Approving

What appeared to be a routine stay request by a neighborhood group in Pennsylvania of orders approving a Tennessee Pipeline expansion evoked an unusual debate among FERC commissioners last week over their responsibility to address pipeline safety issues.

What appeared to be a routine stay request by a neighborhood group in Pennsylvania of orders approving a Tennessee Pipeline expansion evoked an unusual debate among FERC commissioners last week over their responsibility to address pipeline safety issues.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Policy yesterdayrecommended streamlining the federal government’s process forapproving new natural gas storage capacity and pipelines bound forthe Northeast in an attempt to reduce the region’s dependence onheating oil and prevent a recurrence of price spikes.

Shareholders of Columbia Energy Group Friday duplicated theperformance of NiSource Inc. shareholders a day earlier,overwhelmingly approving the merger of the two companies, and bringingit a step closer to reality. (See Daily GPI, June 2)

With the ink barely dry on the FERC order approving part of thephase-two expansion of its storage caverns in Mississippi, PetalGas Storage L.L.C. last week kicked off an open season to determinewhether there’s a demand for another expansion.

FERC has upheld an order approving Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s newtransportation service agreements with six shippers, casting asideproducer arguments that the contracts included negotiated terms andconditions and raised right-of-first-refusal (ROFR) issues.

FERC last week upheld an order approving Tennessee GasPipeline’s new transportation service agreements with six shippers,casting aside producer arguments that the contracts includednegotiated terms and conditions and raised right-of-first-refusal(ROFR) issues.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded Friday a FERCdecision approving a 20-year cap on bids for Tennessee Gas Pipelinecapacity that are considered under the net-present-value approach.The Process Gas Consumers Group (PGC), which includes industrialgas users, challenged the Commission order, arguing that it failedto engage in “reasoned decision-making” by allowing the cap on theNPV bids. “…..[W]e find FERC’s reasoning on the cap to beunpersuasive and largely conclusory,” the court opined [No.98-1075]. The court said it didn’t “quarrel” with the goal behindthe Commission’s approval of the NPV capacity-allocation method forTennessee, “but [we] remind FERC of its admitted need to balancethe goal with its duty to prevent exploitation of Tennessee’smonopoly power. FERC appears to have forgotten the latter…..” PGCalso took issue with FERC’s decision allowing Tennessee to applyNPV to shippers attempting to change primary receipt and deliverypoints, and the court agreed with industrials on this point. Thecourt ordered the Commission to “better explain or modify” itsapproval of both issues.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has remanded an orderapproving the El Paso Natural Gas rate settlement for furtherreview, citing as its reason FERC’s refusal to give SouthernCalifornia Edison (Edison) the opportunity to challenge theagreement based on its status as an indirect customer of thepipeline.