Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. has asked FERC to issue a cease-and-desist order to stop Saltville LLC, an affiliate of Duke Energy and NUI Corp., from carrying out the allegedly “unlawful construction” of a jurisdictional salt cavern storage facility without certificate authorization from the Commission.

In a complaint filed this week, Cargill, a major Midwest marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, financial and industrial products, claims that Saltville is circumventing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) jurisdiction by building an interstate gas storage facility in Virginia “under claim of state jurisdiction despite the fact that the overriding purpose of the facilities is to provide natural gas storage service in interstate commerce.”

It called on the Commission to “immediately assert jurisdiction” over the Saltville facility, order it to cease and desist construction activities, and require it to file an application with FERC [CP02-73]. If FERC should seek further facts before deciding the jurisdictional fate of the proposed Saltville facility, Cargill asked the agency still to proceed with the cease-and-desist order, as well as direct Saltville to show cause why the proposed storage facilities are not subject to Commission jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act.

Saltville LLC, a Virginia limited liability company, was formed last August by the subsidiaries of Duke Energy Gas Transmission and NUI for the purpose of developing a gas salt cavern storage facility in Saltville, VA, according to the complaint. “The facility is to be used primarily for the storage of natural gas for further transportation in interstate commerce, including…by affiliates of Duke and NUI in their trading and wholesale energy activities in the Mid-Atlantic region,” it said.

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