South Georgia Natural Gas Company, Southern Natural Gas Company; Notice of a Request for Limited Waiver of Order No. 587-G

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 103 (Friday, May 28, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 29011]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-13618]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. RP99-251-001, Docket No. RP99-253-001]


South Georgia Natural Gas Company, Southern Natural Gas Company; 
Notice of a Request for Limited Waiver of Order No. 587-G

May 24, 1999.
    Take notice that on April 1, 1999, South Georgia Natural Gas 
Company (South Georgia) and Southern Natural Gas Company (Southern), 
filed a request for a limited waiver of the requirement of Order No. 
587-G,\1\ to execute an operational balancing agreement (OBA) at their 
sole point of interconnection in Lee County, Georgia. The pipelines 
seek to maintain their current allocation procedures at this point.
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    \1\ Standards For Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas 
Pipelines, 85 FERC para. 61,371 (1998).
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    In Order No. 587-G, the Commission adopted Section 284.10(c)(2)(i) 
\2\ of its regulations, which requires each interstate pipeline to 
enter into OBAs at all points of interconnection between its system and 
the system of another interstate or intrastate pipeline. In an order 
issued on December 17, 1998, in Docket No. RM96-1-012,\3\ the 
Commission established April 1, 1999 as the date by which pipelines are 
required to comply with this standard.
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    \2\ 18 CFR 284.10(c)(2)(i).
    \3\ Standards For Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas 
Pipelines, Order No. 587-G, 63 FR 20072 (Apr. 23, 1998), III FERC 
Stats. & Regs. Regulations Preambles para. 31,062 (Apr. 16, 1998).
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    Petitioners note that during the restructuring process under Order 
No. 636, certain bundled sales customers on Southern that were 
ultimately served at delivery points by South Georgia became no-notice 
customers of Southern under Rate Schedules FT-NN and CSS. Under the 
provisions of Southern's tariff, no-notice service requires that 
storage transactions on Southern's system be directly related to 
deliveries at the specific market area delivery points. As a result, 
while Southern has one physical interconnection point with South 
Georgia in Lee County, Georgia, this is not the point to which the 
South Georgia customers nominate. Instead, Southern shippers who wish 
to ship on South Georgia make nominations directly to their city-gate 
on the South Georgia system. Consequently, petitioners argue that 
breaking this link and allocating volumes under an OBA at the Lee 
County interconnect would, for all practical purposes, eviscerate no-
notice service for the South Georgia shippers on Southern. Further, 
petitioners note that because of the configuration of South Georgia 
system, no imbalances are incurred by shippers on South Georgia, thus 
obviating the need for an OBA at the interconnection.
    Any person desiring to be heard or to protest said filing should 
file a motion to intervene or a protest with the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, 
in accordance with Sections 385.214 or 385.211 of the Commission's 
Rules and Regulations. All such motions or protests with respect to the 
waiver request must be filed on or before June 7, 1999. Protests will 
be considered by the Commission in determining the appropriate action 
to be taken, but will not serve to make protestants parties to the 
proceedings. Any person wishing to become a party must file a motion to 
intervene. Copies of this filing are on file with the Commission and 
are available for public inspection in the Public Reference Room. This 
filing may be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims/
htm (call 202-208-2222 for assistance).
David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-13618 Filed 5-27-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M