Opinion ID: 362301
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Authority under the Natural Gas Act

Text: 64 The Commission's orders, though issued under the procedural framework of the ANGTA, were substantively based on section 3 of the Natural Gas Act. 66 Mid western and Michigan Wisconsin challenge this aspect of the Commission's authority, claiming that the Secretary of Energy, who had power to administer section 3 under the Department of Energy Organization Act (DOE Act), 67 has delegated 68 the international policy-making aspect of import approval to the Administrator of the Economic Regulatory Administration, and not to the FERC. 69 65 Contrary to petitioners' position, we find that the Secretary of Energy has indeed delegated to the Commission the authority to carry out any function which the FPC could have performed before passage of the DOE Act with respect to any approved transportation system (within the meaning of Section 4 of the ANGTA). 70 Because the proposed imports of Alberta gas are related to or with respect to the ANGTS, and because the FPC clearly had authority to grant import applications under section 3 prior to the DOE Act, the FERC's grant of conditional authorization under section 3 was proper and consistent with the Secretary's delegation.