Ecee, Inc. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
| Decision Date | 20 May 1981 |
| Docket Number | 80-1468 and 80-1606,Nos. 78-3688,79-3912,80-1119,79-3521,79-3914,79-3913,80-1306,79-3428,s. 78-3688 |
| Citation | 645 F.2d 339 |
| Parties | ECEE, INC., et al., Petitioners, v. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Neal Powers, Jr., Byron A. Thomas, Butler, Binion, Rice, Cook & Knapp, Houston, Tex., for Ecee, Inc. et al.
Charles E. Suffling, R. Gordon Gooch, Bruce F. Kiely, Charles M. Darling, IV, Washington, D. C., for Tenneco Oil Co., General American Oil Co. of Texas, Texasgulf, Inc., Pennzoil Co. et al.
Jere G. Hayes, Robert C. Murray, General American Oil Co. of Texas, Dallas, Tex., for General American Oil Co. of Texas.
Ted G. White, Texasgulf, Inc., Houston, Tex., for Texasgulf, Inc.
Jerry M. Gross, Chicago, Ill., for Amoco Production Co.
Richard G. Harris, Kerr-McGee Corp., Oklahoma City, Okl., for Kerr-McGee Corp.
Sherman S. Poland, Nancy J. Hubbard, Washington, D. C., Martin N. Erck, C. Roger Hoffman, Houston, Tex., for Exxon Corp.
William A. Sackman, Marathon Oil Co., Findlay, Ohio, for Marathon Oil Co.
John E. Seddelmeyer, New Orleans, La., for Monterey Pipeline Co.
L. Eugene Dickinson, Kentucky West Virginia Gas Co., Ashland, Ky., Ross, Marsh & Foster, Washington, D. C., for Kentucky West Virginia Gas Co.
John E. Holtzinger, Jr., Karol Lyn Newman, Washington, D. C., for Consolidated Gas Supply Corp.
Michael J. Manning, Patrick J. Keeley, Washington, D. C., for Columbia Gas Development Corp., Energy Ventures, Inc. & Coleve.
Edward H. Forgotson, Lisa Anderson, O'Neill, Forgotson & Roncali, Washington, D. C., for Texas Oil & Gas Corp.
Justin R. Wolf, Washington, D. C., for Chevron U.S.A., Inc.
James T. McManus, Harold L. Talisman, Washington, D. C., Lilyan G. Sibert, Houston, Tex., for Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.
Byron A. Thomas, Houston, Tex., for Inexco Oil Co.
Jerome Mrowca, Joseph M. Wells, Paul E. Goldstein, Richard E. Terry, Chicago, Ill., for Natural Gas Pipeline Co.
Frederick Moring, Jennifer Waters Hitt, Washington, D. C., for Associated Gas Distributors.
Jeffrey G. Shrader, Hall, Estill, Hardwick, Gable, Collingsworth & Nelson, William T. Sperry, J. Clayton La Grone, Tulsa, Okl., for Williams Exploration Co.
Thomas H. Burton, Houston, Tex., for Continental Oil Co.
Peter H. Schiff, Gen. Counsel, Albany, N. Y., Wilner & Scheiner, Washington, D. C., for Public Service Commission of the State of New York.
William W. Brackett, Daniel F. Collins, Terry O. Vogel, Washington, D. C., for Michigan Wisconsin Pipeline Co.
Lawrence E. Glenn, Robert W. Fuller, Lauren Eaton, A. Paul Brandimarte, Jr., Jeffrey G. Shrader, Houston, Tex., for Gulf Oil Corp. David G. Stevenson, Marilyn O. Adamson, Tulsa, Okl., for Amerada Hess corp.
Charles E. Reny, Pat F. Timmons, Houston, Tex., for Superior Oil Co.
Richard F. Remmers, Oklahoma City, Okl., for Sohio Natural Resources Co.
Carmen Chidester Gonzalez, Robert S. Wheeler, Tulsa, Okl., for Cities Service Co.
Frank X. Kelly, Gallagher, Boland, Meiburger & Brosnan, Washington, D. C., for Northern Natural Gas Co.
Kim Martin Clark, Akin, Gump, Hauer & Feld, Washington, D. C., for Northwest Pipeline Corp.
Arnold D. Berkeley, Bruce J. Wendel, Richard I. Chaifetz, Washington, D. C., for Arizona Electric Power Cooperative.
Karen A. Berndt, Ralph J. Pearson, Jr., Robert P. Thibault, Paul J. Broyles, John A. Ramsey, Houston, Tex., for Texaco, Inc.
John L. Williford, Larry Pain, C. J. Roberts, Bartlesville, Okl., for Phillips Petroleum Co.
Robert D. Haworth, Charles J. McClees, Jr., Letitia Z. Taitte, Houston, Tex., Mobil Oil Corp. et al.
David M. Whitney, Houston, Tex., for Aminoil USA, Inc.
Carolyn S. Hazel, Thomas H. Burton, Herman E. Garner, Houston, Tex., for Conoco, Inc.
Thomas G. Johnson, Robert A. Hasty, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Shell Oil Co.
Roscoe C. Elmore, B. James McGraw, Houston, Tex., for Cabot Corp.
Victor E. Fitzmaurice, Los Angeles, Cal., for Union Oil Co. of California.
Baker & Botts, Charles E. Suffling, Charles M. Darling, IV, Washington, D. C., Michael B. Silva, Phyllis Rainey, Richard L. Wynne, Houston, Tex., for Tenneco Oil Co.
R. Gordon Gooch, Charles M. Darling, IV, Charles E. Suffling, Baker & Botts, Washington, D. C., Patricia A. Curran, Julie Langdon, Michael B. Silva, Phyllis G. Rainey, Houston, Tex., Jere G. Hayes, Dallas, Tex., Robert C. Murray, Paul Van Wagenen, Ted G. White, Houston, Tex., for Pennzoil Co. et al.
Arnold D. Berkeley, Bruce J. Wendel, Richard I. Chaifetz, Washington, D. C., for Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.
Jerome Nelson, Sol., Kenneth F. Plumb, Eli Farrah, Washington, D. C., J. Paul Douglas, Atty., Robert Nordhaus, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, D. C., for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Petitions for Review of Orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Before HENDERSON, ANDERSON and SAM D. JOHNSON, Circuit Judges.
This case involves review of certain Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) interim and final regulations implementing the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978. NGPA, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 3301-3432. Challenged are those regulations governing the well determination process and collection of sales revenues, and those addressing the applicability of certain NGPA pricing categories. This Court affirms the FERC orders on review. 1
Prior to December 1, 1978, FERC regulated only interstate sales of gas under the Natural Gas Act of 1938. NGA, 15 U.S.C.A. § 717-717w. Interstate producer rate regulation was effectuated through national ceiling price orders that established different price levels depending on the date the producing well was commenced. On November 9, 1978 the NGPA became law. Its pricing and certain other provisions extend to all interstate and intrastate sales of natural gas on or after December 1, 1978. NGPA § 101(b)(4)(A), (C), 15 U.S.C.A. § 3311(b) (4)(A), (C).
NGPA § 503, 15 U.S.C.A. § 3413, concerns the determination of which NGPA incentive price category, if any, applies to a particular well, or to certain gas produced from a well. A state or federal agency having regulatory jurisdiction over the production of gas (the "jurisdictional agency"), on the application of a producer, determines if a particular well or gas is eligible for incentive pricing under section 102, id. § 3312 (), section 103, id. § 3313 (), section 107, id. § 3317 (high-cost natural gas), or section 108, id. § 3318 (stripper well gas). FERC reviews these determinations. It must reverse if it finds that the determination is not supported by substantial evidence and may remand if it is inconsistent with information in FERC's public records that was not before the jurisdictional agency when the determination was made. The determinations become final and binding once they are no longer subject to Commission or judicial review (unless based on an untrue or omitted statement of material fact). FERC has forty-five days to make a preliminary finding to reverse or remand the determination, and 120 days to make a final finding to reverse or remand.
The NGPA also directs FERC to prescribe rules under which sellers may collect, subject to refund, the maximum lawful price for which a well determination application has been filed with the appropriate jurisdictional agency. Once that agency issues its finding that the gas qualifies for a certain maximum lawful price, the seller may continue to collect, subject to refund, the price specified in that determination pending FERC review. These collections during the pendency of the determination process are known as "interim collections."
FERC's regulations implementing section 503 require that an applicant for a determination search relevant and reasonably available records and submit certain information to the jurisdictional agency. FERC also requires that the jurisdictional agency's notice of determination to the Commission include the material that the applicant is required to submit to the jurisdictional agency. The regulations further provide that the statutory forty-five day period, in which FERC must make its preliminary findings, will not commence until all information submitted to the jurisdictional agency is submitted to the Commission.
Petitioners, who are gas producers, seek reversal and remand on the grounds that (1) FERC lacks authority to prescribe evidence that must accompany the filing for a determination; (2) it lacks authority to toll the forty-five day period in which to make a preliminary finding; (3) the documentation to substantiate new reservoirs improperly forces producers to disclose confidential information; and (4) the records search requirements are unreasonably and unduly burdensome.
Section 503(a)(2) provides that the jurisdictional agency's notice of the determination "shall include such substantiation and be in such a manner as the Commission may by rule, require." Section 503(c)(3) authorizes FERC to prescribe the "form and content of filings" with a jurisdictional agency in connection with the well determinations. Section 503(c)(3) also provides that the determinations shall be made in accordance with the procedures generally applicable to the jurisdictional agency for the making of the well determinations or comparable determinations under the provisions of the jurisdictional agency's applicable law.
Contrary to petitioners' assertion, this last provision does not give jurisdictional agencies authority to decide what evidence must be submitted in support of an application for determination. It merely provides that new and separate procedures for handling well determination applications would not be...
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