Although almost two years old and still not implemented, Southern California Gas Co.’s intra-state transmission/storage restructuring as embodied in a so-called “comprehensive settlement” still could be salvaged by state regulators.

They are hopeful of salvaging at least some of deal that many of the parties have come to disavow, and with that intent in mind, an all-parties meeting with the assigned state regulator was scheduled in Los Angeles Friday.

“The issues are incredibly abstruse,” said Geoffrey Brown, one of the five commissioners on the California Public Utilities Commission that will take a re-look at the settlement. Brown said during an interview Thursday in Los Angeles that an administrative law judge’s proposed decision on how to proceed with the settlement will be released very soon. Shortly thereafter, a similar update of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s own natural gas system restructuring of several years ago, the “Gas Accord,” also will come before the state regulatory panel.

“A lot of time has elapsed, and an awful lot of efforts to block the SoCalGas settlement have been tried administratively,” Brown said. “A lot of the parties are expressing some reluctance about going forward, although their signatures may be on the document, so what I would like to see is if there is some common ground.”

Brown said the all-parties meeting and subsequent proposed decision needs to address what in the settlement “can be saved, or is worth saving, and what will just will have to be dispensed with. We will just have to see what happens at the all-party meeting.”

Natural gas issues will continue to “plague” the CPUC for some time, Brown said. “There are going to be shortages of gas, issues of bundling-versus-unbundling, so we will be busy. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is going to be a big issue, and every time you try to locate an LNG terminal, it can become a controversy.”

While on a visit to Los Angeles, Brown said he was scheduled to get a 90-minute briefing on LNG from some of the proponents for receiving terminals along the California coast.

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