Mobil Oil Exploration Co. v. F.E.R.C., 86-4940

• Decision Date: 02 April 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-4940,86-4940
• Citation: 814 F.2d 1001
• Parties: MOBIL OIL EXPLORATION CO., Petitioners, v. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 1001

814 F.2d 1001

MOBIL OIL EXPLORATION CO., Petitioners, v. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, Respondent.

No. 86-4940.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

April 2, 1987.

John L. Williford, Larry Pain, Jennifer A. Cates, Bartlesville, Okl. for Phillips Petroleum Co. and Phillips 66 Natural Gas Co.

Kenneth J. Neises, St. Louis, Mo., for Laclede Gas Co.

Jeffrey M. Petrash, James H. Holt, Washington, D.C., for Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. William T. Miller, Susan N. Kelly, Washington, D.C., for American Public Gas Assn.

Kevin M. Sweeney, Washington, D.C., for Amoco Production Co.

Thomas M. Patrick, Chicago, Ill., for The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Co. and North Shore Gas Co.

Kevin M. Sweeney, Washington, D.C., George H. Rothschild, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Marathon Oil Co.

Thomas C. Gorak, John M. Glynn, Baltimore, Md., for Maryland People's Counsel.

Robert A. Jablon, Scott H. Strauss, Washington, D.C., for Ft. Pierce Utilities Authority, the City of Gainesville, Gainesville Regional Utilities, the City of Homestead, Kissimmee and Lakeland, the Orlando Utilities Com'n, the Sebring Utilities Com'n, and the cities of St. Cloud, Starke, Tallahassee, and Vero Beach, Florida (Florida Cities).

Steven F. Greenwald, Lindsey How-Downing, San Francisco, Cal., for Pacific Gas and Elec. Co.

Glenn W. Letham, Kenneth M. Albert, Washington, D.C., for Memphis Light, Gas and Water Div., City of Memphis, Tenn.

Eugene R. Elrod, Donald H. Smith, Washington, D.C., for Plains Petroleum Co.

John H. Cheatham, III, Edward B. Myers, Washington, D.C., for Interstate Natural Gas Ass'n of America.

William I. Harkaway, Steven J. Kalish, Washington, D.C., for Southwest Gas Corp.

John K. McDonald, Richard E. Powers, Jr., Charles E. Suffling, John M. Hopper, Jr., Washington, D.C., for Pennzoil Co.

Harris J. Wood, Norma J. Rosner, Dallas, Tex., for Arco Oil and Gas Co.

George J. Meiburger, Frank X. Kelly, Peter C. Lesch, Washington, D.C., for Northern Natural Gas Co., Div. of Enron Corp.

Albert Sylvia, III, Los Angeles, Cal., for Union Oil Co. of California.

Karen A. Berndt, Ralph J. Pearson, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Texaco, Inc.

Michael L. Pate, Tulsa, Okl., for Cities Service Oil and Gas Corp.

Janice E. Kerr, J. Calvin Simpson, Michael B. Day, San Francisco, Cal., for Public Utilities Com'n of the State of Cal.

Robert W. Gee, Phyllis G. Rainey, Houston, Tex., for Tenneco Oil Co.

Robert C. Platt, Washington, D.C., for Independent Petroleum Ass'n of America.

Douglas Kent Porter, E.R. Island, Glen J. Sullivan, Los Angeles, Cal., for Southern California Gas Co.

Richard C. Green, Washington, D.C., for El Paso Natural Gas Co.

Christopher K. Sandberg, St. Paul, Minn., for Minnesota Dept. of Public Service.

C. Roger Hoffman, Douglas W. Rasch, Houston, Tex., for Exxon Corp.

Thomas D. Carmel, Ernest J. Altgelt, III, Houston, Tex., for Conoco, Inc.

Judy M. Johnson, J. Stephen Martin, Houston, Tex., for Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.

Roberta L. Halladay, Washington, D.C., for United Distribution Companies.

Jerome Mrowca, Paul W. Malloy, Lombard, Ill., for Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America and United Gas Pipe Line Co.

Frederick Moring, M. Lisanne Crowlye, Washington, D.C., for Associated Gas Distributors.

J. Richard Tiano, John Myler, Mary Ann Walker, Washington, D.C., and Robert C. McHugh, Thomas J. Carroll, III, Lakewood, Colo., for KN Energy, Inc.

Jerome Feit, Solicitor, FERC, John H. Conway, Washington, D.C., for FERC.

J. Paul Douglas, Kevin M. Sweeney, Carroll L. Gilliam, Washington, D.C., Mark J. Forsch, Robert D. Haworth, Houston, Tex., for Mobil Oil.

Thomas G. Johnson, M.G. Brookshier, Charles J. McClees, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Shell Offshore Ins. and Shell Western E & P Inc.

On Petition for Review of Orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Before CLARK, Chief Judge, THORNBERRY, and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit judges.

PER CURIAM:

United Distribution Companies (UDC) seeks clarification or, in the alternative, a reconsideration of this court's initial determination that venue should be decided by lot or chance.

Clarification

The proponents and opponents of venue in this circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit briefed and argued both priority of filing under the statute's "first instituted" provision and the relative convenience and ability of each circuit to accord the interests of justice. This court's prior order did deal with both subjects in making the determination that an initial venue decision by lot or chance was an appropriate resolution of the controversy concerning where the proceeding was first instituted. However, the toss of a coin was only intended to settle the "first instituted" issue. This clarification moots the request for reconsideration.

Consideration of Transfer

Since all parties have now had a more adequate opportunity to develop their positions on whether the convenience of the parties in the interest of justice warrants a transfer of this cause from this circuit to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, this court will now consider whether the convenience of parties in the interest of justice warrants transfer based upon the original and all subsequent memoranda.

In our prior order we concluded that "[e]ach court appears to have the competence and the capacity to render a just and informed decision. Both courts are equally accessible to the parties and to the Commission." Full development of the issue demonstrates that this preliminary conclusion was correct.

UDC reasserts that transfer is necessary to avoid inconsistent decisions on interrelated...