Orders Review of Sellers Using WSPP Agreement Rates The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has determined that the Western Systems Power Pool Agreement’s demand charge ceiling rate is not “just and reasonable” for use by public utility sellers in markets where those sellers do not have market-based rate authority. More FERC Proposes Only Minor Changes to Wholesale Electricity Markets Stopping short of launching a major review of wholesale electricity markets, the FERC nonetheless is proposing changes to their regulation. More Northwest Geothermal Remains Largely Undeveloped Increasing fuel prices, renewables portfolio standards and emissions concerns are finally spurring interest in geothermal energy in the Pacific Northwest. More
LED Bulbs Have Bright Future A new generation of bulbs that contain light-emitting diodes (LEDs) last longer than both incandescent and compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). More CBO Study Details Cap-and-Trade Problems, Favors CO2 Tax A recent Congressional Budget Office report exposed serious flaws in the cap-and-trade system and suggested that a carbon tax would be more likely to produce effective emissions reductions, economy-wide. More Oregon Utilities Work to Meet State Renewables Mandate It has been eight months since the Oregon Renewable Energy Act was signed into law, and the state’s utilities are already taking steps to put themselves on the path to compliance. More Data Center Owners Find Green Would be Less Costly With electricity rates rising, many tech firms are finding it more and more expensive to power the vast numbers of servers that are the core of their services. More Texas Grid Dodges Blackouts after Unexpected Wind Falloff The last week of February saw Texas grid operators working hard to maintain power after a drop in wind levels and an unexpected increase in demand threatened the grid’s stability. More Western Natural Gas Market Review More
Western LNG Update
Oregon’s Governor Wants LNG Alternatives Reviewed More
California’s Need for LNG Imports Again Being Debated More
Increased LNG Infrastructure Grows Global Gas Market More
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March
2008 News Team |
March 2008
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