Upheld

Commerce Department Secretary Donald Evans on Monday upheld New York State’s objection to Millennium Pipeline’s proposed 442-mile, 700 MMcf/d pipeline from Lake Erie to New York City.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC Friday upheld a lower court decision that enjoined the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from enforcing an open-ended reporting requirement on natural gas pipelines operating offshore, finding the agency exceeded its authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) when it ordered the action in 2000.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC Friday upheld a lower court decision that enjoined the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from enforcing an open-ended reporting requirement on natural gas pipelines operating offshore, finding the agency exceeded its authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) when it ordered the action in 2000.

The FERC majority has upheld a major ruling to reassert jurisdiction over a portion of natural gas gathering facilities on North Padre Island (NPI) that Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line had spun down to its gathering affiliate, Williams Field Services Co. (WFS). But Commissioner Nora M. Brownell, who voted in favor of the order last year, signaled a change of heart.

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Monday upheld a lower court decision to block oil and natural gas exploration off the central California coast, prompting an immediate favorable reaction from Gov. Gray Davis, who has continued to resist federal efforts for more drilling offshore in federal waters.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld FERC’s decision in the Sea Robin Pipeline case, in which the Commission reformulated its test for determining whether a pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico is a nonjurisdictional gathering line or a jurisdictional transmission system. ExxonMobil Gas Marketing had filed an appeal of FERC’s determination that a portion of the 438-mile, 1.3 Bcf/d Sea Robin Pipeline system upstream of the Vermilion 149 station is nonjurisdictional gathering.

In a reversal of its prior position, a federal appeals court has upheld FERC’s decision on remand reaffirming Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s switch in 1996 to the more competitive net-present-value (NPV) method for allocating pipeline capacity and primary receipt/delivery points on its system. Prior to 1996, the pipeline had offered capacity and primary points on a less competitive “first come, first-served” basis.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has upheld its earlier order imposing a heavy reporting requirement on transporters and sellers of natural gas into the California market.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has upheld its earlier order imposing a heavy reporting requirements on transporters and sellers of natural gas into the California market.