Commissioner James Danly Statement
June 15, 2023
Docket Nos. CP20-528-000, et al.
I support today’s order authorizing the requested abandonments under Natural Gas Act section 7(b).[1] In today’s order, the Commission explains that it “announced in Gulf States Transmission LLC that parties that desire a determination from the Commission as to the post-abandonment jurisdictional status of facilities must seek the Commission’s formal guidance through a petition for declaratory order,”[2] and goes on to state that “because Stingray filed the request for the non-jurisdictional determination . . . before the Commission announced this policy, we will evaluate whether, upon acquisition by Triton, the facilities at issue here will perform a gathering function exempt from the Commission’s jurisdiction.” [3] I agree with the Commission making a jurisdictional determination in this order.
I write separately to point out my separate statement from Gulf States and to reiterate that I disagree with the Commission’s announcement there that, going forward, “an entity acquiring facilities must first file a petition for declaratory order to obtain the Commission’s determination as to whether the acquired facilities will be exempt from the Commission’s jurisdiction post-abandonment.”[4] The Commission is more than equipped to make jurisdictional determinations in abandonment proceedings and I do not see a need to require entities to file a petition for declaratory order, thereby initiating a separate proceeding, or pay the requisite fee merely for the Commission to make a decision it could just make in the abandonment order.
For these reasons, I respectfully concur.
[1] 15 U.S.C. § 717f(b).
[2] Stingray Pipeline Co., L.L.C., 183 FERC ¶ 61,201, at P 70 (2023) (citing Gulf States Transmission LLC, 178 FERC ¶ 61,003, at P 7 (2022) (Gulf States)) (citation omitted).
[3] Id. (citation omitted).
[4] See Gulf States, 178 FERC ¶ 61,003 (2022) (Danly, Comm’r, concurring in part & dissenting in part at P 1) (citation omitted).