Release ruling makes federal-state boundaries less clear
✍ Scribed by Marston, Philip M.
- Book ID
- 102220979
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2007
- Weight
- 339 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0743-5665
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
he recent decision by the D.C. Circuit court T of appeals in Southern California Edison Co. u. FERC, -F. 3d-(D.C. Cir. No. 97-1699) (April 9, 1999) merits discussion. The decision further highlights the jurisdictional fault lines between federal regulation of local gas utilities under the Natural Gas Act and state regulation of these same companies under various state public utility regulatory statutes.
. . . highlights the jurisdictional fault lines . . .
Edison Charges Unfair Use of Capacity Release
The matter arose in 1997, when Southern California Edison Co. filed a complaint with the FERC charging that Southern California Gas Company ("SoCal Gas"), a local gas utility, was violating the federal regulations governing the use (and nonuse) of contract rights to receive firm transportation service from an interstate pipeline, In essence, the complaint charged that SoCal Gas had abused market power over the firm shipment of San Juan Basin natural gas for delivery to Southern California.
Edison asserted that transportation of gas from the San Juan Basin to the California marketplace constituted a separate market for natural gas because the San Juan gas was priced so significantly below other alternatives. Edison charged that SoCal Gas exercised market power
Philip M. Marston, Esq., conducts his naturalgas and power law practice from Alexandria, Virginia. He has served on the Energy Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Advisory Committee of the New
York Mercantile Exchange and has written and spoken frequently about natural gas and power issues.