A FERC administrative law judge (ALJ) has certified and recommended that FERC approve Algonquin Gas Transmission’s proposed contested settlement that attempts to resolve a number of natural gas quality and interchangeability issues associated with the transportation of regasified liquefied natural gas (LNG) on its pipeline system.

“The settlement appears to be fair and reasonable and in the public interest,” said ALJ Bobbie J. McCartney in certifying the Algonquin agreement to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approval. FERC has the option of either approving or rejecting the settlement in full or part.

The proposed settlement, which was the result of more than two years of negotiations among parties, was either supported or not opposed by the Northeast utilities and some pipelines and LNG importers involved in the talks. Calpine Corp. filed comments opposing the settlement, but given that it is not a major shipper on the Algonquin system, it did not request that FERC reject the settlement. Both Dominion Transmission Inc. and Statoil Natural Gas LLC opposed the settlement.

The proposed agreement made a few “modifications and additions” to the pro forma tariff sheets that were approved and suspended by the Commission in July 2007, including:

The settlement further stipulates that Algonquin will file proposed tariff specifications for the limits on sulfur and hydrogen sulfide content and the cricondentherm hydrocarbon dew point level after the effective date of the Commission-approved gas quality tariff revisions of upstream Algonquin affiliate Texas Eastern Transmission LP.

Among the parties either supporting or not opposing the Algonquin gas quality settlement were FERC trial staff, PSEG Energy Resources & Trade LLC, Brooklyn Union Gas, KeySpan Gas East, Boston Gas Co., BP Energy, Bay State Gas, Connecticut Gas, Distrigas of Massachusetts, Consolidated Edison, EnCana Corp. and Shell NA LNG.

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