Petition

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied ANRPipeline’s petition for review of a FERC ruling that permittedNautilus Pipeline to build a competing pipeline off the coast ofLouisiana.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last week deniedANR Pipeline’s petition for review of a FERC ruling that permittedNautilus Pipeline to build a competing pipeline off the coast ofLouisiana.

South Jersey Gas Co. filed a petition with New Jersey’s Board ofPublic Utilities (BPU) to increase eligibility in its customerchoice pilot program from 25,000 to 50,000. The announcement marksthe second time in the past 12 months the utility has increased thesize of its pilot. The BPU has set Dec. 31 as a deadline to definecomplete statewide gas deregulation. South Jersey said 22,000customers have participated in the program. The utility serves260,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in thestate.

The Supreme Court last Tuesday rejected a petition for writ ofcertiorari filed by the California Public Utilities Commission(CPUC) and Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) after the partiesfailed to meet the deadline. The petitioners, which filed forreview on Nov. 5, missed the deadline by three days. The CPUC andSoCalGas had asked the high court to review a 1996 FERC decision -upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals two years later – thatthey claimed amounted to a “power grab” of California’sjurisdiction by the federal agency.

A Louisiana producer has challenged a decision by the InteriorBoard of Land Appeals (IBLA) that held it owes royalties not onlyon the sale of its production to a marketer at the wellhead, butalso on the amount paid to the marketer for selling that productiondownstream.