NATURAL GAS SUPPLY ASSOCIATION
805 15th Street N.W., Suite 510
Washington, D.C. 20005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: April 28, 1997
CONTACT: Charlotte LeGates
PHONE:202/326-9316
FAX: 202/326-9334
E-MAIL: clegates@ngsa.org
Producers Tell FERC: Pipeline Regulation Remains
Crucial to a Viable Natural Gas Industry
Washington, DC -- Taking issue with calls for reduced pipeline regulation, Judd Miller, vice president, natural gas, for the Exxon Corporation, told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today that FERC's continued curbs on pipelines' monopoly power enhance the ability of industry competitors to make gas "the fuel of choice in the future." Miller spoke on behalf of the Natural Gas Supply Association at the FERC's Technical Conference on Issues and Priorities for the Natural Gas Industry.
"NGSA supports light-handed regulation wherever and whenever adequate competition exists,"
Miller said. "However, the fact that there may be competition among sellers of gas in a
production area, or in a market area, is not evidence that there is competition in the transportation
and related services necessary to reach those markets," Miller pointed out. And absent
competition, regulation is the only brake available to monopoly power abuse.
Miller told commissioners that they can best ensure a natural gas marketplace that responds to
competitive and consumer needs if they:
- Respond rapidly to complaints.
- Develop new programs in ways that permit all to participate. "The use of policy statements is
inappropriate to establish fundamentally new and far-reaching regulatory programs," Miller
said.
- "Require pipelines to post, on a timely basis, all relevant data available to the pipeline,"
including "pipeline transportation transactions with its affiliates" to ensure that "all other
parties. . . have an opportunity to receive identical rates, terms, and conditions of service to
those available to the pipeline affiliate, before the affiliated transaction becomes effective."
Miller's statement is available from the NGSA receptionist, 202/326-9300.
This page was last updated August 31, 1997.
