Kern River Protests Implication That Lenders Can Have Last Say on Collateral Requirement

摘要

Kern River Gas Transmission Co. (RP10-945) recently urged FERC to rehear or clarify its position on Kern River's obligation to seek shipper credit approval from lenders before requesting collateral. Approximately two months ago, the pipeline noted, the Commission had addressed Kern River's creditworthiness requirements without any discussion of lender intervention into such determinations, and found Kern River's criteria to be objective, just and reasonable. Now, though, the Commission's finding in the July 29 order that subjective lender determinations under Section 29.1(c) must remain in its tariff is the "antithesis" of this earlier finding, complained Kern River. By finding that "[cjreditworthiness is a continuum" and that a shipper might be "sufficiently creditworthy," the Commission has introduced concepts not recognized by Kern River's tariff or by policy, the pipeline charged. Kern River declared that the idea that creditworthiness could be "a floating status subjectively determined by lenders" based on factors not included in the tariff is completely contrary to the Commission's requirement that creditworthiness criteria be objective.