Opinion ID: 492011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged Failure to Comply with Mandate of Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Text: 115 The Petitioner Industrial Groups (the Process Gas Consumers Group and American Iron and Steel Institute) claim that under Secs. 5(e) and 5(f) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. Secs. 1334(e) & (f) (1982), the Commission must require every gas pipeline operating in the OCS to provide nondiscriminatory access for others' OCS gas throughout the entire system of the pipeline entity. 116 Congress included Sec. 5(e) 7 in OCSLA at the time of original adoption, and then sought to strengthen[ ] it 8 in 1978 by adding Sec. 5(f): 117 (f) Competitive Principles Governing Pipeline Operation 118 (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) [the gathering exemption], every permit, license, easement, right-of-way, or other grant of authority for the transportation by pipeline on or across the outer Continental Shelf of oil or gas shall require that the pipeline be operated in accordance with the following competitive principles: 119 (A) The pipeline must provide open and nondiscriminatory access to both owner and nonowner shippers.... 120 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1334(f) (1982). 121 The language will not bear the proposed load. The statute demands that any permit for transportation by pipeline on the OCS require that the pipeline  be operated according to specified principles. The natural reading is that the subject pipeline is the physical facility in the OCS, not every facility owned or operated by the corporation operating that facility. The petitioners call our attention to remarks on the Senate floor reflecting concern about pipeline discrimination. See, for example, Senator Kennedy's observation, This amendment seeks to insure that OCS pipelines are true common carriers. 123 Cong.Rec. 23,252 (July 15, 1977). But none of the remarks supports petitioners' proposed inference. All are completely consistent with a focus on what Congress had before it--the OCS. 9 122