Government

摘要

With FERC waiting in the wings with heavy new penalty authority, its proposed rule on standards of conduct (SoC) casts a very long shadow. The proposal, which has been significantly revised since a federal court tossed out FERC's Order 2004 in 2006, got a mostly positive reception from all natural gas industry players, who want some certainty from the agency on what is permissible regarding communications between transmission and marketing personnel in the same gas pipeline transportation company.rnThat clarity is very important given the new civil penalty authority granted FERC by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which allows fines up to $1 million a day. FERC has begun to deploy that new authority in a very big way, most significantly in its recent enforcement case - having to do with price manipulation, not standards of conduct - where the agency proposed a whopping $107 million penalty against Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. and a $15.5 million penalty against Oasis Pipeline, L.P.rnTamara Young-Allen, a FERC spokeswoman, states that the $107 million penalty is the first time the commission has proposed the maximum civil penalties allowed under the 2005 law. So it is, in essence, the biggest fine ever proposed by FERC.rnJoan Dreskin, INGAA's general counsel, explains that the new fine authority makes it critical that pipelines understand what is required under any new SoC rules. "In order to be held responsible, the rules must be clear," she emphasizes. "The numbers can get high very quickly."