FERC on Wednesday put on hold a proposed tariff change that would allow Northern Natural Gas Co. to reserve for future expansions any unsubscribed capacity or capacity under expiring transportation capacity contracts that are not subject to right-of-first-refusal (ROFR).

Noting it “may be unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory, or otherwise unlawful,” FERC suspended Northern’s proposed tariff revision until the earlier of the maximum five-month period ending on Oct. 14, or a date specified in a later order. It also ordered the pipeline to submit within 20 days “further information and explanation with adequate support” in response to the multitude of shipper protests [RP03-343].

Some critics claimed the tariff proposal would give Northern Natural a green light to reserve capacity indefinitely. Shippers also feared that they could end up bearing the costs of the reserved capacity.

Northern Natural contends its proposal seeks to promote the efficient use and allocation of pipeline capacity on its system, while preserving the rights of expansion shippers.

The MidAmerican Energy pipeline wants to be able to begin reserving capacity for a future project one year prior to filing a certificate application at the Commission, and end it when the facilities are placed in service.

Under the proposal, Northern Natural said it would re-post any capacity reserved for a future project that doesn’t move forward, within 30 days of the capacity becoming available. However, it noted it won’t post reserved capacity committed to under a written contract that could be fulfilled “either with no construction and/or with construction automatically authorized pursuant to its blanket certificate,” the order said.

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