NEWS RELEASE

Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2005

Contact: Angie Joe
713.743.8153 (office)
713.617.7138 (pager)
ajoe@uh.edu
CREATING COMPETITIVE WHOLESALE ENERGY MARKETS
SUBJECT OF UH LAW CENTER CONFERENCE

Public confidence in energy markets has been shaken ever since the California energy crisis. Questions arise as to how to protect the public in such markets against exercises in market power, market manipulation and other abuses that would rob consumers of the rewards of competition.

“In order to create competitive wholesale energy markets, it is necessary to determine what behavior should be prohibited, who should enforce the rules prohibiting such conduct, and what remedies will be imposed to prevent and restrain violations of the rules,” says Darren Bush, University of Houston assistant professor of law. Bush served as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, where he focused on energy markets. “Given the number of agencies overseeing energy markets, it is important to have some dialogue across agencies regarding these issues.”

To facilitate this dialogue, the UH Law Center will host “Creating Competitive Wholesale Energy Markets” March 4 at the UH Hilton Hotel. The inaugural conference is sponsored by the Law Center’s Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal (EELPJ).

The keynote speaker is the Honorable Richard D. Cudahy, senior circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Judge Cudahy has served on the American Bar Association’s Special Committee on Energy Law and the Councils of the Public Utility Law, Administrative Law and Natural Resources sections. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles, including one on deregulation in the Yale Journal on Regulation. Other speakers will address the environmental effects of electricity deregulation.

Papers from the conference will be published in EELPJ, which focuses on environmental and energy law and policy issues. The journal hosts annual symposia that bring together a broad constituency of practitioners, academics, policymakers and regulators.

Conference registration is $150. Seven hours of Participatory Continuing Legal Education credits are pending.

To register, please e-mail Briefcase@uh.edu or call 713.743.2201. For more conference information, visit the Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal Web site: www.law.uh.edu/eelpj.

WHAT: Creating Competitive Wholesale Energy Markets
WHO: Environmental & Energy Law & Policy Journal, UH Law Center
WHEN: Friday, March 4, 2005
    8 a.m. – Registration
    8:30 a.m. – Welcome/Introduction
    9 a.m. – What is Market Power/Market Manipulation?
    10:30 a.m. – The Roles of Regulation and Antitrust in Creating
                          Competitive Wholesale Energy Markets
    Noon – Keynote Speaker: The Honorable Richard D. Cudahy
    1:30 p.m. – Punishing Market Abuses – What Are the Remedies?
    3:15 p.m. – Is Wholesale Competition Compatible with Environmental Policy?
WHERE: University of Houston Hilton Hotel

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