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Commission Seeks Public Comments on Carilion Clinic’s Application to Sell Center for Advanced Imaging to InSight Health Corporation
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comments on a proposed sale by Carilion Clinic of Roanoke, Virginia. Under a December 2009 settlement order with the FTC, Carilion must divest an imaging center and an outpatient surgical center in Roanoke to Commission-approved buyers to resolve charges that its acquisition of the two centers was illegal and anticompetitive. The settlement’s goal is to restore the competition lost through Carilion’s acquisition of the two clinics. Carilion has now requested FTC approval to sell one of the clinics – the Center for Advanced Imaging – to InSight Health Corporation to satisfy, in part, its requirements under the settlement Order.
In January, Carilion requested FTC approval to sell The Center for Surgical Excellence to Fairlawn Surgery Center, LLC (see press release at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/01/carilionrobo.shtm.) The FTC approved that application on March 26, 2010.
The FTC is accepting public comments on the proposed sale through June 21, 2010. Comments should be sent to: FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. (FTC Docket No. C-9338; the staff contact is Roberta S. Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press release dated October 7, 2009, at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/carilion.shtm.)
FTC Comment to FERC: Consider Ways to Improve Efficiency of Demand Response Compensation
The Federal Trade Commission has submitted a comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding FERC’s proposal to set compensation levels for retail electricity customers that support demand response. Demand response programs pay customers to reduce their use of electric power below their “normal” level during periods of greater power scarcity. By lowering the peak demand for energy, demand response programs reduce the need to construct new, expensive generation units. FERC proposes to replace a hodgepodge of demand response compensation approaches with a single approach that would pay customers the relevant wholesale price for electricity.
The FTC’s comment, which can be found on the agency’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/05/100521fercdemand.pdf and as a link on this press release, states that the economically efficient compensation for demand response requires customers initially to pay their usual retail price for power regardless of whether they consume the power or, in essence, resell the power via a demand response program. Without these well-defined property rights, the comment concludes, retail customers could be induced to provide too much demand response. The comment also notes that an efficient level of compensation for demand response requires the adjustment of power prices to internalize all social costs, some of which, like environmental costs, are not currently included.
The vote approving the comment was 5-0. (FTC File No. V100010; the staff contact is John H. Seesel, Associate General Counsel for Energy, Office of the General Counsel, 202-326-2702.)
FTC Approves The Dow Chemical Company’s Application to Divest Hollow Sphere Particle Business to OMNOVA Solutions, Inc., and Modifies Final Order
Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved an application by The Dow Chemical Company to sell its hollow sphere particle business to OMNOVA Solutions Inc., as required by a March 31, 2009 consent order issued by the FTC. The order required Dow to divest a range of assets to FTC-approved buyers, including Dow’s acrylic monomer, hollow sphere particle, and acrylic latex polymer businesses, to resolve competitive concerns raised by Dow’s acquisition of Rohm & Haas. Upon its own motion, the Commission has also modified the order to permit Dow to license back from OMNOVA certain intellectual property used by Dow to make and sell products that the order does not require Dow to divest.
The FTC vote approving Dow’s divestiture application and the modification of the final Commission Decision and Order was 4-0-1, with Commissioner Edith Ramirez not participating. (FTC File No. 081-0214, Docket No. C-4243; the staff contact is Roberta Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2681; see press releases dated January 23, 2009, and November 10, 2009, at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/01/dow.shtm and http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/11/dow.shtm.)
Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.