New US FERC chairman opposes mandatory gas price reporting
Washington (Platts)--11Jul2005
New US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher Monday said he does not support a requirement in the House version of the comprehensive energy bill that would require the agency to collect, evaluate and make public wholesale natural gas prices. "By and large, voluntary price reporting is working," he said in a meeting with reporters on his first working day as chairman. "I don't see a need to go beyond that and mandate price reporting." Kelliher, however, said there may be an additional need for the commission to collect market data, and more authority would be useful. "We certainly have a duty to prevent unjust and unreasonable rates." But in terms of the establishment of a data hub, a proposal his predecessor, Pat Wood, wrestled with for much of his four years in office, he said he sees little need for mandatory energy hubs. Kelliher said he agrees with his former boss, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (Republican-Texas), who will chair a conference committee to fashion final energy bill language, that the quality of price reporting should be improved. "But his solution is mandatory reporting to FERC," Kelliher said. "It would probably impair voluntary reporting [conducted] by the private sector." Platts, among others, collects price data for published indexes. On the issue of liquefied natural gas terminals, Kelliher reiterated his position that FERC's role in permitting terminal projects does not preempt existing state authorities. "This notion that FERC preempts or overrides state siting law I think is just incorrect," he said. For more news about FERC, take a trial to Platts LNG Daily at http://lngdaily.platts.com.
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