Kinder Morgan Deal Is Dead

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In today's Open Thread, SussexWatcher points us to the news. Both the NJ and WDEL have reports up providing a summary of what was in the Kinder Morgan letter and some local reaction. EDIT -- WDDE has put up their report with some additional detail on why KM walked away. It looks like the deal is off of the table, although the NJ discussion with KM seems to leave a slim bit of wiggle room for everybody.

Kinder Morgan Doesn’t Like to be Bashed

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This is what Alan Levin had to say reacting to Kinder Morgan's comment that the DE Legislature's insisting on doing their job might kill the deal to privatize the Port of Wilmington. The NJ's front page story on this today accounts for Kinder Morgan's new found nervousness over this deal, telling an analysts' conference call that the GA may have scuttled whatever deal is in being secretly negotiated:

General Assembly Post-Game Wrap-Up/Pre-Game Show: Tuesday, January 22, 2013

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Lotsa fascinating (and otherwise) bills introduced last week. Let's take a look, shall we? You can follow along here, here, and here. For those with limited time, the first here here has the most there there. There there now, it'll be alright. First, and least, we have parts of the Rethuglican legislative agenda, courtesy of Rep. Ruth Briggs King. It's what you'd expect. Opposition to strong automobile emission standards, and two more shots at prevailing wage, HB 6 and HB 7. Thanks for playing. King also tackles the rampant problem of ticket-scalping at the Delaware State Fair. Ticket scalping elsewhere would presumably still be OK. As far as I'm concerned, anybody willing to pay excessive prices for whatever big empty hat country performer the Fair brings in has a right to pay excessive prices. Although it might not leave enough $$'s to pay for a few rounds of ammo, which would be a shame.

On Privatizing the Port of Wilmington, Bob Marshall Says ‘Not So Fast, My Friends’.

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In what I consider to be a masterfully-crafted letter, Sen. Bob Marshall has made clear that he does not intend to let Markell/Levin push a Port of Wilmington privatization proposal through without legislative oversight. As you may recall, a recent Friday news dump by the Markell Administration contained the announcement that Kinder Morgan had emerged as the 'preferred partner' to run the Port. Both Kinder and Morgan made their corporate bones at Enron, and their company specializes in pipelines and the fluids that run through them.