The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week announced itwill hold a symposium later this month to address reform of itscomplaint procedures.

The forum, the second in a series on reforms of FERC’sregulatory processes, will take place March 30th at 1 p.m. at theCommission’s headquarters in Washington D.C. It will examine 1) howwell FERC’s current procedures are working, 2) whether changes tothe existing complaint procedures are needed, and 3) what type ofchanges should be made.

Pending at FERC are proposals from the Pipeline CustomerCoalition – which represents LDCs, producers and industrialcustomers – and the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America(INGAA) aimed at streamlining and expediting the consideration andresolution of complaints about pipeline transportation. Thecoalition seeks to establish various categories of complaintseligible for expedited consideration, and would require FERC tomeet certain deadlines for resolving them. INGAA would make fewertypes of complaints eligible for expedited action. Its proposal isdesigned to supplement rather than replace the Commission’s currentregulations.

The proposals have been on the back burner at FERC for nearlytwo years, leading some gas industry representatives to questionthe Commission’s sudden interest in this issue now.

For the symposium, the Commission said it is seeking across-section of views from the gas, electric and oil pipelineindustry, as well as state regulatory agencies and members of theenergy bar. The deadline for written comments on the issue is 15days after the conference.

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