Natural Gas

Fixing electric transmission congestion has been dominating market design policy debates since the beginning of restructuring. Could the gas pipeline infrastructure offer a solution?

Even when the calendar flipped to 2001 and much of the energy industry was swept into the turmoil surrounding the California electric industry restructuring fiasco, gas marketers continued to thrive in the low-supply, high-demand environment.

The EIA predicts that natural gas consumption will climb more than 60 percent percent over 20 years, driving U.S. production up 50-plus percent over the same period. How does that square with geologic assessments?

Many public voices today want the government to simply mandate lower energy prices. It is this kind of temper-tantrum-as-policy that makes the Middle Ages seem so, well, medieval, and reminds us why we got rid of kings in the first place.

With rising power and gas prices, coal gasification in back in fashion, along with new approaches to cogeneration and combined heat and power.

It appears that coal will continue to play a role in meeting the need for new generating capacity in the U.S. Used in the proper context, perhaps coal does not have to be a "four-letter" word.

Years from now, we'll look back on the power crisis as the beginning of the end of electric transmission.

On Jan. 30, FERC will hold a public conference to review the financial health of the pipeline industry. It will ask whether its regulatory framework still works; whether pipelines can still attract new capital for investment. Does rate policy threaten the financial integrity of the pipeline industry? That very question may come before the Commission. Nevertheless, FERC need not look far for an answer. If the pipeline industry should lie at risk, the cause may go no farther than the Commission itself. In fact, FERC ratemaking policy for gas transportation service now appears to jeopardize the ability of pipelines to recover costs.