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Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 10:14:50 -0500 From: "Tracey Bradley" <tbradley@bracepatt.com< To: "Aryeh Fishman" <afishman@bracepatt.com<, "Andrea Settanni" <asettanni@bracepatt.com<, "Charles Shoneman" <cshoneman@bracepatt.com<, "Dan Watkiss" <dwatkiss@bracepatt.com<, "Kimberly Curry" <kcurry@bracepatt.com<, "Paul Fox" <pfox@bracepatt.com<, "Ronald Carroll" <rcarroll@bracepatt.com<, "Randall Rich" <rrich@bracepatt.com< Subject: Calif. introduces four bills to cut natgas prices Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Disposition: inline FYI Calif. introduces four bills to cut natgas prices ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 30 (Reuters) - A package of four legislative bills with bipartisan support was introduced in California on Monday aimed at reducing natural gas prices, currently the highest in the nation and a key reason behind the state's ongoing energy crisis. "We introduced these bills today and we think they will bring natural gas prices down in California," said Ed Randolph, a spokesman for Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg), an author of one of the bills. California's power crisis, which has already led to rolling blackouts across the state on four days this year, has been exacerbated by a spike in gas prices. Natural gas-fired turbines are the single largest source of electricity in California, providing more than a third of the power used by the state's 34 million residents. Randolph said Democratic and Republican members on the Assembly's gas subcommittee were involved in drafting the proposals. The four bills could go to full committee for debate in the next week or two, he said. These latest legislative initiatives follow a flurry of other state proposals to cap gas prices and to jail and slap financial penalties on anyone convicted of manipulating gas and power prices. The bills seek to streamline the approval processes for building underground gas storage facilities, encourage in-state gas production, direct state energy regulators to review all current or proposed gas tariffs, and require regulators to review all applications to build new pipelines within 12 months. Under the gas production proposal, lower grade gas would be tapped to meet industrial demand. "This measure will allow this otherwise unusable gas to be sold to industrials that can burn it but currently must use the higher grade gas since that is all that is available to them," a statement from Canciamilla's office said. The huge rise in gas prices in the Golden State has been blamed on a number of factors including the state's heavy reliance gas-fired power plants, dwindling regional gas reserves, and a lack of pipeline capacity to bring more gas into the state. Wholesale gas entering the state at the Southern California (Socal) border, a major delivery point, has averaged more than double and triple prices seen in most of the nation's gas pipelines. On Monday, Socal prices traded on average at $14.50 per million British thermal units, compared with $3.13 a year ago. The astronomical rise in California gas prices has also triggered several investigations and lawsuits into possible anti-competitive practices by out-of-state pipeline operators, which provide California with around 85 percent of its gas. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Copyright , 2001 Reuters Limited.
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