Feds must prevail in LNG jurisdictional fight, US regulator says

Denver (Platts)--17May2004

If California regulators prevail in the jurisdictional fight over the siting
of liquefied natural gas terminals, it could spell doom for industry-wide
efforts to import enough LNG to meet growing US demand, a top federal
regulator said Monday. "The future of LNG has never looked brighter, but there
are storm clouds on the horizon," US Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner
Joseph Kelliher told attendees at Natural Gas Intelligence's GasMart
conference in Denver. "Needless to say, the stakes in this [jurisdictional]
case are high." Both FERC and the California Public Utilities Commission
recently asserted authority over whether a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp can
build an LNG import facility at the Port of Long Beach, setting the stage for
a likely court battle. FERC has maintained LNG siting falls under its Natural
Gas Act authority; the state PUC asserts that it can better determine whether
LNG projects meet the safety and environmental standards of California.

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