RCA proposes revising pipeline applications

Following a decision made at a Nov. 4 public meeting, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska has issued proposed regulations for comment revising the requirements for applications submitted under the state’s Pipeline Act, AS 42.06. (See story in Nov. 20 issue of Petroleum News.)

The commission said in a Nov. 28 order that comments on the proposed regulations will be accepted until Jan. 13. Comments in reply to the first comments may be filed by Jan. 27.

The commission’s predecessor, the Alaska Public Utilities Commission, required applicants for pipeline certificates of public convenience and necessity to furnish the same information as applicants for utility certificates. But, the commission said in its order, a pipeline carrier is required to obtain a certificate before beginning construction of its pipeline, as well as having a certificate to operate the pipeline, and has been required to apply for authority to both construct and operate the pipeline.

Public utilities, on the other hand, may construct their utility plant without a certificate and only need to obtain a certificate before they begin operations. “For that reason, our application for a utility certificate requires details of operations, details that a potential pipeline carrier, who may be two or more years away from operating, has not yet finalized,” including tariff rates and rules.

The Alaska Public Utilities Commission sought to simplify procedures by requiring pipeline carriers to submit the same information as public utilities.

“We now believe, after operating under the APUC’s system for some time, that the differences between pipeline certificates and public utility certificates are significant enough that we should separately state the information required in applications for pipeline and utility certificates,” the commission said Nov. 28.

It said potential pipeline carriers should “have the option to ask for a certificate that authorizes only construction and not operation.” That would eliminate the requirement for operational details, such as proposed tariff rates and rules.

“The pipeline carrier could later request that the certificate be amended to include authority to operate the pipeline and at that time provide the operational details,” the commission said.

—Petroleum News