Opinion ID: 492011
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Alleged failures of reasoned decisionmaking.

Text: 322 The state commissions fault the Commission for failing to explain the shift from a former policy against allowing bypass. Supporting its view of the existence of such a policy, the commissions cite three cases that may be so read. See Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co., Opinion No. 539, 39 F.P.C. 581 (1968); Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co., Opinion No. 274, 13 F.P.C. 301 (1954), aff'd 232 F.2d 467 (3d Cir.1956), cert. den., 352 U.S. 891, 77 S.Ct. 129, 1 L.Ed.2d 86 (1956); Southern Natural Gas Co., 25 F.P.C. 925 (1961). While it is true that the Commission has not, so far as we can discover, explicitly addressed the fact of this policy change, its overall reasoning provides ample explanation for modifying the policy. 323 The only ground ever given by the Commission for any prior anti-bypass policy--so far as we are able to determine--was its concern over the wasteful construction of duplicative facilities. See Southern Natural Gas Co., 25 F.P.C. 925, 927 (1961). In the absence of a mechanism for preventing such waste, the policy is quite understandable. In its deliberations leading to Order No. 436, however, the Commission believed it had discovered a mechanism for solving that problem, namely, its risk-to-applicant rules. As we believe the Commission adequately justified its view that this form of certification would prevent the waste that the NGA's certification procedure sought to avoid, the Commission was not obliged to supplement the discussion by express consideration of the demise of its former policy.