Top news
Idaho Power agrees to join EIM in 2018
is on its way tobecoming the latest utility to join the Western energy imbalance market. The and Idaho Power onApril 6 said they have signed an agreement for the utility to participate in theEIM, starting in April 2018.
Williams lawsuit latest setback in acrimonious merger with ETE
If 's takeoverof rival midstream operator WilliamsCos. Inc. is supposed to be a friendly merger, the friendship appearsbe on the rocks as the two companies feud over the consummation of the corporatemarriage that was proposed in September.
Ghosts of its former coal business could haunt Brink's in lawsuit
Brink's,a company known for its security and logistics business, has found itself in thesights of a group seeking to claim millions over undeveloped coal properties inWest Virginia. Brink's arose from what was formerly known as The Pittston Co. Pittstonhad become one of the country's largest metallurgical coal export businesses by1978 and was also then amassing contracts with domestic electric utilities.
Power
* TheIowa House has passed a bill that could derail Clean Line Energy Partners' proposed $2 billion Rock Islanddirect current transmission line, TheDes Moines Register reports. The bill, which was proposed in March, now heads to the state Senate.
*Southern California Edison Co. has agreed to purchase powerfrom EDF Renewable Energy'splanned 111.2-MW AC Valentinesolar project in Kern County, Calif., according to a news release.The 15-year power purchase contract begins in December 2019. SoCalEd is a subsidiaryof Edison International.
* A federalappeals court rejected challengesby transmission owners in the MidcontinentIndependent System Operator Inc. to FERC's directive that they giveup their contractual right to build new regional transmission projects, and a transmissiondeveloper's challenge to FERC's decision to allow MISO to consider factors otherthan cost when selecting a project builder.
* is facing twomore class-action lawsuits for allegedly violating federal securities laws. Rigrodsky& Long PA and Law Offices of HowardG. Smith filed the lawsuits on behalf of investors who purchased the company'sstock between May 7, 2015, and March 15, 2016.
* said it has closeda new $150 million non-recourse financing facility with Credit Suisse to supportdeployment of commercial solar energy systems, including battery storage systems.
* JimJudge will succeedTom May as president and CEO of EversourceEnergy. May will become nonexecutive chairman of the board after thecompany's annual shareholders meeting. The changes are effective May 4.
Natural gas/midstream
* Levi& Korsinsky LLP has filed a class-actionlawsuit against Sempra Energyon behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of the companybetween May 14, 2015, and Nov. 23, 2015.
* A CaliforniaPublic Utilities Commission judgehas recommended that the regulator reject the North-South gas pipelineexpansion project plannedby Sempra Energy utilities.
* Oiland natural gas producer ChaparralEnergy Inc. has got moretime to complete negotiations with noteholders and other lenders in connectionwith the nonpayment of interest on certain of its senior notes. Under the termsof forbearance agreements, noteholders agreed to forbear from exercising remediesunder until the earliest of April 15, among other things.
* has delayed therestart of its Keystonecrude oil pipeline in South Dakota to April 12, Reuters reported, citingsources close to the matter. The Calgary, Alberta-based company shut down the pipelineafter discovering a leakthat occurred about 4 miles from the Freeman pump station in Hutchinson County.
* A topHawaii Gas executive confirmed that the company is in talks with an internationalcompany in connection with its $200 million plan to import LNG to the Islands in2019, the PacificBusiness News reports.
Coal
* Accusingthe Obama administration of waging a war on coal may serve as an effective rallyingcry in coal-producing states, but the people making the claim either are intentionallymisleading their constituents or lack a clear understanding of the history of theClean Air Act, according to a pairof environmental law experts.
* has its coal mining businessto Revelation Energy LLCin a transaction that includes all of the company's remaining coal mining assets,mineral leases, real estate and mining reclamation costs. Under the terms, RevelationEnergy will receive about $10.3 million from SunCoke to take ownership of the assetsand associated costs.
* Citingthe environmental impact of coal mining operations in the area, the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service announced that itwill formally protect two species of crayfish in waters in Kentucky,Virginia and West Virginia.
Commodities
* Afterending the prior session down 4.3 cents at $1.911/MMBtu, May natural gas futuresremained weak overnightahead of the Thursday, April 7, open, and the midmorning release of the weekly inventoryreport, amid ongoing bearish signals from weather and storage expectations. Slippingto a $1.892/MMBtu low, the contract was last eyed 1.3 cents lower at $1.898/MMBtu.
* Powerdailies could notch lossesThursday, April 7, as expectations for softer demand in much of the country at theclose of the workweek conspire with steadily declining front-month natural gas futures.
*The weekly natural gas inventoryreport to be released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration at 10:30 a.m.ET on Thursday, April 7, is expectedto show an injection into natural gas inventories in the week to April1.
* Inthe wake of recent bearishness, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative CO2 allowanceprices in the secondary market have turnedhigher. Over-the-counter broker data as of April 5 showed the RGGI spotallowance contract assessed in a bid-and-ask spread of $5.45/ton to $5.60/ton, rising36 cents on the weekly period.
New from RRA
* U.S.broad markets took forward strides in March, with both the Dow and S&P 500 finallybreaking into positive territory year-to-date. Meanwhile, the in March and is upnearly 15% thus far in 2016, significantly outperforming the broad market indexeswe track. Clearly, investors continued to seek the safety of the sector in turbulentequity markets.
* Ina Rate Case Final Report dated April 6, Regulatory Research Associates on the Montana Public ServiceCommission March 25 rate case decision for MDUResources Group Inc.'s Montana-DakotaUtilities Co. division.
Quoted
"Thebasic narrative here is that President Obama took office in 2009 and pretty muchimmediately set about imposing all sorts of onerous and unprecedented restrictionson the use of coal. And this is very misleading," Jack Lienke, co-author withRichard Revesz, of "Struggling for Air: Power Plants and the 'War on Coal,'"said.
"Thisis the Cuban missile crisis of mergers," Ethan Bellamy, a Denver-based analystfor Robert W. Baird & Co saidof the latest between Williams and ETE. "Both of these parties are better offalone."
The day ahead
* TheEIA natural gas storage report is due out today.
* Earlymorning futures indicators pointed to a lower opening for the U.S. equity markets.To view more SNL equity market indexes, click here.To view more SNL Energy commodities prices, click here.