Order 637A could lead to stability

✍ Scribed by Smead, Richard G.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Weight: 367 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0743-5665
• DOI: 10.1002/gas.3410161206

✦ Synopsis

Order 637A Could Lead to Stability

n May 19, the commission issued Order 0 6374 responding to the many rehearing and clarification requests that had addressed Order 637's issuance in February. For the most part, the commission stuck to its guns-it meant to do what it did in Order 637, and the industry should figure out how to live with the structure established there. To the extent it granted clarifications or made changes, almost everything was aimed at expanding the rights of shippers on pipelines, reducing the ability of pipelines' individual tariffs to define their service relationship with shippers. Particularly troubling to pipelines were the provisions expanding segmentation rights: any time, anywhere, in any direction.

However, for the most part, the order on rehearing said, "Yep, you heard us the first time. Now get on with life." This is a healthy message for today's gas industry. We have weathered massive transition, all sorts of economic turmoil, and an almost constant set of regulatory disputes, for three decades now. In very many ways, we appear to have finally gotten it right: We have a stable, growing industry that seems to have to look harder and more creatively for its next internal conflict.