Interstate natural gas pipelines and antitrust immunity
The Natural Gas Act allows interstate pipelines to refuse to transport gas for intrastate pipelines, and as a result, intrastate pipelines cannot compete for new gas supplies in their own service areas or out of the state. Proposed legislation would make it easier for an intrastate pipeline to acquire natural gas supplies at a distance from the area it serves by requiring connecting interstate and intrastate pipelines to transport gas from a remote place of production to the intrastate pipeline's system. Because interstate pipelines have historically acted as buyers and resellers of gas, intrastate pipelines are examining means to require pipelines to transport gas not owned by the pipeline. One approach may be to ask the federal courts to find that the refusal of interstate pipelines to transport gas in certain situations constitutes a violation of federal antitrust laws. An interstate pipeline is likely to claim that its actions are immune from the operation of federal antitrust laws because those actions are subject to the FERC's comprehensoive regulatory authority under the Natural Gas and the Natural Gas Policy Act. The article presented discusses whether interstate pipelines can successfully claim immunity from federal antitrust laws. (JMT)
- Research Organization:
- Shank, Irwin, Conant and Williamson, Attorneys at Law, Dallas, TX
- OSTI ID:
- 6755224
- Journal Information:
- TIPRO Rep.; (United States), Vol. 24:2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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POLICY AND ECONOMY
03 NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS
PIPELINES
NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
LEGAL ASPECTS
ENERGY POLICY
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY
NATURAL GAS POLICY ACT
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INDUSTRY
LAWS
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030600 - Natural Gas- Economic
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