[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 180 (Friday, September 17, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50546-50547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24216]
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
[Release No. 35-27073]
Filings Under the Public Holding Company Act of 1935, as Amended
(``Act'')
September 10, 1999.
Notice is hereby given that the following filing(s) has/have been
made with the Commission pursuant to provisions of the Act and rules
promulgated under the Act. All interested persons are referred to the
application(s) and/or declaration(s) for complete statements of the
proposed transaction(s) summarized below. The application(s) and/or
declaration(s) and any amendments is/are available for public
inspection through the Commission's Branch of Public Reference.
Interested persons wishing to comment or request a hearing on the
application(s) and/or declaration(s) should submit their views in
writing by October 5, 1999, to the Secretary, Securities and Exchange
Commission, Washington, DC 20549-0609, and serve a copy on the relevant
applicant(s) and/or declarant(s) at the address(es) specified below.
Proof of service (by affidavit or, in case of an attorney at law, by
certificate) should be filed with the request. Any request for hearing
should identify specifically the issues of facts or law that are
disputed. A person who so requests will be notified of any hearing, if
ordered, and will receive a copy of any notice or order issued in the
matter. After October 5, 1999, the application(s) and/or
declaration(s), as filed or as amended, may be granted and/or permitted
to become effective.
Indiana Michigan Power Company (70-6458)
Indiana Michigan Power Company (``I&M''), One Summit Square, P.O.
Box 60, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801, an electric utility subsidiary of
American Electric Power Company, Inc., a registered holding company,
has filed a post-effective amendment under sections 9(a), 10 and 12(d)
of the Act and rule 54 under the Act to an application-declaration
previously filed under the Act.
By orders dated June 11, 1980, June 25, 1980, December 4, 1984,
December 12, 1984, August 2, 1985, October 5, 1994 and June 26, 1995
(HCAR Nos. 21618, 21642, 23514, 23528, 23781, 26136 and 26319)
(``Orders''), I&M was authorized to enter into and amend agreements
(collective, ``Agreements'') with the City of Rockport, Indiana
(``City'') in connection with the construction and installation of
pollution control facilities at I&M's Rockport Generating Station
(``Facilities''). Under the Agreements, the City may issue and sell, in
several series, its pollution control revenue bonds and pollution
control refunding bond (``Refunding Bonds'') (together, ``Bonds'').
The Orders also authorized I&M to convey the Facilities to the City
and to reacquire them at a purchase price, payable on an installment
basis semi-annually, in amounts that enable the City to pay, when due,
the interest and principal on the Bonds and certain other fees and
expenses. Currently, the City has issued three series of Bonds in an
outstanding aggregate principal amount of $150 million.
It is now proposed that, under the terms of the Agreements, I&M
will cause the City to issue and sell, prior to June 30, 1999, one or
more additional series of Refunding Bonds (``1999 Bonds'') in the
aggregate principal amount of up to $50 million. The 1999 Bonds will
mature on a date not more than thirty years from the date of issuance.
The proceeds will be used to provide for the early redemption of the
entire outstanding principal amount of $50 million of the City's Series
1985 A Floating Rate Weekly Demand Bonds, due August 1, 2014.
National Fuel Gas Company, et al. (70-9525)
National Fuel Gas Company (``NFG''), 10 Lafayette Square, Buffalo,
New York 14203, a public utility holding company registered under the
Act, and its nonutility subsidiaries National Fuel Gas Supply
Corporation (``Supply''), 10 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, New York 14203;
National Fuel Resources, Inc. (``Resources''), 165 Lawrence Bell Drive,
Suite 120, Williamsville, New York 14221; Seneca Resources Corporation
(``Seneca''); and Upstate Energy, Inc. (``Upstate Energy,'' and
together with Supply, Resources and Seneca, the ``Nonutility
Subsidiaries''), both located at 1201 Louisiana Street, Suite 400,
Houston, Texas 77002, have filed an application under sections 9(a) and
10 of the Act, sections 2(a) and 2(b) of the Gas Related Activities Act
of 1990, and rule 54 under the Act.
Supply, an interstate pipeline company, transports and stores
natural gas for NFG's only public utility subsidiary, National Fuel Gas
Distribution Corporation (``Distribution'') and for other utilities,
pipelines, marketers, and large industrial customers in the
northeastern United States. Seneca is engaged in the business of
exploration and development of natural gas and oil producing reserves,
chiefly in the on-shore and off-shore Gulf Coast region of Texas,
Louisiana and Alabama, the Appalachian region, the Rocky Mountain
region, and California. Resources markets natural gas, electricity, and
other forms of energy to approximately 5,400 industrial commercial, and
residential customers under long-term agreements, and provides other
related energy services to these end-use customers. Upstate Energy
engages in wholesale natural gas marketing and related activities.
As more particularly discussed below, NFG requests authority
through December 31, 2003 to acquire, through the Nonutility
Subsidiaries, the equity and debt securities of one or more companies
that are engaged in, or that are formed to engage in, certain
categories of nonutility gas-related operations outside the United
States (``Foreign Energy Affiliates''). NFG and the Nonutility
Subsidiaries propose to
[[Page 50547]]
invest up to $300 million (`'Investment Limitation'') in the securities
of Foreign Energy Affiliates. In addition, Resources and Update Energy
request authority to engage directly in energy commodity marketing,
brokering and related activities in Canada.
Specifically, Seneca proposes to acquire the securities of, or
other interests in, entities engaged in natural gas and oil exploration
and production operations outside the United States. Paralleling its
domestic exploration and production activities. Seneca intends to
invest in entities with Canadian operations located where pipeline
facilities are available to deliver reserves to customers of
Distribution or of other NFG subsidiaries. Seneca anticipates that it
will concentrate initially on investing in Foreign Energy Affiliates
with operations in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Seneca
requests that the Commission reserve jurisdiction over its investments
in Foreign Energy Affiliates outside of the United States and Canada.
Supply proposes to acquire the securities of, or other interests
in, companies formed to construct and operate new pipeline and gas
storage facilities outside the United States. Supply anticipates that
it will initially focus on projects that are planned or under
construction in Canada, Mexico, and South America. Supply has not yet
identified any specific foreign pipeline or storage venture in which it
wished to invest, and it request that the Commission reserve
jurisdiction over any investment it makes in a Foreign Energy
Affiliate.
Resources and Upstate Energy propose to engage directly or
indirectly in natural gas and other energy commodity marketing,
brokering, and related activities outside the United States.
Specifically, Resources and Upstate Energy request authority to invest
in the aggregate either directly or indirectly, through one or more
Foreign Energy Affiliates, up to $50 million of the Investment
Limitation in Canadian nonutility facilities related to these
activities. These would include natural gas or oil storage facilities,
natural gas gathering and processing facilities, pipeline spurs to
serve industrial customers, and meters, regulators, and similar
nonutility equipment. The Canadian marketing and brokering operations
of Resources and Upstate Energy would be substantially identical to
their U.S. operations, although Canadian regulatory laws may impose
different limitations or restrictions on these operations. The proposed
brokering activities would involve acting as a middle man, usually for
a fee, in energy commodity transactions. Marketing transactions could
take a variety of forms. They may consist of purchases and sales of gas
and other energy commodities where performance normally will be
physical delivery of the underlying commodity. The may also include
transactions that may or may not be settled by physical delivery, such
as swaps or exchanges of energy commodities, and the sale of purchase
of options, exchanged-traded futures contracts, or other derivative
products to support marketing and brokering transactions.
By order dated February 12, 1997 (HCAR No. 26666), the Commission
reserved jurisdiction over Resources's energy marketing and brokering
business outside the United States. Resources requests that the
Commission release jurisdiction over its conduct of this business in
Canada. Upstate Energy and Resources request that the Commission
reserve jurisdiction over the conduct of this business outside the
United States and Canada.
NFG intends to provide the Nonutility Subsidiaries with funds and
credit support necessary to enable them to acquire the securities of,
or other interests in, Foreign Energy Affiliates. These investments by
NFG in the Nonutility Subsidiaries would be funded by available cash
and the proceeds to external financing previously approved by a
Commission order dated March 20, 1998 (HCAR No. 26847) (``Financing
Order''). The Nonutility Subsidiaries may borrow through the NFG system
money pool to fund the activities proposed in the application. NFG may
provide guarantees or other forms of credit support to or on behalf of
the Nonutility Subsidiaries in this connection, subject to the
authority of the Financing Order. NFG states that it would not attempt
to recover any loss sustained through the proposed foreign gas-related
activities, or compensate for any inadequate return on its investment
in them, through higher rates to Distribution's customers.
For the Commission by the Division of Investment Management,
under delegated authority.
Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-24216 Filed 9-16-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M