California Gas Producers Association, Independent Oil and Gas Producers of California v. Federal Power Commission

The California Gas Producers Association and the Independent Oil and Gas Producers of California have petitioned this court for review of orders issued by the Federal Power Commission (herein “FPC”), 40 F.P.C. 1147 (1968), authorizing Pacific Gas Transmission Company (herein “PGT”), a subsidiary of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (herein “PG & E”) to import 200,000 Mcf of natural gas per day from Canada into northern California starting June, 1969.

Petitioners claim that the orders are deficient in two respects — i. e., that they do not contain a detailed description of the Commission’s factual analysis upon which it concluded (1) that a market exists for the additional gas and (2) that the price benefits to the public of the authorization outweigh any antitrust and monopoly considerations raised by petitioners.

Our power to hear the merits of this petition is based upon section 19(b) of the Natural Gas Act. 15 U.S.C. § 717r (b) (1964).

This case arose as a result of applications to the FPC from PGT and El Paso Natural Gas Company (herein “El Paso”) for authorization to import additional natural gas into California. PGT, at that time already authorized to import into…