Opinion ID: 1843603
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: FERC Order.

Text: NNG-3 asserts the FERC refund order does not require it to pass the refund on to the successor of Peoples, and cannot be used as the basis for the Utilities Board to order a refund. We agree that the FERC order does not require NNG-3 to transfer the refund for the disputed two-year period to Aquila. However, the only reason for this result is that FERC has concluded it has no jurisdiction over the transfer from NNG-2 to Peoples. The order otherwise culminates years of litigation over a refund intended to be passed through the pipeline to the ultimate user who paid the tax. Moreover, the order recognizes the refund process would necessarily involve both federal and state agencies to fully carry it out. Thus, once the Utilities Board assumed jurisdiction, the FERC order properly served as the basis for its action. See Hill v. Kansas Gas Serv. Co., 323 F.3d 858, 861-62 (10th Cir.2003) (describing a similar assumption of jurisdiction by the Kansas Corporation Commission, an analogue to the Utilities Board).