Please mark your calendar and plan to join us for the following NEM meetings:

September 2009 Fall Leadership Roundtable - NEM’s Fall Leadership Roundtable Meeting will be held on September 15 & 16, 2009, at the Hampton Inn & Suites, Albany Downtown, Albany, NY 12210. NEM’s room rate has been secured at $129.00 per room per night. Many thanks to Matt Picardi of Shell Energy North America for the generous offer to host this meeting. Please register for the Fall Leadership Roundtable at this hotlink. The Agenda is available at this hotlink.

To date, the following public officials have confirmed to attend the Fall meeting:

Office of Governor David A. Paterson, Thomas Congdon (Day 2 only)
Office of Governor David A. Paterson, Kimberly Harriman
New York State Senator Aubertine's Office, Senator Aubertine and Chief of Staff, Lee Willbanks
Chairman, NYPSC, Garry Brown (Day 2 only)
NY State Dept. of Public Service, LuAnn Scherer
NY State Dept. of Public Service, Fran Hart
NY State Dept. of Public Service, Marty Insogna (Day 2 only)
NYISO - Robert Pike

January 2010 Executive Committee Meeting - NEM’s Annual Winter Executive Committee Policy and Planning Meeting will be held January 19 & 20, 2010, at the headquarters of South Carolina Research Authority in Charleston, South Carolina. NEM’s room rate has been secured at $129.00 per room per night at the Hilton Garden Inn Charleston Airport, 5265 International Blvd., N. Charleston, SC 29418. The Executive Committee sets the course for NEM’s advocacy in the coming year at this meeting. Many thanks to Bill Mahoney and South Carolina Research Authority for the generous offer to host this meeting.

April 2010 Annual Global Energy Forum – NEM’s Annual Global Energy Forum, will be held April 27 & 28, 2010, at the Embassy Suites Convention Center, Washington DC, 900 10th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. NEM’s room rate has been secured at $289.00 per room per night. Sponsorship opportunities are available.

This week, the CFTC and SEC convened joint meetings on "harmonization of regulation." The Administration had previously recommended that CFTC and SEC prepare a report to Congress by September 30, 2009, identifying, "all existing conflicts in statutes and regulations with respect to similar types of financial instruments and either explains why those differences are essential to achieve underlying policy objectives with respect to investor protection, market integrity, and price transparency or make recommendations for changes to statutes and regulations that would eliminate those differences." The joint meetings were held to accomplish this analysis. Topics discussed at the meetings include: regulation of exchanges and markets, the regulation of intermediaries, the regulation of clearance and settlement, enforcement, and the regulation of investment funds. The Meeting Participants Remarks from Day One and Day Two are hotlinked here.

FERC issued its final 2008 State of the Markets Report observing that wholesale natural gas and electricity prices rose significantly in the first half of 2008, followed with a large decline at the end of 2008. The Report identifies factors that impacted electricity and natural gas markets during 2008 as follows:

"• Physical fundamentals alone can not explain natural gas prices experienced during the year.
• Unconventional gas supplies and new infrastructure have fundamentally altered the nature of natural gas markets.
• The financial crisis that started during the second half of the year altered the role of financial energy products and financial players in energy markets and increased the cost of capital, while simultaneously reducing the access to capital.
• Most electric market outcomes were driven by external market forces – specifically, fuel and commodity prices and the financial crisis.
• Alternative energy options, including energy efficiency, demand response and wind generation, have emerged as key components of electricity markets.
• The Commission took steps to enhance release and reassignment of natural gas transportation and electric transmission capacity."

The full text of the State of the Markets Report is available on the NEM Website.