Southern California Gas Co. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
In these consolidated matters, Southern California Gas Company (“SoCal Gas”) petitions for review of various orders of the’ Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) regarding capacity rights at natural gas delivery points along the Arizona-California border. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 15 U.S.C. § 717r(b) and deny the petitions.
SoCal Gas asserts that FERC’s October 25, 2000, November 11, 2000, and February 26, 2001, orders abrogate its contractual right to delivery of natural gas at a particular delivery point located in Topock, Arizona, referred to as the SoCal/Topock delivery point. This argument necessarily fails because, under governing state law, SoCal Gas has no such right.
In 1970, SoCal Gas entered into a transport service agreement with El Paso Natural Gas Company (“El Paso”), an intervenor in these proceedings. That contract expressly provided that SoCal Gas was entitled to delivery of its maximum daily quantity of natural gas from El Paso at one delivery point — the SoCaJ/Topoek delivery point. In 1990 and 1992, following promulgation of regulations requiring open access on interstate natural gas pipelines, the parties amended their original…