Opinion ID: 532738
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Change in Governing Law

Text: 9 During the pendency of this appeal, the Commission revised one of the legal norms supporting its rejection of Panhandle's tariffs: FERC's policy against capacity brokering. Capacity brokering is the practice whereby a party entitled to transportation services on a particular pipeline assigns or brokers that entitlement to another party; in this case, the Commission rejected Panhandle's tariffs on the ground that Panhandle was proposing to assign a fraction of its transportation entitlement on Trunkline's pipeline to Panhandle customers who exercise their transportation-conversion rights. Following the issuance of its decision in this case, however, the Commission has indicated through adjudication that it now believes that capacity brokering ... should be addressed in individual cases, and even encourage[d] in appropriate circumstances. Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Rate Design, 48 F.E.R.C. p 61,122, at 61,448 n. 64 (July 27, 1989); see, e.g., United Gas Pipe Line Co., 46 F.E.R.C. p 61,060, at 61,263 (January 24, 1989). 10 Because we cannot determine how FERC's change in policy affects the status of Panhandle's tariffs, we are obliged to remand the case for further proceedings. See NLRB v. Food Store Employees Union, Local 347, 417 U.S. 1, 10 & n. 10, 94 S.Ct. 2074, 2080 & n. 10, 40 L.Ed.2d 612 (1974). Such a disposition represents the intersection of two well-established doctrines. The first holds that an appellate court must consider the law in effect at the time it renders its decision, even when a change in governing law is made by an administrative agency. See Thorpe v. Housing Auth., 393 U.S. 268, 281, 282, 89 S.Ct. 518, 525, 526, 21 L.Ed.2d 474 (1969). 9 The second holds that a reviewing court may not supply a reasoned basis for the agency's action that the agency itself has not given. Motor Vehicles Mfrs. Ass'n v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 2866, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983). Thus, because we are at liberty neither to evaluate the Commission's decision under FERC's old policy on capacity brokering nor to assess on our own how Panhandle's tariffs would fare under FERC's new policy, we are required to remand so that the Commission may indicate how, if at all, its decision would be affected by its intervening policy change. 10 11 In reaching this result, we are constrained to express our dismay with the Commission's failure to mention the revision of its capacity-brokering policy in its brief to the court. Counsel for FERC acknowledged the change only when directly confronted with the pertinent FERC decisions at oral argument. We expect more from Government counsel. When an agency changes a policy or rule underlying a decision pending review, the agency should immediately inform the court and should either move on its own for a remand, cf. Farmers Union Central Exch. v. FERC, 584 F.2d 408, 416 n. 22 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 995, 99 S.Ct. 596, 58 L.Ed.2d 669 (1978), or explain how its decision can be sustained independently of the policy in question. 11