[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 9, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 647-648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-245]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. CP95-565-001]


Equitrans, Inc.; Notice of Amendment

January 3, 1996.
    Take notice that on December 29, 1995, Equitrans, Inc. (Equitrans), 
3500 Park Lane, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15275, filed an amendment 
(Amendment) to its original application in Docket No. CP95-565-000, 
which was filed pursuant to Section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act, the 
purpose of which is to: (1) Amend the application by (a) withdrawing 
the request for advance Commission approval of recovery through 
jurisdictional rates of the undepreciated costs of the storage 
reservoir and return thereon in the event of reservoir damage, and (b) 
indicating that Equitrans proposes to withdraw 400 MMcf of natural gas 
during the three-year period in which it proposes to inject up to 300 
MMcf of nitrogen; and (2) supplement its application with (a) 
assurances of service continuation despite any such reservoir damage, 
(b) information requested by certain parties that participated in a 
technical conference held on September 15, 1995, and (c) a brief 
summary of the points made by the speakers at the technical conference 
along with copies of slides that were shown, all as more fully set 
fourth in the application which is on file with the Commission and open 
to public inspection.
    Equitrans states that, based on the concerns expressed by its 
customers, Equitrans has reexamined the risks and remediation 
strategies for the project and has determined that the risk of damage 
being sustained at the Shirley storage reservoir as the result of 
injecting nitrogen under the controlled conditions carefully developed 
for the project is de minimis. To allay the concerns expressed by 
certain intervenor-customers about their rights to challenge future 
rate treatment of Shirley storage costs, Equitrans states that it 
hereby foregoes its request for rate recovery treatment of such costs. 
Equitrans states that in the unlikely event that the injection of 
nitrogen mixes with cushion or working gas of the Shirley reservoir or 
causes damage to surface facilities, Equitrans will bear all costs of 
remediating storage field operations. Further, it is stated that any 
such costs will not be included in rates in any future proceeding. 
Rather Equitrans, contends that it will use the revenues which it 
proposes to retain from the sale of base gas from the Shirley reservoir 
to fund any required remediation activities.\1\ Based on the risk 
assessment work performed over the last several months, Equitrans 
states that it is convinced that the risk of 

[[Page 648]]
nitrogen blending with natural gas to an extend which would adversely 
impact storage operations is remote, and that such an occurrence could 
be remediated quickly and effectively at a minimal cost. Equitrans 
contends that this project is important both for itself and for the 
industry and is willing to assume the risks of the project to see it 
moves forward.

    \1\ As part of its original application, Equitrans requested 
authorization to sell the gas withdrawn from the Shirley reservoir 
to accommodate the nitrogen injection process, to credit its 
``Account 117, Gas stored underground--noncurrent'' for the LIFO 
inventory value of the gas withdrawn, and to retain any revenues 
received from the sale of the gas.
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    Equitrans states that it intends to withdraw up to 400 MMcf of 
natural gas as part of the project, instead of the 300 MMcf it 
originally proposed. The reason Equitrans proposes to withdraw 
approximately 100 MMcf more of its base gas than it will replace with 
nitrogen is that by doing so, the pressures within the reservoir will 
push the nitrogen away from the main portion of the reservoir where the 
working gas is stored and toward a narrow southeastern perimeter of the 
reservoir where only base gas is present, and which perimeter is 
separated from the main portion of the reservoir by a thin ``neck'' 
area. It is stated that the net reduction in the amount of cushion gas 
in the Shirley reservoir will ultimately reduce Equitrans'' storage 
rate base to the benefit of customers, while having virtually no impact 
on storage operations.
    After reassessing the maximum risk of any reservoir damage 
resulting from implementation of the proposed project, Equitrans states 
that it will commit that certificated entitlement levels of existing 
storage customers will be met through the term of all existing storage 
contracts regardless of any unforeseen adverse effects of injecting 
nitrogen into the Shirley reservoir. Equitrans contends that this 
commitment is made in order to render moot the security of supply 
concerns expressed by certain intervenor-customers, thereby limiting 
the number of issued needed to be addressed by the Commission.
    Any person desiring to be heard or to make any protest with 
reference to said application should on or before January 12, 1996, 
file with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20426, a motion to intervene or a protest in accordance with the 
requirements of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 
CFR 385.214 or 385.211) and the Regulations under the Natural Gas Act 
(18 CFR 157.10). All protests filed with the Commission will be 
considered by it in determining the appropriate action to be taken but 
will not serve to make the protestants parties to the proceeding. Any 
person wishing to become a party to a proceeding or to participate as a 
party in any hearing therein must file a motion to intervene in 
accordance with the Commission's Rules.
    Take further notice that, pursuant to the authority contained in 
and subject to jurisdiction conferred upon the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission by Sections 7 and 15 of the Natural Gas Act and 
the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, a hearing will be 
held with further notice before the Commission or its designee on this 
application if no motion to intervene is filed within the time required 
herein, if the Commission on its own review of the matter finds that a 
grant of the certificate is required by the public convenience and 
necessity. If a motion for leave to intervene is timely filed, or if 
the Commission on its own motion believes that a formal hearing is 
required, further notice of such hearing will be duly given.
    Under the procedure herein provided for, unless otherwise advised, 
it will be unnecessary for Equitrans to appear or be represented at the 
hearing.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-245 Filed 1-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M