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SPP and Member Utilities Successfully Achieve Western Expansion Milestone

LCG, April 2, 2026--Southwest Power Pool (SPP) today announced that the expansion of its service territory into the Western Interconnection has been a success. The milestone makes SPP the first regional transmission organization (RTO) with services spanning the Eastern and Western Interconnections. Its member organizations, which cover all or part of 17 states, can now benefit from a more operationally and geographically diverse integrated system.

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Holtec Achieves Milestone towards Restarting Palisades Nuclear Facility and Advances Plans to Build Two SMRs at Palisades Site

LCG, March 31, 2026--Holtec International yesterday announced that it successfully completed a milestone test necessary to return Holtec's Palisades Nuclear Generating Station to service. The 805-MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) is located in Michigan and was shut down by Entergy in May 2022. Holtec acquired the facility in June 2022 and has pursued a path to return the plant to service.

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Industry News

Enron Executive Urged Legal Review of Partnerships

LCG, Jan. 15, 2002--Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay was urged in August of last year by a senior executive in the company to have a law firm examine the firm's involvement with and accounting practices concerning outside partnerships.

The executive, whom the Washington Post identified as Sherron Watkins, vice president for corporate development, worked for Andrew Fastow, the chief financial officer who handled Enron's dealings with the partnerships. In a letter to Lay, Watkins wrote, "I am incredibly nervous that we will implode in a wave of accounting scandals." Watkins also wrote, "is there a way our accounting gurus can unwind these deals now?"

The outside law firm of Vinson & Elkins interviewed Fastow following an Oct. 15 request for a legal review covering the concerns raised in the letter, investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee determined. The law firm's conclusions were that no further inquiry was needed, due to the awareness of the firm's senior executives of the facts that Watkins had emphasized. The day following the review, Enron announced third-quarter earnings representing $1 billion in losses, and a $1.2 billion reduction in shareholder equity.

Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, responded to the substance of the letter to Lay by issuing a call for documents covering the same issues as the letter, and those reflecting the internal response to the letter at Enron. John Dingell, D-Mich., the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asserted that "there's pretty strong evidence of insider trading, there's clear evidence of failure to file honest and correct annual reports."

Robert Bennett, Enron's Washington attorney, expressed concern that House members were making up their minds before a full investigation of the facts.

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