Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 145 / Thursday, July 30, 2009 / Proposed Rules 37975 

1 18 CFR 284.14(a). 

2Pipeline Posting Requirements under Section 23 

of the Natural Gas Act, Order No. 720, FERC Stats. 

& Regs. ¶ 31,283 (2008). The Commission is not 

requesting additional comments regarding 18 CFR 

284.14(b) which was also added by Order No. 720. 

3See Notice of Technical Conference, Docket No. 

RM08–2–000 (issued Feb. 24, 2009). 

4Additionally, the Commission adopted 

regulations requiring interstate pipelines to post 

information regarding no-notice service. Order No. 

720 at P 1. These regulations are in effect and 

interstate pipelines must be in compliance with this 

requirement. 

5Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act; 15 U.S.C. 

717t 2 (2000 & Supp. V 2005). 

6Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law No. 109– 

58, sections 1261 et seq., 119 Stat. 594 (2005). 

7Order No. 720 at P 1. 

8 Id. P 168. 

9Pipeline Posting Requirements under Section 23 

of the Natural Gas Act, 126 FERC ¶ 61,047, at P 

4 (2009). 

10See Notice of Technical Conference, Docket No. 

RM08–2–001 (issued Feb. 24, 2009); Notice of 

Agenda for Technical Conference, Docket No. 

RM08–2–001 (issued March 11, 2009). 

11Order No. 720 at P 92. 

12Notice of Technical Conference, Docket No. 

RM08–2–001 (issued Feb. 24, 2009). 

13Requests for rehearing, clarification, or both 

filed by the following participants raise this 

question: American Gas Association, Atmos 

Pipeline, Nicor Gas Company, ONEOK Gas 

Transportation, LLC, and ONEOK WesTex 

Transmission, LLC 

(b) How would such harmonization 

affect the costs and benefits of the 

Guides for consumers and businesses, 

particularly small businesses? 

List of Subjects in 16 CFR Part 254 

Advertising, Trade practices. 

Authority: 38 Stat. 717, as amended; 15 

U.S.C. 41-58. 

By direction of the Commission. 

Donald S. Clark, 

Secretary 

[FR Doc. E9–18194 Filed 7–29–09: 9:56 am] 

BILLING CODE: 6750–01–S 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

18 CFR Part 284 

[Docket No. RM08–2–000] 

Pipeline Posting Requirements Under 

Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act; 

Order Requesting Supplemental 

Comments 

Issued July 16, 2009. 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Order Requesting Supplemental 

Comments. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (Commission) 

seeks supplemental comments regarding 

potential revisions to the posting 

requirements adopted in Order No. 720 

of the Commission’s regulations. 

DATES: Comments are due August 31, 

2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christopher Ellsworth (Technical), 

Office of Enforcement, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, 

(202) 502–8228. 

Gabriel Sterling (Legal), Office of 

Enforcement, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, 

(202) 502–8891. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Before Commissioners: Jon Wellinghoff, 

Chairman; Suedeen G. Kelly, Marc Spitzer, 

and Philip D. Moeller. 

Pipeline Posting Requirements Under 

Section 23 of the Natural Gas Act; 

Order Requesting Supplemental 

Comments 

1. The Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission (Commission) is seeking 

supplemental comments in regard to the 

posting requirements adopted in Order 

No. 720 and codified in § 284.14(a) of 

the Commission’s regulations,1 in 

response to limited issues raised in 

requests for rehearing of Order No. 720 2

and at the staff technical conference 

held in this docket on March 18, 2009.3

In particular, we seek comment on 

specific regulatory text relevant to 

arguments received on rehearing of 

Order No. 720. Comments should be 

submitted within 30 days of publication 

of this order in the Federal Register. 

I. Background 

2. In Order No. 720, the Commission 

adopted new regulations requiring 

major non-interstate pipelines to post 

certain data on publicly-accessible 

Internet Web sites. 4 Order No. 720 

implemented the Commission’s 

authority under section 23 of the 

Natural Gas Act (NGA),5 as added by the 

Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 

2005).6 The order required major noninterstate pipelines, defined as those 

natural gas pipelines that are not natural 

gas companies under the NGA and 

deliver more than 50 million MMBtu 

per year, to post scheduled flow 

information and to post information for 

each receipt or delivery point with a 

design capacity greater than 15,000 

MMBtu per day.7

3. While Order No. 720 required 

major non-interstate pipelines to 

comply with the new rules within 150 

days of the rule’s publication,8 a 

subsequent order in this docket 

extended the compliance deadline for 

major non-interstate pipelines until 150 

days following the issuance of an order 

on rehearing.9 A staff technical 

conference was held on March 18, 2009, 

to gather additional information on 

certain issues raised on rehearing.10

4. Among other changes to the 

Commission’s regulations, Order No. 

720 adopted new § 284.14(a) identifying 

the data that major non-interstate 

pipelines must post. This section 

provides that information must be 

posted by major non-interstate pipelines 

for each receipt or delivery point with 

a design capacity greater than or equal 

to 15,000 MMBtu/day. The Commission 

stated in Order No. 720, that, ‘‘In the 

circumstance where the design capacity 

of a receipt or delivery point could vary 

according to operational or usage 

conditions, a major non-interstate 

pipeline must post the design capacity 

for the most common operating 

conditions of its system during peak 

periods.’’ 11 Section 284.14(a) provides 

that the following information be posted 

regarding each applicable receipt or 

delivery point: Transportation Service 

Provider Name, Posting Date, Posting 

Time, Nomination Cycle, Location 

Name, Additional Location Information 

if Needed to Distinguish Between 

Points, Location Purpose Description 

(Receipt, Delivery, or Bilateral), Design 

Capacity, Scheduled Volume, Available 

Capacity, and Measurement Unit (Dth, 

MMBtu, or MCf). 

II. Requests for Rehearing and 

Technical Conference Comments 

5. The Commission received 24 

requests for rehearing, clarification, or 

both of Order No. 720. Additionally, the 

Commission publicly noticed and held 

a staff technical conference on March 

18, 2009, to gather additional 

information with respect to: (1) The 

definition of major non-interstate 

pipelines; (2) what constitutes 

‘‘scheduling’’ for a receipt or delivery 

point; and, (3) how the 15,000 MMBtu 

per day design capacity threshold 

should be applied.12

6. Certain rehearing requests 

questioned how § 284.14(a) of the 

Commission’s regulations applies to 

major non-interstate pipelines that 

operate with virtual or pooling points 

instead of, or in addition to, physical 

metered points.13 Texas Pipeline 

Association (TPA) proposed 

modifications to § 284.14(a) requiring 


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37976 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 145 / Thursday, July 30, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

14See Post-Technical Conference Comments of 

the Texas Pipeline Association (submitted March 

30, 2009). 

posting only at points where scheduling 

occurs.14

III. Discussion 

7. The Commission is seeking 

supplemental comments to better 

inform its decision making in this 

rulemaking. In particular, the 

Commission seeks comment regarding 

various proposals to post information 

for virtual or pooling receipt and 

delivery points. In addition, the 

Commission requests comment on 

whether and how to adopt a proxy for 

design capacity for physical points for 

which the design capacity is unknown. 

To this end, the Commission attaches 

hereto proposed revisions to § 284.14(a) 

of our regulations addressing these 

matters. 

8. The Commission recognizes that a 

number of major non-interstate 

pipelines use virtual or pooling receipt 

or delivery points. Major non-interstate 

pipelines that schedule gas to virtual or 

pooling receipt or delivery points play 

a vital role in markets for the sale or 

transportation of natural gas in 

interstate commerce. While the 

Commission understands that major 

non-interstate pipelines operate in a 

variety of ways, the Commission is 

developing regulations of general 

applicability that pertain to all such 

pipelines. To this end, the Commission 

contemplates that, on rehearing, the 

posting obligation may apply to 

metered, virtual, or pooling receipt and 

delivery points on major non-interstate 

pipelines. 

9. The regulatory text included as an 

attachment provides that design 

capacity is the method to determine 

whether a receipt or delivery point 

should be posted. However, where 

design capacity is unknown (for 

example, where the pipeline does not 

have access to design specifications or 

where the applicable point is not a 

physical meter, but rather a virtual or 

pooling receipt or delivery point), the 

regulation would allow major noninterstate pipelines to utilize the 

maximum flow experienced during any 

day within the previous three years as 

a proxy for design capacity. In addition, 

the attachment makes clear that major 

non-interstate pipelines would be 

required to post information for receipt 

or delivery points within 45 days of the 

point becoming eligible for posting. The 

Commission seeks comment on these 

matters. 

10. Further, the Commission seeks 

comment on whether and how to 

provide an exemption for receipt points 

with de minimis natural gas flows, even 

if such points have a design capacity 

above the posting threshold. The 

attached draft regulatory text provides 

an exemption from the posting 

requirement for receipt points which 

have experienced actual flows less than 

5,000 MMBtu every day for the previous 

three years. The Commission 

understands that many major noninterstate pipelines have receipt points 

with design capacities greater than 

15,000 MMBtu/day and yet consistently 

flow far less than this design capacity. 

The proposed revision responds to 

commenters’ concerns regarding the 

posting of de minimis volumes and 

recognizes that such receipt points, 

individually, may have a de minimis 

effect on downstream natural gas 

availability. 

IV. Conclusion 

Persons wishing to comment on the 

matters discussed in this order should 

submit such comments to the 

Commission no later than 30 days 

following publication of this order in 

the Federal Register. 

List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 284 

Continental shelf; Incorporation by 

reference; Natural gas; Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

By the Commission. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

In consideration of the foregoing, the 

Commission proposes to amend Part 

284, Chapter I, Title 18, Code of Federal 

Regulations, as follows: 

PART 284—CERTAIN SALES AND 

TRANSPORTATION OF NATURAL GAS 

UNDER THE NATURAL GAS POLICY 

OF 1978 AND RELATED AUTHORITIES 

1. The authority citation for part 284 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 717–717w, 3301– 

3432; 42 U.S.C. 7101–7352; 43 U.S.C. 1331– 

1356. 

2. In § 284.1, revise paragraph (a) to 

read as follows: 

§ 284.14. Posting requirements of major 

non-interstate pipelines. 

(a) Daily posting requirement. A major 

non-interstate pipeline must provide on 

a daily basis on a publicly-accessible 

Internet Web site and in downloadable 

file format equal and timely access to 

information regarding receipt or 

delivery points, including non-physical 

scheduling points. 

(1) A major non-interstate pipeline 

must post data for each receipt or 

delivery point, or for any point that 

operates as both a delivery and receipt 

point for the major non-interstate 

pipeline, to which natural gas 

transportation is scheduled: 

(i) With a physically metered design 

capacity equal to or greater than 15,000 

MMBtu/day; or 

(ii) If a physically metered design 

capacity is not known or does not exist 

for such a point, with a maximum flow 

equal to or greater than 15,000 MMBtu 

on any day within the prior three years. 

(2) Notwithstanding the requirements 

of 284.14(a)(1), a receipt point is not 

subject to the posting requirements of 

this section if the maximum flow at the 

receipt point was less than 5,000 

MMBtu on every day within the prior 

three years. If a point has operated as 

both a receipt and delivery point any 

time within the last three years, then 

this subsection 284.14(a)(2) shall not 

apply to that point. 

(3) A major non-interstate pipeline 

that must post data for a receipt or 

delivery point shall do so within 45 

days of the date on which the point 

becomes eligible for posting. 

(4) For each delivery or receipt point 

that must be posted, a major noninterstate pipeline must provide the 

following information: Transportation 

Service Provider Name, Posting Date, 

Posting Time, Nomination Cycle, 

Location Name, Additional Location 

Information if Needed to Distinguish 

Between Points, Location Purpose 

Description (Receipt, Delivery, Bilateral, 

or Non-physical Scheduling Point), 

Posted Capacity (physically metered 

design capacity or maximum flow 

within the last three years), Method of 

Determining Posted Capacity (Capacity 

or Maximum Average Volume), 

Scheduled Volume, Available Capacity 

(Calculated as Posted Capacity minus 

Scheduled Capacity), and Measurement 

Unit (Dth, MMBtu, or MCf). The 

information in this subsection must 

remain posted for a period of one year. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. E9–17335 Filed 7–29–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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