Skelly Oil Company v. Federal Power Commission, 8385

Decision Date18 April 1967
Docket Number8493-8497,8510,8440,8458,8482,8517,8519,8541,8455,8501,8521,8534,8409,8528,8588 and 8589.,No. 8385,8487-8490,8511,8505,8540,8529,8460,8479,8542,8385
Citation375 F.2d 6
PartiesSKELLY OIL COMPANY et al., Petitioners, v. FEDERAL POWER COMMISSION, Respondent, State of California jointly with Public Utilities Commission of the State of California, City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego, City and County of San Francisco, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Pacific Lighting Service and Supply Company (formerly Pacific Lighting Gas Supply Company) jointly with Southern California Gas Company and Southern Counties Gas Company of California, and San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Intervenors.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

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Sherman S. Poland, Washington, D. C., for Skelly Oil Co., petitioner in No. 8385. With him on the brief were Hawley C. Kerr, Richard J. Dent, Tulsa, Okl., Bradford Ross and Ross, Marsh & Foster, Washington, D. C.

Kenneth Heady, Bartlesville, Okl., Carroll L. Gilliam, Washington, D. C., Jesse H. Foster, Jr., Houston, Tex., Oliver L. Stone, New York City, James J. Flood, Jr., Bruce R. Merrill, Houston, Tex., Warren M. Sparks, Tulsa, Okl., for petitioners in Nos. 8409, 8440, 8455, 8458, 8460, 8482, 8488-8490, 8493, 8494, 8497, 8505, 8517, 8534, 8540-8542, 8588 and 8589. With them on the briefs were:

Thomas H. Burton, Jr., Joseph C. Johnson, Houston, Tex., for Continental Oil Co.;

J. P. Greve, Tulsa, Okl., for Sunray DX Oil Co.;

A. A. Davidson, Charles Holmes, Tulsa, Okl., Charles E. McGee, Washington, D. C., for Sinclair Oil & Gas Co.;

Homer D. Johnson, Boyd D. Taylor, Pampa, Tex., for Cabot Corp.;

Dixon Morgan, McAfee, Hanning, Newcomer, Hazlett & Wheeler, Cleveland, Ohio, Richard F. Remmers, Oklahoma City, Okl., for Sohio Petroleum Co.;

Eldon E. Scott, Dallas, Tex., Donald J. Mulvihill, Washington, D. C., Cahill, Gordon, Reindel & Ohl, New York City, for Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., and Joseph E. Seagram & Sons d/b/a Texas Pac. Oil Co.;

H. Y. Rowe, El Dorado, Ark., for Murphy Corp.;

Chester L. Wheless, for Nueces Co.;

George N. Otey, Jr., Ardmore, Okl., for Samedan Oil Corp.;

John C. Snodgrass, Vinson, Elkins, Weems & Searls, Houston, Tex., for Union Oil Co. and as successor to Pure Oil Co.;

Clyde E. Willbern, Houston, Tex., for Tidewater Oil Co.;

T. J. Caldwell, Jr., Houston, Tex., and Jerome M. Alper, Washington, D. C., for Reef Corporation;

Edward R. Hudson, Fort Worth, Tex., for William A. & Edward R. Hudson, Joint Operators;

All as joint and several petitioners in No. 8493;

Cecil N. Cook and Neal Powers, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Midhurst Oil Corp., petitioner in Nos. 8493 and 8505;

Wm. J. Zeman, Lloyd G. Minter, John R. Rebman, Bartlesville, Okl., Stanley L. Cunningham, Oklahoma City, Okl., for Phillips Petroleum Co., petitioner in No. 8409;

Donald R. Arnett, Tulsa, Okl., Kenneth C. Keener, Houston, Tex., for Gulf Oil Corp., petitioner in Nos. 8493 and 8534, and Warren Petroleum Corp., petitioner in Nos. 8493 and 8440;

Cecil C. Cammack, R. J. Leithead, Graydon D. Luthey, Bartlesville, Okl., for Cities Service Oil Co. (formerly Cities Service Petroleum Co.), Cities Service Production Co. (now merged with Cities Service Oil Co.), and Columbian Fuel Corp., petitioners in No. 8493, and Coltexo Corp. and Columbian Carbon Co., petitioners in No. 8517;

Joseph W. Morris, Edwin S. Nail, Tulsa, Okl., for Amerada Petroleum Corp., petitioner in Nos. 8493 and 8542;

Tom P. Hamill, Oklahoma City, Okl., Robert D. Haworth, Houston, Tex., Donald G. Canuteson, Dallas, Tex., for

Mobil Oil Corp. (formerly Socony Mobil Oil Co., Inc.), petitioner in Nos. 8455 and 8588, and Northern Natural Gas Producing Co., petitioner in No. 8460;

J. P. Hammond, T. C. McCorkle, William H. Emerson, Clifford O. Stone, Jr., Tulsa, Okl., for Pan American Petroleum Corp., petitioner in No. 8458;

William K. Tell, Jr., Houston, Tex., for Texaco Inc., petitioner in Nos. 8482 and 8541;

Carl Illig and William H. Holloway, Houston, Tex., for Humble Oil & Refining Co., petitioner in No. 8488;

Thomas G. Johnson, New York City, for Shell Oil Co., petitioner in No. 8489;

Stuart J. Scott, Dallas, Tex., Bernard A. Foster, Jr., Ross, Marsh & Foster, Washington, D. C., for Atlantic Richfield Co. (formerly Atlantic Refining Co.), Southland Royalty Co., Westates Petroleum Co. and Dorchester Gas Producing Co., petitioners in No. 8490, and British-American Oil Producing Co., petitioner in No. 8497;

Clayton L. Orn, Joseph F. Diver, Morton Taylor, Findlay, Ohio, Jack Fariss, Pittsburgh, Pa., for Marathon Oil Co., petitioner in Nos. 8494 and 8540;

F. H. Pannill, Hamilton E. McRae and Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy & Laughlin, Midland, Tex., for J. C. Barnes and others, petitioners in No. 8589.

Claude W. Proctor, Houston, Tex., Justin R. Wolf, Eugene E. Threadgill, Wolf & Case, Washington, D. C., were on the brief for Standard Oil Co., of Texas, a Division of Chevron Oil Co., petitioner in No. 8479.

Robert W. Henderson, Dallas, Tex., for Hunt Oil Co. and others, petitioners in No. 8487. With him on the brief was Paul W. Hicks, Dallas, Tex.

Louis Flax, Washington, D. C., for Sun Oil Co., petitioner in No. 8495. With him on the brief were Phillip D. Endom, New Orleans, La., Robert E. May, May, Shannon & Morley, Washington, D. C.

William I. Powell, Washington, D. C., for Independent Petroleum Ass'n of America, petitioner in No. 8496. With him on the brief was L. Dan Jones, Washington, D. C.

H. W. Varner, Houston, Tex., for Superior Oil Co., petitioner in No. 8510. With him on the brief was Murray Christian, Houston, Tex.

J. Evans Attwell, Houston, Tex., for Perry R. Bass and others, petitioners in No. 8511. With him on the brief were W. H. Drushel, Jr., Vinson, Elkins, Weems & Searls, Houston, Tex.

Waggoner Carr, Atty. Gen. of Texas, for State of Texas, petitioner in No. 8519. With him on the brief were Hawthorne Phillips, First Asst. Atty. Gen., T. B. Wright, Executive Asst. Atty. Gen., J. Arthur Sandlin, C. Daniel Jones, Jr., Linward Shivers, Asst. Attys. Gen. of Texas.

Lewis G. Mosburg, Jr., Oklahoma City, Okl., for Big Chief Drilling Co. and others, petitioners in No. 8521. With him on the brief were A. P. Murrah, Jr., Leland C. Neeley, Jr., Mosteller, Andrews & Mosburg, Oklahoma City, Okl., Jerry F. Lyons, Underwood, Wilson, Sutton, Heare & Berry, Amarillo, Tex.

John Davenport, Austin, Tex., for Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Ass'n and West Central Texas Oil & Gas Ass'n, petitioners in No. 8528.

Boston E. Witt, Atty. Gen. of New Mexico, William J. Cooley, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for State of New Mexico, petitioner in No. 8529.

Richard A. Solomon, Gen. Counsel, and Peter H. Schiff, Deputy Sol., F. P. C., for respondent. With them on the brief were Howard E. Wahrenbrock, Sol., Leo E. Forquer, David J. Bardin, Asst. Gen. Counsels, Alan J. Roth, James D. Annett, Attys., F. P. C.

J. Calvin Simpson, Senior Counsel, for People of State of California, Public Utilities Commission of State of California, City of Los Angeles, City of San Diego, and City and County of San Francisco, intervenors. With him on the brief were:

Mary Moran Pajalich, Chief Counsel, William N. Foley, Associate Counsel, for People of State of California and Public Utilities Commission of State of California;

Roger Arnebergh, City Atty., for City of Los Angeles;

Edward T. Butler, City Atty., and Edwin L. Miller, Jr., Asst. City Atty., for City of San Diego;

Thomas M. O'Connor, City Atty., William F. Bourne, Public Utilities Counsel and Deputy City Atty., McMorris M. Dow, Deputy City Atty., for City and County of San Francisco.

William L. Cole, Los Angeles, Cal., Malcolm H. Furbush, C. Hayden Ames, San Francisco, Cal., for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Pacific Lighting Service & Supply Co. (formerly Pacific Lighting Gas Supply Co.), San Diego Gas & Electric Co., Southern California Gas Co. and Southern Counties Gas Co. of California, intervenors. With them on the brief were:

John Ormasa, Los Angeles, Cal., Roger J. Nichols, San Francisco, Cal., for Pacific Lighting Service & Supply Co., Southern California Gas Co. and Southern Counties Gas Co. of California;

Frederick T. Searls and Stanley T. Skinner, San Francisco, Cal., for Pacific Gas & Electric Co.;

Sherman Chickering and Donald J. Richardson, Jr., San Francisco, Cal., for San Diego Gas & Electric Company.

J. David Mann, Jr., John E. Holtzinger, Jr., Frederick Moring, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Washington, D. C., filed a brief amicus curiae supporting respondent on behalf of Associated Gas Distributors Group.

Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Ass'n, A & R Pipe Co. and others, Panhandle Producers & Royalty Owners Ass'n, and Malouf Abraham Co. and others joined in the brief of Big Chief Drilling Co. and others as amicus curiae supporting petitioners.

Before LEWIS, BREITENSTEIN and HILL, Circuit Judges.

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge.

The first area rate decision of the Federal Power Commission is before us for review. It relates to prices for jurisdictional sales of natural gas produced in the Permian Basin, a famous petroleum area where oil and gas are found in hundreds of reservoirs and thousands of wells. The states of Texas and New Mexico, the nation's oil and gas industry, and several related associations attack the decision. The State of California, the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, various local distributors, and an organization of such distributors support it. The rejection of the individual company cost-of-service approach to the regulation of independent producers and the adoption of the area rate method raise many novel issues which have been extensively and ably argued. We hold that neither the United States Constitution nor the Natural Gas Act...

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