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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates the interstate transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas and regulates the prices of interstate transport of petroleum by pipeline. FERC also reviews proposals to build interstate natural gas pipelines, natural gas storage projects, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, in addition to licensing non-federal hydropower projects.
The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act is a United States Act passed as part of the National Energy Act. It was meant to promote energy conservation and promote greater use of domestic energy and renewable energy. The law was created in response to the 1973 energy crisis, and one year in advance of a second energy crisis.
A public service company is a corporation or other non-governmental business entity which delivers public services - certain services considered essential to the public interest. The ranks of such companies include public utility companies like natural gas, pipeline, electricity, and water supply companies, sewer companies, telephone companies and telegraph companies. They also include public services such as transportation of passengers or property as a common carrier, such as airlines, railroads, trucking, bus, and taxicab companies.
Southern LNG is a re-gasification facility on Elba Island, in Chatham County, Georgia, five miles downstream from Savannah, Georgia. The initial authorization for the Elba Island facility was issued in 1972. LNG shipments ceased during the first half of 1980. On March 16, 2000, the project received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorization to re-commission and renovate the LNG facilities.
Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Wisconsin, 347 U.S. 672 (1954), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that sale of natural gas at the wellhead was subject to regulation under the Natural Gas Act. Prior to this case, independent producers sold natural gas to interstate pipelines at unregulated prices with any subsequent sales for resale being regulated. The State of Wisconsin sought to close this regulatory loophole in order to keep consumer prices low. Natural gas producers argued that wellhead sales were exempt from federal regulation as "production and gathering." Below, the Federal Power Commission compiled an evidentiary record 10,000 pages long before deciding not to regulate wellhead sales. However, the courts reversed, and the case resulted in federal price controls on wellhead gas prices for the next 40 years.
The Natural Gas Act of 1938 was the first occurrence of the United States federal government regulating the natural gas industry. It was focused on regulating the rates charged by interstate natural gas transmission companies. In the years prior to the passage of the Act, concern arose about the monopolistic tendencies of the transmission companies and the fact that they were charging higher than competitive prices. The passage of the Act gave the Federal Power Commission (FPC) control over the regulation of interstate natural gas sales. Later on, the FPC was dissolved and became the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to a different act. FERC continues to regulate the natural gas industry to this day.
United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Mobile Gas Service Corp., 350 U.S. 332 (1956), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court interpreted the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (NGA) as not allowing a gas supply company to unilaterally modify rates in a natural gas supply contract by filing a new rate schedule with the Federal Power Commission (FPC). Mobile Gas and its companion case Federal Power Commission v. Sierra Pacific Power Co. established the Mobile-Sierra presumption which holds that an electricity or natural gas supply rate established resulting from a freely negotiated contract is presumed to be "just and reasonable" and thus acceptable under the NGA or Federal Power Act (FPA).
United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Division, 358 U.S. 103 (1958), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court interpreted the Natural Gas Act of 1938 (NGA) as allowing a gas supply company to unilaterally modify a rate in a natural gas supply contract if the contract specified that the rate was that of the rate schedule filed with the Federal Power Commission (FPC) and the gas company filed a new rate schedule. This case clarified the Mobile-Sierra doctrine established by United Gas Pipe Line Co. v. Mobile Gas Service Corp. (1956) and its companion case Federal Power Commission v. Sierra Pacific Power Co. (1956), which holds that an electricity or natural gas supply rate established resulting from a freely negotiated contract is presumed to be "just and reasonable" and thus acceptable under the NGA or Federal Power Act (FPA).
The Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act is a bill that would place a 12-month deadline on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve or reject any proposal for a natural gas pipeline. It was first introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress, and passed the House. It was again introduced during the 114th United States CongressH.R. 161 in January 2015 by Rep. Mike Pompeo, passed the House on January 21.
Natural gas was the United States' largest source of energy production in 2016, representing 33 percent of all energy produced in the country. Natural gas has been the largest source of electrical generation in the United States since July 2015.
Richard Glick is an American political aide and government official who served as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a completed natural gas pipeline constructed from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. The MVP is 303 miles (488 km) long, and there is also a proposed Southgate Extension which will run 75 miles (121 km) from Virginia into North Carolina. The completed pipeline has a capacity of 2 million dekatherms (Dths) of natural gas per day, with gas produced from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
Bernard L. McNamee is a government official who served as Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2018 to 2020. McNamee was confirmed to the position by the United States Senate on December 6, 2018. He previously served in various state and federal legal and policy positions and practiced energy law in the private sector.
East Tennessee Natural Gas Co. v. Sage, 361 F.3d 808, cert. denied, 543 U.S. 978 (2004), is a seminal case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a gas company using its powers of eminent domain under the Natural Gas Act can obtain immediate possession by satisfying the requirements for a preliminary injunction. This process effectively permits the condemning company to use a "quick take" procedure.
The Natural Gas Wellhead Decontrol Act of 1989 (NGWDA) is an act that amends the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 to declare that the price guidelines for the first sale of natural gas do not apply to:
- Expired, terminated, or post-enactment contracts executed after the date of enactment of this Act; and
- Certain renegotiated contracts.
The Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA) is federal legislation that had been enacted as a response to US natural gas shortages of 1976–77. It was enacted for the following motivations:
Corinne B. Grace v. El Paso Natural Gas Company was the hearing for the legal proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which consisted of a hearing and a later rehearing, between 1989 and 1990. The issue was based on FERC Order 490, which the commission had created for the issue of abandonment of certain natural gas sales and purchases under the authority of Natural Gas Act of 1938 (NGA). El Paso Natural Gas had cancelled the contract for natural gas producer Grace, which was contested by Grace as not authorized by FERC regulations. The result from the hearings was that FERC decided to consider the effects of the order in terms of the effect on natural gas producers. Around this same time, Corinne B. Grace was also in the 1990 FERC hearing for Transwestern Pipeline Company v. Corinne Grace.
Transwestern Pipeline Company v. Corinne Grace was a hearing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on May 25, 1990. Transwestern Pipeline claimed that Grace, an independent oil and gas operator, had a well that was misclassified by the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division as what is called a stripper well under §108 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA). A stripper well is a well that is marginally productive. The underlying issue was the geology of the Morrow Formation in New Mexico and the reliability of the information the oil and gas commission of one state had based its decision on based on this type of geological formation and its characteristics. Around this same time, Corinne Grace was also in the 1990 FERC hearing for Corinne B. Grace v. El Paso Natural Gas Company.
Corinne B. Grace was an American actress and oil and gas producer based out of New Mexico. She had been instrumental in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reassessing the new federal regulations allowing pipelines to cancel oil and gas producer contracts as was seen in Corinne B. Grace v. El Paso Natural Gas Company. She was also instrumental in protecting stripper wells as well as being supportive of state interpretations of FERC regulations as was seen in Transwestern Pipeline Company v. Corinne Grace. She also was part of the tax law theory of equitable recoupment being applied to city revenue from leased property with the court case of Grace v. City of Carlsbad.