Before Commissioners: Joseph T. Kelliher, Chairman; Nora Mead Brownell, and Suedeen G. Kelly; Natural Gas Interchangeability; Policy Statement on Provisions Governing Natural Gas Quality and Interchangeability in Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline Company Tariffs

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Energy Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. PL04-3-000] I. Introduction 1. In this proceeding, the Commission has been exploring natural gas quality and interchangeability issues and the impact of those issues on the natural gas companies subject to the Commission's jurisdiction, as well as on natural gas producers, shippers and end-users. Based upon the information developed during this proceeding, which will be discussed below, the Commission today announces its policy on natural gas quality and interchangeability issues. 2. The Commission's intention in issuing this statement of generic policy is to provide direction for addressing gas quality and interchangeability concerns, as well as to provide guidance to individual companies that have concerns about these issues. The Commission's policy embodies five principles: (1) Only natural gas quality and interchangeability specifications contained in a Commission-approved gas tariff can be enforced; (2) pipeline tariff provisions on gas quality and interchangeability need to be flexible to allow pipelines to balance safety and reliability concerns with the importance of maximizing supply, as well as recognizing the evolving nature of the science underlying gas quality and interchangeability specifications; (3) pipelines and their customers should develop gas quality and interchangeability specifications based on technical requirements; (4) in negotiating technically based solutions, pipelines and their…