Edison Mission Energy

News Digest

PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION. Chief Judge D. Brock Hornby of the U.S. District Court in Maine, decided to allow Portland Natural Gas Transmission System access to electric transmission corridors owned by Central Maine Power Co. The access will be used to install a natural gas pipeline.

Portland received FERC approval Sept. 24 for installing and operating a 292-mile, $302-million interstate pipeline. CMP owns about 70 miles of the electric transmission corridor. The preliminary injunction, issued April 10, gives Portland access to property on CMP-owned transmission corridors.

People

THE former chairman of the Missouri Public Service Commission, Karl Zobrist, is now a partner at Blackwell Sanders Matheny Weary & Lombardi LLP.

Zobrist resigned from the commission on Aug. 15, 1997.

Robert C. Kelly, former chairman and CEO of Enron Renewable Energy Corp., was named managing director of renewable energy for Enron International.

Steven J. Lewis joined AEP Energy Services Inc. as senior vice president of energy services. Previously, Lewis managed trading of natural gas and electricity for Duke/Louis Dreyfus LLC.

Michael P.

Moody's Predicts Greater Polarity in IPP Ratings

Moody's Investors Service examines key credit considerations in the evolving independent power production industry in a new report. The report predicts greater polarity in ratings of such companies.

The Haves and the Have-Nots: Access to Capital, Diversified Portfolios says the IPP industry will become dominated by "first-tier" companies that exhibit financial flexibility needed to survive in an increasingly uncertain environment. Such companies will possess diversified assets and ability to generate cash.