Message-ID: <26126421.1075860885544.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 15:51:47 -0700 (PDT) From: ei_editor@ftenergy.com To: einsighttext@spector.ftenergy.com Subject: Is ANWR DOA? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Energy Insight Editor @ENRON X-To: EINSIGHTTEXT@SPECTOR.FTENERGY.COM X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Kevin_Hyatt_Mar2002\Hyatt, Kevin\Projects\Tsunami X-Origin: Hyatt-K X-FileName: khyatt (Non-Privileged).pst Energy Insight News for Thursday, June 21, 2001 Is ANWR DOA? President George W. Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol process sparked a response that he clearly did not expect, both at home and abroad. Indeed, this and other recent events suggest the American public is significantly more engaged in environmental issues than the administration believed. Despite attempts to repair this image with photo ops in the Everglades and elsewhere-moves that played in the mainstream press as hopelessly contrived-the president's strategy has eroded support among environmentally conscious moderates and threatens development initiatives that require this trust. A recent Washington Post-ABC News Poll concluded that a full 58% of the public disapproves of how President Bush is handling the energy situation, an increase of 15% since a survey conducted four weeks ago. Further, half of the public disapproves of his actions on environmental issues, up 9% since April, while 41% approve. Given this, there is growing speculation that the fight to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) may be over-before it even began-especially now that the Democrats have Senate control. "We already think we have the votes in the Senate, even by simple majority [without a filibuster] to defeat any bill that includes arctic drilling," said Melinda Pierce, spokesperson for the Sierra Club. This begs the question: Why is the Bush administration showing such tenacity on this issue? "While President Bush may be fulfilling campaign promises, there is also the idea circulating that this is a stalking horse," speculates Pierce. President Bush may be pushing ANWR, despite continued setbacks, in order to eventually "give in." This could give him a legislative bargaining chip to get access to other restricted areas in, for example, the Rocky Mountains. Read the entire story at http://www.energyinsight.com. Also, catch the latest news headlines on Energy Insight Executive, updated twice daily. /////////////////////////////////////////////// Market Brief Wednesday, June 20 Stocks Close Change % Change DJIA 10,647.33 50.7 0.48% DJ 15 Util. 363.85 (2.4) -0.66% NASDAQ 2,031.17 38.51 1.93% S&P 500 1,223.14 10.6 0.87% Market Vols Close Change % Change AMEX (000) 132,262 11,859.0 9.85% NASDAQ (000) 2,093,884 110,249.0 5.56% NYSE (000) 1,341,599 163,470.0 13.88% Commodities Close Change % Change Crude Oil (Jul) 26.5 (0.98) -3.57% Heating Oil (Jul) 0.7415 (0.033) -4.25% Nat. Gas (Henry) 3.725 (0.335) -8.25% Palo Verde (Jul) 120.00 0.00 0.00% COB (Jul) 115.00 0.00 0.00% PJM (Jul) 61.00 (6.75) -9.96% Dollar US $ Close Change % Change Australia $ 1.929 0.007 0.36% Canada $ 1.534 0.000 0.00% Germany Dmark 2.288 (0.002) -0.09% Euro 0.8536 (0.000) -0.04% Japan ?en 123.80 0.700 0.57% Mexico NP 9.07 0.000 0.00% UK Pound 0.7145 (0.0007) -0.10% Foreign Indices Close Change % Change Arg MerVal 419.55 1.47 0.35% Austr All Ord. 3,348.40 25.70 0.77% Braz Bovespa 14571.24 170.51 1.18% Can TSE 300 7675.7 (27.17) -0.35% Germany DAX 5876.04 (46.49) -0.78% HK HangSeng 12918.71 (214.95) -1.64% Japan Nikkei 225 12674.64 100.38 0.80% Mexico IPC 6455.15 96.09 1.51% UK FTSE 100 5,699.60 19.20 0.34% Source: Yahoo! & TradingDay.com ////////////////////////////////////////////// Executive News Shell to invest up to $1 billion in wind, solar by 2006 The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies announced last week it would invest between $500 million and $1 billion over the next five years in "a range of new energy businesses, concentrating primarily on solar and wind energy." Shell expects its solar business to grow at the same rate as the market, which is now growing at 25% per year. Shell is also participating in two trial wind projects, totaling 8 MW in capacity, and is evaluating new wind energy projects in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Morocco and the United States that total 400 MW in capacity. Calif. power refund talks may expand to other states Reuters reports that Federal Energy Regulatory Chairman (FERC) Chairman Curtis Hebert said on Wednesday the agency-led talks to settle alleged California power overcharges by generators may be open to companies and other interested parties from other Western states. "I can say that Western (companies) outside of California are not shut out of the discussion," Hebert said during testimony before the Senate Governmental Affairs committee. Hebert mentioned by name several other parties that could take part, including Puget Sound Energy, the City of Seattle and Bonneville Power Administration. In Monday's FERC order to expand its "price mitigation" plan throughout all 11 Western states, the agency also ordered an administrative law judge to launch discussions on June 25 between California utilities and their power suppliers to try and settle refund questions. If the parties cannot reach a deal by early July, Hebert said FERC would step in and settle the matter. To subscribe to our real time Executive News Service, which is updated twice daily, log on to http://www.energyinsight.com, or contact FT Energy's Direct Response Team at 1-800-424-2908 (if outside the United States call 1-720-548-5700). /////////////////////////////////////////////// Announcements Attention RDI clients: Speaker presentations from the RDI Conference are now available on RDI Online at www.rdionline.com. Clients can go to any of the product tabs for the products they subscribe to and click on the word Presentations to access them. Also available are the user guides from the advanced product trainings presented at the conference. ///////////////////////////////////////// Leukemia Cup Regatta raising money for a cure A collection of major convergence energy industry participants joined together under the name ENERGY2CURE (E2C) to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual Volvo Leukemia Cup sailing regatta, taking place the weekend of June 23 in Houston, Texas. E2C is a Houston-based not for profit syndicate that was put together by individuals, who are directly related to the converging electricity and natural gas industries, that wished to combine a passion for sailing with the much greater need to find a cure for leukemia and lymphoma. Under the corporate-neutral syndicate flag of E2C; Aquila, Cinergy, Credit Lyonnais Americas, Duke Energy, El Paso Corp., Keyspan, Mirant, SEMCO Energy, Southern Cos., Toronto-Dominion Bank, UtiliCorp United, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Financial Times Energy and the Williams Cos., as well as their respective employees, discarded their highly competitive daily mantras in order to band together under one umbrella of corporate compassion and hope. The $81,000 raised by E2C year-to-date in 2001 exceeds the national record of funds raised by one boat of $64,896 that E2C established in June 2000. ENERGY2CURE's ambitious 2001 goal to raise $125,000 and to include at least 10 new industry participants is fueled by the fact that leukemia is a national challenge that continues to be the number one child killing disease in North America. For more information about ENERGY2CURE or the fight against leukemia and lymphoma, please visit the E2C web site at www.energy2cure.org.