Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 43 - NATURAL RESOURCES › Part XI - Office of Conservation-Pipeline Division › Subpart 1 - Natural Gas and Coal › Chapter 1 - Natural Gas and Coal › Section XI-141 - Establishment, Promulgation, and Implementation of Emergency Gas Shortage Allocation Plan

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. This regulation
				  shall apply to the establishment, promulgation, implementation and
				  administration of a plan for statewide emergency intrastate natural gas
				  conservation, allocation or rationing pursuant to Part IV of the Act.
B. The policy of the state of Louisiana,
				  pursuant to Part IV of Act 16, is to maintain, preserve and protect all those
				  vital services and human needs which depend upon intrastate natural gas.
1. The governor of Louisiana has the
				  authority pursuant to Part IV of the Act to declare, from time to time, that as
				  a result of extreme shortages of existing intrastate natural gas needed to
				  maintain, protect and preserve human needs, that a state of emergency
				  exists.
2. Upon a declaration by
				  the governor of the state of Louisiana that a state of emergency exists, the
				  commissioner shall immediately implement by written order the emergency gas
				  shortage allocation plan provided for in this regulation. The commissioner's
				  order shall specify the nature and cause of the gas shortage emergency which
				  resulted in the governor's declaration and shall require each intrastate
				  natural gas transporter with a shortage of natural gas on its system to curtail
				  and to reallocate intrastate natural gas in the custody and control of such
				  intrastate natural gas transporter and may require other intrastate natural gas
				  transporters to curtail such intrastate natural gas for reallocation to such
				  transporter with a shortage all in accordance with the emergency gas shortage
				  allocation plan as necessary:
a. in the event
				  any person makes a request of the governor of the state of Louisiana or the
				  commissioner for the declaration of a gas shortage emergency or issuance of any
				  order in connection therewith ("applicant"), such applicant shall certify under
				  oath that supplies of gas necessary to meet priorities one through five are
				  physically unavailable from any other source. Such applicant also shall provide
				  the commissioner with the following information in writing not more than 24
				  hours after making such request:
i. the
				  precise nature of the gas shortage, the estimated amount of supply that is or
				  may be curtailed and the estimated volume which must be made available to meet
				  priorities one through five;
ii.
				  the reasons such gas shortage exists;
iii. that applicant's efforts to secure
				  alternate supplies of gas including a list of all pipelines, producers,
				  marketing companies, or other specific potential suppliers contacted together
				  with details as to the prices, terms and conditions offered by or requested
				  from such potential suppliers and any rejection by such applicant of proposals
				  for sale;
iv. an explanation of
				  that applicant's inability to obtain alternate supplies of gas from any
				  source;
v. a list of all pipelines
				  connected to the plant, pipeline, or any other facilities of that
				  applicant;
vi. in the event the
				  applicant making such request is an intrastate natural gas transporter or local
				  distribution company, he shall specify the level of curtailments by priority of
				  customer on his system at the time the request is made and anticipated
				  thereafter. Such entities may not make such a request for an emergency
				  declaration unless they have adopted and filed with the commissioner a gas
				  shortage allocation plan comparable to that of the state and are prepared upon
				  issuance of an order to curtail all priorities six through nine categories of
				  gas, using the gas curtailed to meet priorities one through five. The
				  commissioner's order may not reallocate gas from other transporters until the
				  commissioner is satisfied that there is insufficient gas available by
				  curtailment of the gas available to the applicant's system or facility or for
				  purchase from any source to meet priorities one through five;
vii. in the event the applicant is an end
				  user of gas, he shall specify those volumes of gas available to him at the time
				  the request is made and anticipated thereafter, whether those volumes
				  constitute plant protection gas, and what alternative fuel capabilities exist;
				  such information shall be furnished in the form of a sworn affidavit duly
				  executed before a notary public by the appropriate person or corporate officer
				  possessing such knowledge, as the case may be. The commissioner may make
				  further inquiry or require additional information as necessary prior to the
				  issuance of any order;
b. should the commissioner issue any order
				  pursuant to such request, the applicant for whose benefit such order was issued
				  and all intrastate natural gas transporters affected by such order shall inform
				  the commissioner daily regarding the gas shortage emergency and its effect on
				  those applicants. At such time as the commissioner may determine that the
				  person for whose benefit such order was issued and all intrastate natural gas
				  transporters affected by such order no longer have a gas shortage, the
				  commissioner's order and the governor's declaration shall be
				  terminated;
c. upon the declaration
				  of a gas shortage emergency by the governor of the state of Louisiana and the
				  issuance of any order in connection therewith by the commissioner, the
				  commissioner immediately shall notify all affected intrastate natural gas
				  transporters by telephone and, subsequently, in writing of such declaration or
				  order. Such notice shall specify the curtailment procedures, orders, rules, or
				  regulations of the commissioner to be implemented;
d. the commissioner, in his discretion, may
				  notify such other persons of the existence of a gas shortage emergency as he
				  deems appropriate, including local distribution companies, end users, and any
				  other persons who have specifically requested that they be so notified. In
				  addition, the commissioner shall request the governor's office to notify the
				  media and the general public of such emergency and may request that citizens
				  adopt measures to conserve the use of gas during the period of gas
				  shortage;
e. upon receipt of
				  notification from the commissioner of the declaration of a gas shortage
				  emergency and the issuance of any order in connection therewith, each
				  intrastate natural gas transporter affected by such order immediately shall
				  notify its affected transportation and sales customers by telephone and,
				  subsequently, in writing of such declaration or order. Such notice shall
				  specify the curtailment procedures, orders, rules, or regulations of the
				  commissioner to be implemented;
f.
				  in order to implement this regulation, the commissioner shall require that each
				  intrastate natural gas transporter annually submit a contact sheet containing
				  the names, addresses, office and home telephone numbers of those senior
				  officers or other persons to be contacted by the commissioner in the event a
				  gas shortage emergency is declared. The contact sheet also shall contain the
				  telecopy number of such intrastate natural gas transporter, if applicable. The
				  commissioner may accept similar contact sheets containing necessary information
				  from any person who wishes to be notified of such declaration. A contact sheet
				  for the commissioner's office and staff shall be distributed to all intrastate
				  natural gas transporters;
g. upon
				  the finding by the governor that an emergency exists, the commissioner shall
				  set a public hearing to be held not later than five days after the date the
				  governor declares the emergency. The purpose of such hearing will be to
				  investigate the cause of the emergency and evaluate the response thereto.
				  Notice of the public hearing shall be published in the official journal of the
				  state of Louisiana at least three days prior to the date of hearing. At that
				  hearing, any person affected by the emergency shall be permitted to appear,
				  testify, adduce evidence, and cross examine the persons requesting the
				  emergency declaration and those to whom intrastate natural gas is to be
				  reallocated. Parties affected may request the commissioner to require parties
				  to whom gas is being reallocated to produce information and documents relating
				  to the need, availability, price and end use of gas;
h. the commissioner may, among other things,
				  as a result of that hearing, change one or more of the priorities in the
				  emergency gas shortage allocation plan, grant individual exceptions, alter the
				  volumes of intrastate natural gas being reallocated, change the number of
				  transporters from whom gas is to be reallocated, find that the circumstance of
				  the person seeking a declaration of emergency did not or no longer warrants
				  continuance of the order, take such action as is necessary to protect parties
				  affected by reallocation and/or recommend to the governor that he declare that
				  the emergency no longer exists.